@SVR13

Analyst/ editorial manager @ISDGlobal by day; Medievalist by night | @FT reporter turned contributor | @Columbiajourn @OIIoxford @PembrokeOxford | DMs open

 London, England
Joined August 2010
  • Tweets2.5K
  • Following8.8K
  • Followers5.6K
327Media
Seen AI Jim Ratcliffe being chased by AI Laura Kuenssberg recently? It's part of a populist scam network operating, with fraudsters changing narratives to keep up with the zeitgeist ft.com/content/bacf81cc-3340…

The age of the populist financial scam

A wave of scams appearing on social media are designed to play on distrust of elites and paranoia

ft.com
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I've been getting lots of questions about the impact of commercial misinformation from Sri Lanka, Vietnam etc. The answer is it depends: the more complex the video, the more likely it is to be inconsistent/plain ridiculous and to get eyerolls instead of likes. 1/?
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Just a handful of videos but a lot of likes for "free parking in hospital car park" and "bring back cashiers" (which suggests the likely age group) 2/?
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This network is almost 100% Sri Lankan - it follows random Sri Lankan accounts and similar pages with Sri Lankan admins. But for some reason, Meta remains highly inconsistent in the pages where it flags admins' nationality. 3/3
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
Pope Leo XIV
@PontifexOct 2
In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
Edward Ongweso Jr
@bigblackjacobinSep 21
QUICK now do crypto and your role in promulgating it!
Kevin Roose
@kevinrooseSep 20
one of the 21st century's great tragedies is that millions of smart people were convinced to bury their heads in the sand by either stochastic parrots discourse or Zitron-style capabilities denialism and haven't updated based on new evidence. nature is healing but it's so late.
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Sridhar Ramesh@RadishHarmersSep 15
White people think they're so savvy for knowing some Indian words. I know plenty of white words. I speak their whole fucking language. I take their resources and live in their country too. Which of us is the sophisticated cosmopolitan now?
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
Mother Jones
@MotherJonesFeb 6
Following the horrific killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minnesota, "Commander at Large" Gregory Bovino was reassigned away from his leadership role in the operation. Journalist Amanda Moore, who has spent months documenting Bovino's activities, notes the violent culture and widespread fear he helped create won't be so easily removed. Watch @noturtlesoup17's report on Bovino's legacy:
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200 bots is not “flooding” the platform! (Obviously this is part of a larger influence op but we don’t know how many people saw these accounts, how long they were up, etc)
Taylor Lorenz
@TaylorLorenzAug 28
As I was just saying, grifters and bad actors are currently flooding platforms with anti AI slop in order to profit or push propaganda. There are legitimate activists fighting over these issues, but it’s crucial to recognize the inauthentic activity seeking to warp the discourse
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If you've been on social media at all over the past few months, you've probably seen the Farage-Bailey AI scam. For @ftmoney, I took a dive into the world of fraudsters turning institutional distrust into a winning sales pitch. bit.ly/4iqF4kz

The age of the populist financial scam

A wave of scams appearing on social media are designed to play on distrust of elites and paranoia

ft.com
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After years of obfuscation, lies and very clear negative consequences as a result of Big Tech, it seems very obvious and healthy that people should not buy the "we're here to save you and coincidentally we're the new philosopher kings" schtick at face value.
Dean W. Ball
@deanwballAug 23
People just genuinely cannot fathom that those who work in AI are trying to be honest and candid about what the risks seem to be. I think it’s true that we undersell the benefits and are ~bad at marketing, but the notion that risk discourse is a branding tactic is simply wrong.
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The prompt is pure art.
U.S. Department of Education
@usedgovAug 19
Freedom REVS. 🏎️ Stay tuned for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix THIS WEEKEND!
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The girls are fighting
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This account, now rebranded as an anti-Indian geopolitical "news writer", is simply a political activist which supports the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (linked to killings of Hindus by Amnesty).
🅰️SIADecoded
@asia_decode2Apr 3
A 21-year-old Hindu man was killed instantly when a careless companion accidentally stabbed him in the heart. It proves that giving deadly weapons to the untrained ends in tragedy. The most shocking part is that it had happened right under the nose of the police.
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
Andrew Orlowski
@AndrewOrlowskiMay 3
Clifford and Hogarth mainlined the EA cult into the British administrative system. They cannot have believed how easy it would all be. Cummings had already tapped Clifford to run his crank tank ARIA, giving it a beach head. ARIA now runs programmes with Renaissance Philanthropy, a massive EA operation.
MB@markbishopukMay 3
This kind of thing illustrates why taxpayers' money should not be used to fund growth businesses. Almost always ends in cronyism
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
Evan DeSimone@MediaEvanMay 4
Almost all of these news influencers build their brand by commenting on reporting done by real journalists at legacy outlets.
U.S. News & World Report
@usnewsMay 3
A new report shows that social media ‘influencers’ and ‘independent creators’ are taking a greater role in providing news to Americans – especially younger Americans. usnews.com/news/national-new…

Social Media Closing in on TV as Americans’ Choice for News

A new report shows that social media ‘influencers’ and ‘independent creators’ are taking a greater role in providing news to Americans – especially younger Americans.

usnews.com
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I read this and was violently thrown back to school days of laughing at those crazy Americans yelling that "Harry Potter is the devil" youtube.com/watch?v=RSwZJ55g…
Dr. Alex Zawacki@achillghostApr 30
I genuinely enjoy when people think being “studying magic” in an academic context means being a wizard. Buddy I wish
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
William Gibson
@GreatDismalApr 22
2 of 2) There’s a deluge of these things now, pretending not only to be from contemporary authors but dead ones as well: James Joyce, Agatha Christie etc. (And bad actors are also posing as publishing executives, btw.) Please repost to help spread the word!
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Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan retweeted
William Gibson
@GreatDismalApr 22
1 of 2) WARNING: SCAM EMAILS PRETENDING TO BE FROM ME. They offer very specific feedback on writing in progress/posted or self-published works, then propose an offline conversation. They are coming from this address: [email protected].
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Not a fan of horseshoe theory but this is the same line as Raw Egg Nationalist: xitter.cf/Babygravy9/status/2045…
Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸
@jacksonhinkleApr 18
🇮🇳 SAAR PLZ SAAR YOU GAVE ME CLEARANCE TO GO, SAAR, I AM SECOND ON THE LIST, SAAR YOU ARE FIRING AT ME?? WHY ARE YOU FIRING? I TURN AROUND SAAR, PLEASE DO NOT FIRE SAAR
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