... but AI generated "news" can expand geometrically (well, before the combinatorial explosion, anyway). The increase of identity politics across the world is noticeable in this regard.
Fake report of French ‘coup’ goes viral — and fools African leader
2025-12-18 18:33:19 GMT
(The Times)
President Macron has revealed that he was contacted last weekend by an African
president worried about a coup d’état in France after seeing fake news on
Facebook.
Macron accused Facebook of undermining democracy by refusing to delete the
fake television news report, made with the help of artificial intelligence by
a 17-year-old boy from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
The video was viewed more than 16 million times before the author removed it
himself after an outcry in Paris.
The video, which featured a fictional journalist in Paris talking about a
“coup d’état led by a colonel whose identity has not been revealed”, was
highlighted by Macron in a question-and-answer session with readers of the
regional newspaper La Provence in Marseille on Tuesday.
