Narcos, former tormentors, chavism and others benefit from fake news

A detailed and complete investigation by the journalistic organization Forbidden Stories, in which media such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, El País of Spain And haaretz, reveals disinformation tricks used by Spanish company Eliminalia Erase digital content from drug dealers, corrupt governments and former tormentors of dictatorial regimes.

Using fake newsEliminalia, for example, managed to erase the online fingerprints of an Italian company fined for selling spyware to the Syrian regime (Area Spa) and a Swiss bank that housed the dubious fortunes of suspected Venezuelan money launderers (CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique). .

According to the investigation: “The list of Eliminalia clients in Latin America includes more than 400 individuals and companies. Mexico (159 users), Colombia (73), Argentina (51) and Peru (32) top the list. Clients range from former governors trapped in corruption such as Javier Duarte, a former governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz who was once associated with the PRI party; doctors with a dark past associated with DINA Chile, the repressive arm of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), such as Hernán Horacio Taricco Lavin. There are also relatives of Venezuelan Chavista leaders who were allegedly bribed by the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, such as Maria Eugenia Baptista Zacarias, the wife of former Venezuelan Minister of Transport and Public Works Hayman El Trudi. And there are businessmen accused of laundering money for the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas, such as Miguel Angel Colorado Sessa.

To achieve its goal, the firm resorts to various disinformation tactics. One is to petition search engines and web hosting companies for reporting false copyright infringement. Between 2015 and 2021, Eliminalia sent thousands of such fraudulent requests, claiming that they involve information already published. And he resorted to shell companies to cover his trail.

Another way to get rid of inappropriate content is to trick the algorithm of search engines like Google to better position the generated news. ad hoc from Eliminalia on fake sites. These are articles that highlight the supposed positives of their customers while hiding unwanted information at the bottom of the internet.

Chavismo uses fake AI-generated drivers to say good things about the Venezuelan economy

On the other hand, a report from the Spanish newspaper El País confirmed that Noy and Daren, two AI-generated avatars from a catalog of over a hundred multiracial faces from the Synthesia software, are generating news on YouTube in favor of the Venezuelan economy, favoring Chavismo.

“Videos of fake hosts talking about Venezuela have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, gone viral on social media such as Tik Tok, and have been placed on the platform as paid advertisements. In addition, they were broadcast on the state television channel Venezolana de Televisión, the main voice on television in favor of the government of Nicolás Maduro,” reports El País.

How Synthesia Works: With a subscription for just a few dollars a month, a user can enter a written script, and the software generates ultra-realistic video with voices available in over a hundred languages ​​and accents, as well as lip-syncing. avatar.

“Artificial intelligence is democratizing and becoming accessible. Many people have free trial periods of this software or are left open to the public to teach them the idea that these videos are becoming more and more realistic,” explains Hector Mazarri of Cazadores de Fake News, the organization that conducted the autopsy. videos of Noah and Darren talking about Venezuela to discover their origins and warn of Chavismo’s new disinformation campaign and the spread of misleading data.