Goose, a new gay dating app, appears to be Psyop

Instagram Close Friends story of @miles.sumrall shows a kind-looking man with curly dark hair and an expertly groomed mustache floating in the water. “You are receiving this because you are exactly the type of person we are building this for,” the caption reads, accompanied by an invitation icon to a “members-only community.”

The link leads to a login to Goose, a dating and friendship app for gay men with the slogan “For Boys,” which allows users to “meet guys through the life you already live,” according to its website.

The problem is that @miles.sumrall doesn’t look real. Neither does @danielmmulugeta, the cute, dark-haired influencer who shared the above comment, with the exact same pronunciation, on for him Stories of close friends. Both accounts were created in May 2026 and have less than 10 posts as well as a high follower-to-follower ratio. Their Instagram avatars were determined with more than 90 percent confidence to be created by artificial intelligence, according to AI Image Detector. A SynthID scan on Google Gemini, which can help identify photos generated by AI, also found that “most or all” of Miles and Daniel’s profile photos were created using Google AI.

Created by influential model Derek Chadwick, as well as former BeReal Director of Growth and Community David Aliagas, Goose positions itself as a Grindr alternative for gay men who want to build lasting relationships. At the time of its announcement, many scoffed at the idea of ​​using the app for anything other than finding casual hookups. “Goose is basically Pokémon Ho,” one X user joked.

However, user interest appears to have been high enough that when the app launched last Thursday, it rose to No. 4 in the App Store’s free lifestyle downloads category, and now ranks No. 33 in lifestyle app downloads globally. Promotional content from creators like @miles.sumrall likely played a role in getting many people to download the app.

Miles and Daniel appeared in screenshots shared on X by user @pspthe2nd, whose post claimed the app “uses…[s] AI models for promoting false interests #goose. But both accounts appear to be part of a much larger network of handsome male influencers apparently created by AI to promote the app, either by reaching out to gay men via direct messages or adding them to their close friends’ stories.

Ryan Cheam, a marketing and public relations executive, says he first noticed a strange new Instagram account belonging to someone named @alistercrombbie about a week ago. His bio says he works in public relations for a well-known art gallery, so, Chim tells WIRED, “I thought he was just a regular gay guy.” However, he became suspicious after Alistair sent him a direct message inviting him to join a “curated network of men” at Goose, and sent him an invite code. A SynthID examination found that “most or all” of Alistair’s profile photo was created using Google AI.

In addition to Miles, Alistair, and Daniel, WIRED was able to identify more than two dozen similar accounts, all of which were created in May or June 2026 and included only a few posts — a typical indicator of inauthentic accounts. Many accounts also frequently commented on each other’s photos, including the same heart and fire emojis.

Often, the accounts would follow potential members and add them to their close friends’ Stories, but sometimes they would send them a direct message encouraging them to sign up, as was the case with Dalton Power, who works in marketing and received a direct message from a user named @lucalepkowski. “Hey! Okay, this may seem random but you feel like you care :),” the message begins before inviting Bauer to the Goose community, using similar language to the one Cheam received from Alistair.