October 13, 2026
A blue check doesn't prove authenticity: an Instagram badge sat on a fan account posting AI photos of Mia Goth
A fan account with a million followers and a blue checkmark spread an AI selfie of Mia Goth, and Meta took it down only after several complaints.
On Oct 8, an account with a blue checkmark posted a selfie of Mia Goth in a T-shirt about her ex. The post collected hundreds of thousands of likes.
The photo never existed: the shot was generated by a model, and the post carried no label saying so. Goth herself has no accounts on any platform, yet the image with the caption "MY EX IS MY BIGGEST FAN" spread across social media and landed in OK! and People a few days after she announced her divorce from Shia LaBeouf.
The Instagram checkmark no longer answers the question of whether a real person is behind the account.
The checkmark can be bought. The blue badge is a Meta Verified subscription: creators get four tiers per profile, from $14.99 a month for Standard to $499.99 for Max. In Meta's own description, the badge confirms verification "based on activity across Meta services or on information or documents provided". The fan account @miagoth_ has more than a million followers.
The actress's representative Christine Tripicchio says that the fan account meeting Instagram's criteria for a checkmark is "alarming on a fundamental level".
Reporting does not work the first time. Goth's team sent several takedown requests before Meta removed the account. The path for reporting an impersonation: on the profile tap "…", then Report, "Something about this account", "They're pretending to be someone else". People who are not on Instagram have a separate form in the help center. Meta confirmed the removal "for impersonating a public figure" but did not explain why the checkmark was granted.
The account disappeared from Instagram by Tuesday morning, Oct 13.