elected representative that interacted with the account with my face. so, that is shocking. reporter: but kourtney only grew more concerned about its message. twitter has a policy against impersonation. once the erica marsh account was removed, kourtney felt relieved but not safe. i don t want to be out in public and someone notice my picture that was on the account, approach me, approach my family. who knows what someone would do that didn t agree with what erica marsh was saying. whoever is running this account knows what people like and knows how to get attention. reporter: a professor at clemson university studies disinformation and trolling. what is erica marsh? is it a parody? is it a troll? is it a disinformation campaign? what is she? erica marsh is a fake online influencer. she isn t a troll in the way that a lot of viewers may think of a troll. reporter: he believes this was the work of a professional.
reporter: but that s your face. seems to be. reporter: why are you talking to us? i want to tell the world that that s not me. my name is not erica marsh. i m courtney. reporter: courtney byasteros lives in florida. she showed cnn her original photos. nearly a decade old. she says they were stolen from her facebook page. and my grandmother s front yard. reporter: on whoever or whatever is behind the account. the photographs are from when courtney was still a teenager. she since has gotten married and had children. let me have you read erica marsh probably most popular tweet. it got over 27 million views, and then tell me what you think about it. today s supreme court decision is a direct attack on black people. no black person will be able to succeed in a merit-based system reporter: what do you think? i m speechless. reporter: speechless because while this viral fake account
it was a fake, but the photos were not. now cnn exclusively shares the real face that s on the notorious account. are you erica marsh? no. but that s your face. seems to be. why are you talking to us? i want to tell the world that that s not me. my name is not erica marsh. i am kourtney. reporter: she lives in a rural part of the tampa bay area in florida. she showed cnn her original photos, nearly a decade old. she says they were stolen from her facebook page by whoever or whatever is behind this account. the photos on the account are from when kourtney was still a teenager. she s since gotten married and had children. let me read you erica marsh s most popular tweet. it got over 27 million views. and then tell me what you think about it.
but ultimately, it s about influence. it s meant to engage with a very specific audience, and to get people a little bit angry. reporter: whether the goal of the account was to generate money or sow division, lindeville says the real owner of erica marsh is likely still operating on the platform. is there any way to tell who s responsible for erica marsh or where they come from? that s the million-dollar question, isn t it? it s just fake. you know, it s fake. the whole thing was fake. and the erica marsh profile bioclaims she worked for the obama and biden campaigns. we check in, and of course it was made up. it s important to note that there are still accounts up on twitter right now using courtney s face. we have reached out to twitter about that. we ve not heard back. kate? all right. thank you for the story. sara? the internet used for doing bad. nothing new there. all right. coming up, an historic summit at camp david. what message will this gathering send to china wh
reality was a fake. the picture linked to the account is in reality a trump voter living in rural florida. cnn s isabel rosales tracked down the real face on the fake erica marsh. erica marsh. erica marsh. erica. erica marsh. reporter: erica marsh rose as a viral left-wing voice on social media. her incendiary tweets often ultra liberal and politically charged drew millions of views and the ire of republicans. tweets like, do you agree that drag story hour should be eliminated for elementary school students, and why does it seem like most republicans are pedophiles? the account had nearly 130,000 followers. marsh s top tweet viewed more than 27 million times. twitter, which now goes by x, took down the account a few weeks ago. it was a fake. but the photos were not. now cnn exclusively shares the real face that s on the notorious account. are you erica marsh? no.