Facebook is suffering an epidemic, a disease that can wreak havoc on its information ecosystem. And it all starts with AI.
Dead Internet Theory
First highlighted by TikTok user @SideMoneyTom on Jan. 13, multiple accounts can be seen posting AI-generated images to thousands, if not millions, of reactions, shares, and comments.
@sidemoneytom Facebook has gotten out of hand #fyp #foryou #facebook #art #viral #post #sad #doomed #greenscreen ♬ original sound - SideMoneyTom
Looking to the comment section of these posts often shows other bot accounts replying to each other, either linking other accounts uploading similar posts, or responding with emojis and one-worded responses.
Many of the images depict likenesses of Jesus Christ, animals, nature, and sexualized pictures of women, topics that usually get massive organic engagement on the platform.
In some cases, bot accounts are posting supposed art projects of children, often depicting people from Africa, building sculptures from plastic engagements.
Both posts usually encouraged users to respond to the posts, either to congratulate the supposed child or type "Amen."
The same problem has already been noted on Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), although the situation on Facebook has been given less attention as many of these posts rarely pop up on most people's For You page.
More AI-Powered Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Elections
If there is one actual impact that the growing number of fake and bot accounts will have on the public, it will be felt in the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Elections.
Facebook has already been reported on several occasions of being ill-equipped against political misinformation and disinformation during election periods.
Despite constantly updating its policies and employing third-party fact-checkers, the Meta-owned platform remains the hotbed of "fake news" around the world.
The surge of AI in its platform is expected to double, if not quadruple, the number of disinformation spreading across Facebook as posts, visibility, and engagement can artificially be generated.
The presence of AI-generated images and videos has already proven how many people are vulnerable to the deceptive power of the technology, so it comes as no surprise that many more may fall victim as the technology is able to generate more realistic images and videos.
So far, Meta has already imposed new platform rules to prevent its in-house AI model from being used to deceive people ahead of the election period by adding digital watermarks to the images to identify them.
Yet with the pattern of people still seeing a surge of digitally generated images on the platform, it seems Facebook and Meta still have a long way before fully achieving their promise.
Facebook AI Invasion: How to Stop it?
Stopping the torrent of AI-powered accounts manually is a nigh-impossible task as more accounts will just pop up in an instant.
The best way to do this is to put pressure on the platforms to improve their safety guidelines to protect their users from AI automation and its dangers.
As of writing, Meta is being pushed by lawmakers to provide better guardrails against AI after reports of children and women being exploited for sexual and implicit images generated by AI.
Of course, the issue will not be brought to national attention without people, real organic users, bringing the topic into the mass consciousness.
