Impersonation

Reporting

101 TikTok accounts masquerading as real news spread misinformation to millions

Oct 15, 2025

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8 min read

101 TikTok accounts masquerading as real news spread misinformation to millions

Shallow impersonations of Telemundo, CNN, Fox News and other media got more than 200 million views posting fake ICE arrests and bombastic AI slop about geopolitics

Alexios Mantzarlis

Impersonation

Briefing: AI chatbots gone wild and tips for investigating X and VSCO

Aug 15, 2025

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9 min read

Briefing: AI chatbots gone wild and tips for investigating X and VSCO

Plus: a US academic explains why he's done with researching misinformation

Craig Silverman, +1

“ID-Verified Hot Chicks”: Inside the companies using rented LinkedIn profiles to blast thousands of DMs

Jun 4, 2025

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2 min read

“ID-Verified Hot Chicks”: Inside the companies using rented LinkedIn profiles to blast thousands of DMs

LinkedIn touts its verification system and commitment to authenticity. But there's an industry of companies paying people to rent their ID-verified profiles

Craig Silverman

OSINT

May 30 Briefing: X Community Notes goes down and new tool fools running apps

May 30, 2025

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10 min read

May 30 Briefing: X Community Notes goes down and new tool fools running apps

Your must reads and must tries on the digital deception beat this week

Alexios Mantzarlis, +1

AI slop

44 of the top 100 Bluesky accounts have a duplicate

Nov 27, 2024

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14 min read

44 of the top 100 Bluesky accounts have a duplicate

BlueSky has a doppelgänger problem, World War III narrative leans on a fake cover of The Economist, and Instagram is flooded with cozycore AI slop

Alexios Mantzarlis