Fake TikTok Accounts Push Election Lies for Profit and Chaos

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

A Wall Street Journal investigation has found a flood of anti-Trump videos on TikTok, generated with the help of artificial intelligence and traced back to hidden overseas networks. WSJ reporters Georgia Wells and John West join host Zoe Thomas to discuss the lies and hyperbole these accounts push and the possible reasons for them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Prime members, did you know that you could be listening to this show ad-free on Amazon music?
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0:10.0	Avoid the ads and start listening today.
0:13.0	Welcome to Tech News Briefing.
0:17.0	It's Friday, August 9th.
0:20.0	I'm Zoe Thomas for the Wall Street Journal.
0:23.0	Intelligence officials have warned that the 2024 presidential contest could face an unprecedented
0:30.0	flood of fake news from foreign actors. A W.S.J analysis of videos on
0:35.2	Tik-Toc has found it's already happening. We'll tell you what kind of
0:39.2	content is being served up, how it's spreading, and what we know about who is behind it.
0:47.0	We're joined today by W.S.J. reporters Georgia Wells and John West.
0:52.2	Georgia, fake stories have thrived online since the earliest days of the internet.
0:56.8	What's different about these stories?
0:59.1	What's happening now is artificial intelligence is making it easier for bad actors to slice and dice and create fake stories much faster at huge scale and for very very cheap.
1:10.0	Can you describe a few of these videos for us?
1:12.0	One of the more shocking videos claims that Marjorie Taylor Green is pregnant with Donald Trump's baby.
1:20.1	Other videos said Malania Trump was seeking a divorce from the former President Trump.
1:25.6	Another video claimed Trump had assaulted a judge and been thrown in jail.
1:29.7	And to be clear, all of these videos are making false claims.
1:34.0	Yes, the videos are pushing a massive pile of lies.
1:39.0	Sometimes mixed in, there are factual statements.
1:42.0	John, how difficult are these videos to make?
	...

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