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False claims Democrats plotted to kill Trump spread by bogus US news sites
- As the US presidential election nears, experts sound the alarm over an explosion of AI-powered propaganda masquerading as news
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Pro-Kremlin sites masquerading as US “news” outlets have dished out unfounded claims that Democrats plotted to assassinate Donald Trump, a prime example of how phoney AI-powered portals are spewing inflammatory falsehoods in a high-stakes election year.
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Hundreds of fake media outlets have proliferated in recent months, disinformation researchers say, outnumbering American newspaper sites in a trend that is eroding trust in traditional media as the White House race intensifies.
The fake sites – largely enabled by cheap, widely available artificial-intelligence tools – are fuelling an explosion of polarising or false narratives as US officials warn that foreign powers such as Russia and Iran are stepping up efforts to meddle in the November 5 election.
Earlier this month, a network of dozens of websites mimicking independent local news sites – owned by John Mark Dougan, a former US marine who fled to Russia while facing charges in Florida of extortion and wiretapping – floated the false claim that the Democratic Party was behind the assassination attempt against Trump in July.
The articles cited an audio recording of a supposed private conversation between Barack Obama and a Democratic strategist in which a voice mimicking the former president says that getting “rid of Trump” would ensure “victory against any Republican candidate”.
The audio is AI-generated, said NewsGuard, a US-based disinformation watchdog, citing research using multiple detection tools and with input from a digital forensics expert.
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