The Indicator: “Two platform updates this week gave me a rare feeling of hope about AI slop. On Wednesday, TikTok announced it would pilot new controls to let users filter how much AI-generated content they see on their For You feeds. The platform already allows users to dial up and down certain topics like current affairs, dance, or fitness. It’s now promising to test letting people decide how much synthetic video they want to see. The move follows Pinterest’s lead; Bluesky users can also filter out AI content by subscribing to a third-party labeler. I would bet that more platforms will follow. (Our guide to AI labels outlines down how different platforms handle AI content, and gets continuously updated.)…”

See also Renee Direstra: “…This weekend, X quietly did something useful. A new “About this account” feature now shows where accounts are based. Some of the loudest bluecheck anon “MAGA patriot” influencers—accounts that shout about the deep state and immigrants and whatnot—were outed as being in India. Or Pakistan. Or Nigeria. Or Eastern Europe. Not “flyover country.” Not “real America.” The accounts pushed back, of course. Some claimed it was a bug, or VPN confusion. X employees said the feature was still a work in progress. But the fact that some of X’s most popular right-wing “grassroots” voices appear to be based overseas surprised exactly no one familiar with how political junk content works. In this newsletter I’m going to talk about two things—incentives, and supply and demand—and how they intersect with a finding that has consistently held for the last ten years of research into online propaganda: that the MAGA right is a particularly receptive niche.

See also CNET – AI Slop Has Turned Social Media Into an Antisocial Wasteland. Commentary: Platforms that once helped us stay in touch have become fractured and impersonal — and AI slop and deepfakes are making it so much worse.