Flipping.rocks AdminApr 23

So, about this thread from @CiaraNi (https://mastodon.green/@CiaraNi/116452475774038820) about a fake wildlife image that's either AI-generated or Photoshopped: a few people in replies linked to the account that posted it, @[email protected]. I checked in mod dashboard and I suspended this account just shy of *three years ago* for being a #PicSpam/viral repost bot.

When you come across these accounts, preemptively suspend them (if you are a mod/admin) or report them (if you are a regular user) and you'll save people a lot of headache.

I wrote about this a while back: https://out.flipping.rocks/blog/why-picspam-and-repost-accounts-are-bad

In the next post I'll explain why this account immediately stood out to me as inauthentic.

#FediBlock #MastoAdmin #FediAdmin

Ciara (@[email protected])

People keep sharing an image of a bird with a drop of water bursting on its head like a crown. It's AI, but people share it in good faith, believing it’s an amazing photo by a human of a real bird in a real moment of time. Meanwhile, humans who have taken amazing photos of real birds captured in real moments of time, like a hummingbird in ballet with a butterfly, get questioned in good faith by people who are tired of being cheated by AI-deceit. The way AI has broken social trust is distressing.

Mastodon.green
Show threadFlipping.rocks AdminApr 23

So, about that specific photo: the post links to a tweet from a classic Twitter picspam account, "Sci_Nature0":

- incredibly generic name
- "Dm for Credit/Removal" in bio
- no original content, all either other people's images/fake images/other people's fake images
- zero *links* to sources

So, already a big red flag.

You can right-click on the image, paste it into Google Images (if on mobile, switch to desktop mode to show the field to paste the URL), and go to "About this image" to see if a SynthID watermark was detected (https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9789430).

Note that not all AI-generated images will have this, and it may also be just plain Photoshopped (or staged, misattributed, etc.), so you do have to use your common sense as well.

Show threadFlipping.rocks Admin

About the account itself, @[email protected]:

- generic-ass boomer bio
- no original content, all from other creators, and very rarely with sources linked (sometimes with Instagram account names as hashtags, and the accounts are all "aggregator" pages themselves)
- post text is scraped/copy-pasted from the aggregator accounts
- extremely basic, non-informative, likely machine learning-generated alt text
- content: generically appealing/~viral~ nature/art pics with tons of hashtags, as well as generic anti-Trump posts

They do respond to replies and may well be an actual person, but it doesn't really matter. Their output is *indistinguishable* from a clout-farming repost bot's. They function as nothing but a conduit for reposted photos and outrage-bait, in one end, out the other, with no personality, critical thought, or effort involved: a person, yes, but a person stitched into the grotesque Human Centipede of Internet "content" where real-life things are torn from context (or lifelike things are generated) to be used as mere currency to get likes and follows.

Anyway, I generally block these accounts for the entire instance. Saves time.

#FediBlock

Apr 23 at 1:37pmWeb
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESApr 23

@a

anything "adrenochrome" related happens to be a MAGA flag as well, unless the use is sarcasm

Show threadFlipping.rocks AdminApr 23
@benroyce in this case I think it's more of a boomer/old hippie thing, predating the conspiracy theories