In January, President Donald Trump posted two clips from a popular YouTube account sharing some dramatic news: Walmart was closing hundreds of California stores.
It wasn’t true. But as California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s communications team pushed back against the posts on X, what alarmed them more than the falsehoods themselves (dubious social media claims from Trump are nothing new) was the lack of clarity about the form these videos were taking and where they were coming from, according to two Newsom staffers. They’re concerned that this growing wave of AI-assisted spam — much of which has been aimed at Newsom, a likely presidential candidate in 2028 — is only a taste of what’s to come as the technology and the political operatives wielding it become even more sophisticated.
@MeganWright62, the YouTube channel that posted the claim, was mostly populated by sensational AI-generated videos that purported to show various companies leaving California, grocery stores running out of food, and school teachers quitting en masse. The channel’s videos, cobbled together by AI and generated at scale with little regard for accuracy, look decent enough that some segment of the public — or, at least, YouTube commenters — doesn’t seem to realize or care that they were assembled by AI.
The account was one of hundreds that the governor’s team has been pushing to get taken down in recent months as it focuses increasingly on AI-generated spam content in its media monitoring mix. Much of that...
MANILA, Philippines – Peddlers of false claims continue their antics, sharing lies this August. Statements around the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte were taken out of context, sc...