404 MediaAfter months of digging and reporting, we have learned where Facebook's bizarre AI spam (like "Shrimp Jesus") comes from, who is making it, how it works, and how it is monetized.
Turns out Meta is directly paying people to spam FB with this stuff
Maxi 12x 💉@404mediaco You couldn’t imagine this deranged state of Meta.
ophiocephalic 🐍@frumble
And just think - this could be the future of mastodon.social
Kaye@404mediaco Oh, interesting. I think we all knew that "Shrimp Jesus" was a grift of some sort, but it's fascinating that the payout is coming directly from Facebook.
I really hope that the collapse of the ad-supported "platform web" is approaching. What's described in this article really sounds like a late-stage rot economy. Especially with how the Facebook spokesperson seems to be incapable of understanding that this is a problem?
Fiona Gregory@404mediaco And what's in it for Facebook? Just more eyeballs looking at ads?
Phil Dennis-Jordan@fionag11 @404mediaco In addition, I guess it juices their stats for active users, amount of engagement, etc. This makes their platform look healthy to analysts, which in turn keeps their stock price high.
FediThing 
So it's all, basically, an elaborate way to con investors?
@FediThing @fionag11 @404mediaco I don’t know about con… I mean, what net value exactly is Facebook bringing to the wold these days? They clearly have no scruples whatsoever- they were quite happy to promote genocide in Myanmar as long as it got them more user engagement. In the end all of this is intended to enrich the shareholders one way or another. Is it a con? Well, it’s late capitalism, at any rate.
Totally agree about Meta/Facebook being utterly evil morally bankrupt company (https://social.chinwag.org/@FediThing/112581263140051643), just meant that by "juicing the stats" they are trying to make some investment numbers go up in the very short term? Was addressing the question Fiona brought up earlier in the thread :)
FediThing :progress_pride: (@[email protected])
Imagine a stranger spreads lies about you. They tell everyone you're doing horrible stuff, the worst crimes imaginable. They make videos, articles, livestreams, all pushing the same lies designed to make everyone hate and fear you. Would you "just block them"? What happens when other people don't block them? When other people believe them, follow them, share their lies? What if this turns into real life abuse? If someone attacks you or your family? This is what vulnerable minorities face because of badly-moderated social media: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-02-20/facebook-accused-of-letting-activists-incite-ethnic-massacres-with-hate-and-misinformation-by-survivors-in-ethiopia/ 🙏 Please defederate threads.net or ask your server admin to do so. #Threads
Tony Goins@404mediaco
What a story! Who do you root for?
1. Facebook/Meta, creating a system to monetize bullshit
2. Dipshits who click on it
3. Big tech developing AI tools for mass spam
4. Wildcat programmers making homegrown spam tools
5. Poor, hard-working spammers just trying feed their families
dmitrizzle@ITradedMyEyes @404mediaco 😂 all great choices
Mystery Babylon 
@404mediaco Damn, this is jut fascinating.
"Some of the bizarreness of the images is caused by prompts that are written in Hindi, Urdu, and Vietnamese, which are underrepresented in large language model training data. Other bizarre outcomes arise because people are using Google Translate and speech-to-text to say a prompt aloud in Hindi, translate it to English, and are using that often poorly-translated prompt to generate the images. "
@404mediaco Loved this final bit:
"My investigation shows that discussions about the integrity of our news ecosystem, filter bubbles, plagiarism, copyright, and AI art should focus almost entirely on the fact that American tech giants are obsessed with conquering and colonizing the entire world with products that are half baked and are extremely poorly moderated in languages that are not English."
Waylon Jeggings@404mediaco I love that they're paying people to piss in their pool.
sunshine@404mediaco 404 Media is consistently uncovering the wildest stories I've ever heard. They deserve my paid subscription (*TODO) if for no other reason than that I want the Internet to be weird again and they're doing their part.
Ted Mielczarek@404mediaco truly heroic reporting even if the end result is bleak and dystopian
Mark@404mediaco excellent piece!
Ilya ZverevThis article was a tipping point for me, subscribed finally :)
Georg Krammer
ferricoxide
Tavian C. L.@404mediaco Are Meta running a social media monopoly? Maybe they can get a hit of the suits that just struck Google.
CyI don't want to buy a subscription, thanks.
Edelruth, PBS Passport HolderOh, good! The billionaires are going to solve the billionaire problem by eating each other.
WikiParty@404mediaco Not mere money-grubbing. See Bannon's phrase "flood the zone." #SignalToNoiseRatio