{"id":22045,"date":"2026-02-19T16:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/digital-blackface-flourishes-under-trump-and-ai-the-state-is-bending-reality\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:37:24","slug":"digital-blackface-flourishes-under-trump-and-ai-the-state-is-bending-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/digital-blackface-flourishes-under-trump-and-ai-the-state-is-bending-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital blackface flourishes under Trump and AI: \u2018The state is bending reality\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

From TikTok deepfakes to smears put out by the White House, fake videos modeled on Black archetypes are running rampant – putting Black users at risk<\/p>\n

Late last year, as a US government shutdown cut off the Snap benefits that low-income families rely on for groceries, videos on social media cast the fallout in frantic scenes. \u201cImma keep it real with you,\u201d a Black woman said in a viral TikTok post, \u201cI get over $2,500 a month in stamps. I sell \u2019em, $2,000 worth, for about $1,200-$1,500 cash.\u201d Another Black woman ranted about taxpayers\u2019 responsibility to her seven children with seven men, and yet another melted down after her food stamps were rejected at a corn-dog counter.<\/p>\n

Visible watermarks stamped some videos as AI-generated \u2013 apparently, too faintly for the racist commentators and hustlers more than happy to believe the frenzy was real. \u201cYou got people treating it like a side hustle, selling the stamps, abusing the system,\u201d the conservative commentator Amir Odom whinged. Fox News reported on the Snap deepfakes<\/a> as if they were authentic, before issuing a correction<\/a>. Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt claimed<\/a> people were using Snap \u201cto get their nails done, to get their weaves and hair\u201d. (Lost in the outrage was a basic fact: white Americans make up<\/a> 37% of Snap\u2019s 42 million beneficiaries.)<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nFrom TikTok deepfakes to smears put out by the White House, fake videos modeled on Black archetypes are running rampant – putting Black users at risk
\nLate last year, as a US government shutdown cut off the Snap benefits that low-income families rely on for groceries, videos on social media cast the fallout in frantic scenes. \u201cImma keep it real with you,\u201d a Black woman said in a viral TikTok post, \u201cI get over $2,500 a month in stamps. I sell \u2019em, $2,000 worth, for about $1,200-$1,500 cash.\u201d Another Black woman ranted about taxpayers\u2019 responsibility to her seven children with seven men, and yet another melted down after her food stamps were rejected at a corn-dog counter.
\nVisible watermarks stamped some videos as AI-generated \u2013 apparently, too faintly for the racist commentators and hustlers more than happy to believe the frenzy was real. \u201cYou got people treating it like a side hustle, selling the stamps, abusing the system,\u201d the conservative commentator Amir Odom whinged. Fox News reported on the Snap deepfakes as if they were authentic, before issuing a correction. Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt claimed people were using Snap \u201cto get their nails done, to get their weaves and hair\u201d. (Lost in the outrage was a basic fact: white Americans make up 37% of Snap\u2019s 42 million beneficiaries.) Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From TikTok deepfakes to smears put out by the White House, fake videos modeled on Black archetypes are running rampant – putting Black users at risk Late last year, as a US government shutdown cut off the Snap benefits that low-income families rely on for groceries, videos on social media cast the fallout in frantic …<\/p>\n

Digital blackface flourishes under Trump and AI: \u2018The state is bending reality\u2019<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":22046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22045"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}