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☆ How the Baltimore bridge collapse spawned a torrent of instant conspiracy theories
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

It is entirely possibly that millions of Americans encountered false claims about the bridge collapse when they woke up Tuesday morning before ever seeing the facts. Politics is everythingWhat is perhaps most notable about how quickly and widely conspiracy theories about a breaking news story spread is just how normal this all is right now. Jewish space lasersAs news unfolded on Tuesday, the conspiracy theories continued. Greene has not weighed in on the cause of the bridge collapse. Jewish space lasers were not responsible for the wildfires, nor the Baltimore bridge collapse.

Persons: Francis Scott Key, Israel, ”, Ben Decker, Andrew Tate, Tate, Tate’s, Elon Musk, meekly, Sandy Hook, Alex Jones, “, ” Jones, Jones, Baltimore’s, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, it’s, Biden, Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Trump, X, David Simon, Simon, –, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Greene Organizations: CNN, Facebook, Maryland State Police, Coast Guard, Baltimore Mayor, Equity, FBI, Republicans, Netflix, HBO, Georgia Republican Locations: Baltimore, Covid, USA, Romania, United Kingdom, Florida, Texas, California, Georgia

☆ It’s not just Taylor Swift: AI-generated porn is targeting women and kids all over the world
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It affects everybody.”But while the practice isn’t new, Swift being targeted could bring more attention to the growing issues around AI-generated imagery. Her enormous contingent of loyal “Swifties” expressed their outrage on social media this week, bringing the issue to the forefront. … It’s a reckoning moment.”‘Nefarious reasons without enough guardrails’The fake images of Taylor Swift predominantly spread on social media site X, previously known as Twitter. Although it reportedly took 17 hours for X to take down the photos, many manipulated images remain posted on social media sites. Other social media companies also have reduced their content moderations teams.

Persons: megastar Taylor Swift, “ It’s, ”, Danielle Citron, “, We’ve, Swift, “ Swifties ”, Taylor Swift, ” Citron, …, there’s, Ben Decker, Decker, Karine Jean, Pierre, Francesca Mani, Raymond González, Anita ”, David Jones, Jones, Betsy Kline Organizations: CNN, University of Virginia School of Law, Ticketmaster, Twitter, Meta, White, Westfield High School, Westfield, Communications Locations: New Jersey, Spain, unmoderated

☆ Explicit, AI-generated Taylor Swift images spread quickly on social media
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Pornographic, AI-generated images of the world’s most famous star spread across social media this week, underscoring the damaging potential posed by mainstream artificial intelligence technology: its ability to create convincingly real and damaging images. The fake images of Taylor Swift were predominantly circulating on social media site X, previously known as Twitter. The photos – which show the singer in sexually suggestive and explicit positions – were viewed tens of millions of times before being removed from social platforms. “The social media companies don’t really have effective plans in place to necessarily monitor the content,” he said. Swift’s enormous contingent of loyal “Swifties” expressed their outrage on social media this week, bringing the issue to the forefront.

Persons: Taylor Swift, ” Ben Decker, Decker, ”, Swift, “ Swifties ”, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Twitter, CNN, Meta, Ticketmaster, Swift . Nine Locations: New York, United States, unmoderated

☆ Hate groups leverage advances in artificial intelligence to stoke antisemitism amid tensions surrounding Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan Curt Devine Allison Gordon | Donie O'Sullivan | Curt Devine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Hate groups and far-right internet trolls have seized on the tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, while leveraging advances in artificial intelligence to further stoke antisemitism in the United States. “We’ve seen a real concerning ideological convergence between far-right communities online and pro-Hamas sentiment,” said Ben Decker, CEO of Memetica, a threat analysis company that monitors online hate. Karen Dunn, an attorney who sued the people responsible for the violence at the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, told CNN the hate groups “hate everybody, but they hate the Jews the most.”Antisemitism is a commonality that can unite multiple different and competing hate groups, which can then metastasize into hate directed at others, she said. Minadeo, the hate group’s leader, was sentenced this month to 30 days behind bars in Florida, after distributing the antisemitic fliers. Since the October 7 attack on Israel, hate groups also have attempted to latch onto the pro-Palestinian movement to push their own antisemitism-promoting agenda.

