Instagram is full of influencers/bloggers/people who you don’t know but feel like you do because you dedicate large parts of your day to going through their page. These people are Insta-famous, taking their thousands, sometimes millions, of followers everywhere with them.
Usually, there’s no question that these are real life, made of flesh, living and breathing humans. This is a given.
Not so, with Lil Miquela whose Instagram account, having amassed over 58,000 followers in about three months, is causing a pretty big stir. Her mere existence is has left a lot of people, very confused, trying to figure out exactly what she is.
Because Lil Miquela's account might have selfies, pictures with friends, everyday life and classic memes but she is not a human. At least, we don't think she is.
As far as we can tell (and we have directly asked her exactly what she is, but we haven't yet received a response), Lil Miquela sits somewhere between an avatar and a sim-like creation. She bears such a striking resemblance to the HD appearances of the Insta-famous that it’s disconcertingly close to the bone. And could it be that the entire account is just that? A strong comment on the unrealistic perceptions projected by some many of the social media platform? Possibly.
Some thinks she’s a real person who heavily photoshops and edits herself whilst others believe she could be an elaborate marketing stunt by The Sims for an upcoming launch. Whatever she is, Lil Miquela has blurred even further the already very hazy boundaries between reality and virtual or augmented reality.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.