Thousands of fans fooled by a fake Canadiens fan

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a translation of a French-language article first published to Habsolument Fan by staff writer Marco Normandin.

On Instagram , one profile has been attracting the attention of Montreal Canadiens fans for some time now. Marie-Audrey Tremblay , who describes herself as a "little Quebec goalie , " regularly shares photos and videos of herself in revealing outfits in the Canadiens' colors . She claims to play hockey as a goalie and even sports the number 69. With her 9,500 followers, she seems to be just another sports influencer in Quebec.

Except that she simply doesn't exist.

Marie-Audrey Tremblay is entirely generated by artificial intelligence. Behind this virtual persona is obviously a human being who programs the commands necessary to create these images and videos, but the woman we see on screen is merely an assembly of pixels produced by algorithms. This phenomenon is not new: we have already seen Finnish virtual influencers and even beauty pageants reserved for digital creations emerge in recent years. This fake Montreal Canadiens fan seems to follow the same logic, namely a social experiment that likely aims for some form of eventual monetization.

Internet users interacting as if she were real

The most fascinating thing about this story is the reaction of internet users. Despite the artificial nature of the character, many subscribers address Marie-Audrey as if they were conversing with a real person. One user , ghislain6218 , writes, "Super pretty video as always," accompanied by heart emojis. Another user, gilles_deziel , outright asks her if she travels with the Canadiens team and if she'll be at the Bell Centre for the next game. A third admirer, geat509 , even waxes poetic under a video of her in a bikini, declaring that "the sun shines and warms the planet with your smile . "

The account even plays along by replying to some comments and interacting with its fans, including those who have figured out the mystery and know perfectly well that it's not real. This interaction maintains the illusion and further blurs the line between truth and fiction for less savvy users.

A phenomenon that reveals our times

Generative artificial intelligence became widespread about three years ago, and since then, virtual characters have proliferated on social media. The case of Marie-Audrey Tremblay illustrates how easy it has become to create a credible character capable of attracting a community of thousands of people. The fact that she is associated with a sports team as popular as the Montreal Canadiens only amplifies her reach among an unsuspecting public.

This phenomenon raises important questions about our collective ability to distinguish between reality and virtuality in an increasingly sophisticated digital world. If thousands of people can be fooled by such a specific profile, one can wonder how many other fake accounts slip under the radar daily and, more importantly, what purposes they might ultimately be used for.