Persons: “ We’ve, ”, Ben Decker, Christopher Wray, Memetica, Decker, Karen Dunn, “, ” Dunn, ” Decker, “ It’s, I’m Jon Greenblatt, Jonathan Greenblatt, Greenblatt, ” Jon Minadeo, David Shapiro, “ Heil, Carla Hill, – Organizations: CNN, Defamation, Hamas, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Capitol, DHS, National Justice Party, 4chan, Meta, YouTube, Microsoft, Carnegie Mellon, ADL, Goyim Defense, Third, “, Extremism, CNN Center, Minadeo, Palestine Locations: Israel, stoke, United States, Charlottesville , Virginia, Charlottesville, Calabasas , California, Calabasas, council, Covid, California, Iowa , Massachusetts, Oregon, Fairfax , Virginia, Atlanta, Florida, Palm Beach, Missoula , Montana, Arizona

CNN —When Google Maps users navigated to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, they might have seen placenames that included, “F**k Israel,” and “May god curse Israel’s Jerusalem.”Cyber activists appeared to have targeted the service to post anti-Israel messages, likely by taking advantage of a feature on Google Maps that allows people to create and contribute information about businesses and landmarks that appear on the service. The company did not say if the action was at the request of the Israel Defense Forces. Google took the same action at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year after online researchers used live traffic data to track the movements of Russian troops. It is unclear if the targeting of Google Maps with anti-Israeli messages was the result of the company’s decision to disable live traffic data. After CNN shared several examples of fake anti-Israel placenames with Google on Tuesday, a company spokesperson said, “On Google Maps, we strive to strike the right balance of helping people find reliable information about local places, and reducing inaccurate or misleading content.

Persons: ”, Ben Decker, ” Decker, “, Memetica’s Decker Organizations: CNN, Google, Israel Defense Forces Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine

CNN cannot independently verify if the photographs, social media accounts and the homes addresses being posted actually belong to the grand jurors. However, the names being circulated on these sites appear to match the names of at least 13 of the 26 grand jurors that served on the panel in Fulton County. It’s unclear if those names are the actual grand jurors or just people with the same name. Also, on some forums, users are posting multiple social media profiles of different people who have the same name as some of the grand jurors. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference at the Fulton County Government building on August 14, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Persons: Donald Trump, Daniel J, Jones, Hillary Clinton’s, Fani Willis, Joe Raedle, Ben Decker, Willis, Trump Organizations: CNN, Advance Democracy, Trump, Fulton, Fulton County Government, “ Locations: Fulton, Fulton County, Washington, Atlanta , Georgia, Atlanta

☆ Welcome to the era of viral AI generated 'news' images
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

None of these things actually happened, but AI-generated images depicting them did go viral online over the past week. The images ranged from obviously fake to, in some cases, compellingly real, and they fooled some social media users. There are also concerns that AI-generated images could be used for harassment, or to further drive divided internet users apart. Eliot Higgins, founder and creative director of the investigative group Bellingcat, posted fake images of former President Donald Trump to Twitter last week. Many of the recent viral AI-generated images were created by a tool called Midjourney, a less than year-old platform that allows users to create images based on short text prompts.

☆ Welcome to the era of viral AI generated ‘news’ images
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

☆ Far-right figures gained thousands of new Twitter followers in the 24 hours before Elon Musk's takeover, research company finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Far-right figures gained thousands of new Twitter followers in the 24 hours before Musk took over. Among these new followers, thousands were new to the platform, researchers told The New York Times. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert gained almost 18,700 new followers in the 24 hours leading up to Musk's takeover, with nearly half from new accounts. Memetica CEO Ben Decker told Insider the findings were alarming because those who gained followers "are really well-known purveyors of disinformation, harassment, and hate." "The more followers and wider reach these accounts have, the more distribution these ideas have," Decker told The New York Times.

☆ Use of N-word on Twitter jumped by almost 500% after Elon Musk's takeover as trolls test limits on free speech, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Joshua Zitser | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's Twitter takeover sparked a surge in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. A social media research group told The Washington Post the use of the slur increased by nearly 500%. "Almost immediately I noticed an increase in anti-trans harassment, it's very visible," said Erin Reed, a trans activist and queer legislative researcher, per The Washington Post. Alex Goldenberg, NCRI's lead intelligence analyst, told The Washington Post that "online trolls regularly test the limits of moderation." On the same day, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted that Musk's purchase of Twitter was "the most important development for Free Speech in decades."

☆ Kanye West’s biggest challenge with owning Parler may come from Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

After being banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump backed Truth Social, an alternative to Twitter. Perhaps the biggest wild card of all comes from West’s friend and fellow erratic rich guy, Elon Musk. The billionaire Tesla CEO appears closer than ever to taking over an already established platform, Twitter, with plans to cut back on its content restrictions. Conservative users uninterested in politics may also avoid the alternative platforms because of other objectionable content they host, according to experts who study the space. “Elon Musk could buy Twitter and say, ‘Trump, you’re back, Kanye, you’re back,’ and then Kanye is stuck owning a relatively defunct, somewhat irrelevant platform,” said Decker.

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