Why Right Wing Slop Has Taken Over Social Media

Quick Overview

Right-wing propaganda accounts, often using AI-generated content, have taken over social media by targeting politically engaged UK audiences with divisive topics like immigration to generate massive engagement and revenue, circumventing platform moderation by posing as local or different national accounts.

Key Points: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and ISD found 128 Facebook pages and groups targeting UK audiences, linked to Sooriyapura and his students, with a combined following of 1.6 million users. Sooriyapura claimed his students were only taught Facebook monetization and audience targeting, not to 'spread violence,' but evidence shows posts pushing anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic, and white supremacist narratives. One simple post format involved turning a photo of mostly Black men on an overcrowded boat off Italy into a 15-second video with melancholy music, reading, 'Share if you want Britain to put its OWN PEOPLE before foreigners looking for handouts!' (3:01). The accounts, often using generic patriotic names, leverage AI video tools to create content that goes viral up to 10 times faster than traditional content. One specific account, Daria Dankworth (@dariadankworth), claimed to be based in Indiana but was actually based in Thailand (4:27), and promoted anti-Islam, anti-migration, and MAGA content. Another account, Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray), claimed to refuse being governed by a Ugandan named Zohran Kwame Mamdani, but Cheong is actually Malaysian and based in the UAE (5:10). The core business model is exploiting conflict and creating outrage to maximize engagement and ad revenue, diverting funds from legitimate sources and exploiting social media algorithms.

Context: This video investigates the coordinated spread of right-wing, often inflammatory, content across social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), specifically targeting UK audiences. The investigation, conducted by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and ISD, focuses on a network allegedly run by an individual named Sooriyapura and his students, who are reportedly monetizing engagement driven by sensationalist and divisive political narratives, including anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment.