5 ms·

White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

343 points by wmeredith 9mo ago

wmeredith 9mo ago
There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very quickly. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota civil rights attorney, being arrested at a political protest. A half hour later, the official White House X account posted an altered version in which Armstrong’s face was manipulated to make it appear that she was crying. Wild to see this tech get adopted so fast and so unapologetically used.
- miltonlost 9mo ago
  If only everyone could have predicted this happen!
- jjbinx007 9mo ago
  It's already got to the point that if I see an interesting video showing a cute animal doing something or a natural disaster my first thought is "Is this AI?"
  - MattDaEskimo 9mo ago
    Makes one wonder what the other, more horrific side of this looks like, and how law enforcement and even begin to separate truth from fiction
    - techterrier 9mo ago
      In this instance, we've already got law enforcement using fiction to obfuscate fact. Probably not long before we see sora style videos of a 'new angle' of a controversial event, showing that the protestor / victim did in face have a gun / deserve it
      - deleted 9mo ago
        [deleted]
      - anon7725 9mo ago
        Since many people are primed for this video to confirm their worldview, it doesn't even need to be that good. It will spread like wildfire, and its debunking won't. Technically, there is no reason why this can't be done today.
    - boothby 9mo ago
      Only, it's members of the federal government overtly spreading disinformation and laughing about it. It will be a miracle if anything is left of the law enforcement and judiciary that would push back in three years' time.
- matthewdgreen 9mo ago
  There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.
  - GrowingSideways 9mo ago
    [dead]
  - davidivadavid 9mo ago
    The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.
    - mothballed 9mo ago
      Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.
      - PearlRiver 9mo ago
        Many tech bros have always been racist and misogynist.
    - spwa4 9mo ago
      They shamed themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI Unfortunately ... it's all of them.
  - coldpie 9mo ago
    I don't even know what a realistic plan to fix this looks like. How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet? Nuremberg-style trials for every single person working under this administration is obviously the base minimum to start to get a handle on this. Anyone who is not pushing for that is not being serious about tackling America's problems. Then what? Extreme anti-trust enforcement and implement wealth caps to prevent the harm from recurring and hope most of the population eventually comes back to planet Earth?
- hbarka 9mo ago
  Their vulgarity goes beyond tech and are unapologetic about it. They get to do it because mass media fails to call the lies. Over and over.
  - zbentley 9mo ago
    > mass media fails to call the lies That can't be all it is: this and other recent, uncontroversially atrocious (when taken out of political context) actions taken by the Trump administration were very widely reported as lies/unconscionable by the vast majority of media outlets large and small. Hell, we're even only having this discussion because Ars Technica, a publication with ten million readers, did journalism about an event. That's not huge in the grander scheme, but it's not tiny either. There's certainly many stupid/corrupt things that news media companies should improve. I just don't think "A.P. News isn't calling $thing out" is the problem here.
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
    - hbarka 9mo ago
      Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy aren’t reading Ars Technica. You know where their eyes and ears are glued. Critical reading is reserved for the HN crowd.
- Hamuko 9mo ago
  This is 100% within my expectations of how long it would take.
- avree 9mo ago
  Don't really understand how "AI" ties into this. This administration has been photoshopping and editing pictures long before AI, here's https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-posts-altered-photos-to-facebook-and-instagram-that-make-him-look-thinner https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-p... some examples from 2019 where they used shops to make him thin.
  - WickyNilliams 9mo ago
    Yes of course this could've been done in photoshop. But a convincing Photoshop effort takes someone with years of experience working for likely hours. AI can churn out this kind of image in seconds, operated entirely by someone with zero skill or experience. It lowers the bar significantly, increasing the scope and scale of the output. For the same reason a fully automatic weapon is substantively different from a bolt action rifle, despite both being guns. It's also a fundamentally different scenario. Photoshoot-style touchups - likely at the request of the subject himself - for pure vanity, versus doctored images of an unwilling citizen (who presumably hasn't been convicted yet and is therefore considered innocent) as propaganda
- mhitza 9mo ago
  Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest. Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.
- Tadpole9181 9mo ago
  Not only did they make her cry, they also darkened her skin.
throwaway81523 9mo ago
Memes might continue but WH credibility won't. As if there was any in the first place.
- torlok 9mo ago
  The voter base doesn't care. Federal agents are sent to a state against the governor's will, a man gets shot and killed while carrying a holstered pistol, and all the MAGA 2nd amendment republicans think this was a justified killing because he had a gun on him.
  - invalidOrTaken 9mo ago
    > Federal > against the governor's will that's kind of the idea
    - UtopiaPunk 9mo ago
      Can you elaborate?
      - salawat 9mo ago
        A Federal intervention is generally not called for unless a State pointedly does not get with some Federal mandate or another. See desegregation in the South for another notable historic example. Of the Little Rock 9 in Arkansas: >When integration began on September 4, 1957, the Arkansas National Guard was called in to "preserve the peace". Originally at orders of the governor, they were meant to prevent the black students from entering due to claims that there was "imminent danger of tumult, riot and breach of peace" at the integration. However, President Eisenhower issued Executive order 10730,[18] which federalized the Arkansas National Guard and 1,000 soldiers from the US Army and ordered them to support the integration on September 23 of that year, after which they protected the African American students. The Arkansas National Guard would escort these nine black children inside the school as it became the students' daily routine that year. Ideally though, this type of intervention should be exceedingly rare or reserved for the most egregious cases. Unfortunately, the present administration sees only the mechanism, and is motivated more by pettiness than any real commitment to Statecraft.
phplovesong 9mo ago
The US has become such a disgusting place. A failed democracy.
- ku-man 9mo ago
  [dead]
- whateveracct 9mo ago
  Failing - I didn't hear no bell. We have a fascist President, yes. We will see if this means we have a fascist government within the next decade.
- loudmax 9mo ago
  As a US citizen, I'm proud of Minnesotans for standing up for American values.
  - mothballed 9mo ago
    It's nice that they're doing it. And they are certainly the bravest we have to offer; much braver than you or I. That said, the bravest we have are asking that they please not be murdered. And then peacefully kneeling down to be executed, even when they are armed. Obviously this only emboldens the murderers. The options moving forward look bleak.
    - spencerflem 9mo ago
      I’m not convinced we’d be in a better place if the ICE officer had been shot in self defense. It’s a really powerful story and cements to ‘normal people’ who are just barely following the news what ICE is like. FWIW I do think things might be different later but there’s still a lot of room for escalation left
    - filoeleven 9mo ago
      The instant there is armed pushback, Trump will declare martial law. It's entirely plausible that had there not been so many people with cameras around, this would have been used as the excuse. The best thing to do is to be out there recording everything. You are right that they are emboldened, so you're putting yourself in danger by filming. When people continue to do that despite the danger, and despite the internal or external pressure to escalate, it shows more people what's really happening. I've witnessed people change their position on ICE's actions based on the video evidence of the last killing. Videos 1 and 2 weren't convincing to them, but the 3rd angle was. That's important, because they now know that the administration is lying in the face of directly contradicting evidence.
cocodill 9mo ago
[flagged]
SilverElfin 9mo ago
Here’s a direct link to the tweet from the White House deputy communications director that said this, after being caught red handed altering photos to spread propaganda and lying to the public: https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358 https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358 Even crazier is the reply further down on that post from the deputy press secretary, Abigail Jackson, making fun of people who debunked that post like Snopes: https://xcancel.com/abigailmarone/status/2014411002561863790 https://xcancel.com/abigailmarone/status/2014411002561863790 It’s horrifying but shows that they’re completely shameless about lying. And shameless about being aggressive and obscene. You see this from the other people too like press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who regularly abuses journalists asking reasonable questions. And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess.
- squigz 9mo ago
  > And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess. I'd just like to say that judging public perception based on online comments, in 2026, is probably not a good indicator at all. Sort of ironic having to point this out in a thread about AI faked images, but...
  - hhh 9mo ago
    Why? There’s plenty of people disavowing their actions and plenty supporting them. There will be plenty of blue checkmarks with full face shown selfdoxxing while they gleefully call for more to be killed.
    - squigz 9mo ago
      There is lots of propaganda being pushed online with fake accounts. Checkmarks and pictures of a face do not make a real account.
      - 9mo ago
webdoodle 9mo ago
The only reason A.I. is being pushed is to control the narrative, because human moderators can still choose to let the counter message slip through.
secabeen 9mo ago
Slander and libel laws are complicated, but she should have a pretty good case: - The defendant knew or should have know that he or she was making an untrue or defamatory statement about you. (Yes, they edited the photo.) - The false statement must clearly identify you. (It's a clear photo.) - The defendant must have spread the false information to at least one third party who is not the target. For a libel case, they must do so in print, and for a slander case, they must do so verbally. (They posted it on Social Media.) - The false statement must have damaged your character in some way. (Probably? This is the hardest one, but it's reasonable that the message that a "Far-Left" agitator would cry when arrested, rather than being stoic and strong could cause damage to her reputation or character. https://askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov/legalresearch/faq/367713 https://askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov/legalresearch/faq/3677...
- Drunk_Engineer 9mo ago
  IANAL but she could also have a good case that it will be impossible for her to get a fair trial. Some potential jurors will have seen these doctored photos. With the prosecution putting out obviously false info then it calls into question their credibility and any other evidence presented at trial.
- mothballed 9mo ago
  [flagged]
- alright2565 9mo ago
  The supreme court will declare them immune to the suit, if they haven't already done so.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- smw 9mo ago
  Federal government can't be sued for defamation. "Federal sovereign immunity" basically says the government can't be sued unless it agrees to waive the immunity, and it doesn't for defamation cases.
ronbenton 9mo ago
It seems you can always without fail count on this administration to do the wrong thing
- andrewflnr 9mo ago
  You really can. Even when they superficially appear to have a good idea, or a middling idea with a potentially good side effect, they consistently find a way to mess up the details and dodge any potential good outcomes.
- verdverm 9mo ago
  look at their court briefings, they try do the same thing illegal in as many ways as possible, the goal is to break as much as they can, the constitution being a primary target #Project2025
codyb 9mo ago
[flagged]
- codyb 9mo ago
  Non-violent protest only! Encouraged by me based on successes at Selma, in India, and in response to the killing of George Floyd. It's a long, inexorable march, but violence only perpetuates more violence and reduces sympathy for the protest movement.
  - filoeleven 9mo ago
    Not sure why this is being downvoted. It's from the same poster who just gave all the info. It mirrors what is working in Minneapolis. It shows public outrage at what is happening. The absence of violence in the crowd makes it even clearer that ICE are the ones provoking incidents. It helps city and state officials make their case that their people need protection from ICE, not the other way around.
    - codyb 9mo ago
      There's a lot of folk out here downvoting my protest and boycott encouragement. I just assume they're do nothing goobers or worse. The sad fact is, even most of the people who're sympathetic to democracy and human rights will do just about zero to protect or fight for them. I don't really know what else to do though, so I keep trying!
      - paperwallet 9mo ago
        Working with your local government and particpating in it will create greater change because you have the ability to influence laws at a local level. From there, it opens doors to working with towns and eventually the state. States have the power to override Federal laws in greater numbers. This is by design. If you dont understand how your country works, the systems that run it, then you will fail. Awareness helps, but it rarely changes things. Participating in the democratic process creates the potential for change before it's too late.
danorama 9mo ago
Not to be too reductive, but while there are some amazing technical achievements there, generative AI seems to be really good for individuals (particularly wealthy ones) and bad for society as a whole. I can create lots of neat new things for my own purposes while social trust dissolves in a sea of slop. Collective action problems are just the worst.
Swoerd 9mo ago
[dead]
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
Herring 9mo ago
Reminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance. Europe found that out the hard way, and America is in the early stages of realizing it.
- morgengold 9mo ago
  If we (Europe) are not careful, we will have to find out this pretty soon again.
  - Herring 9mo ago
    It's so tricky. You can do most things right like Denmark/Netherlands, then you mess up just one (housing) and the far-right surges. Now you can't import immigrants to deal with your aging population, which means you're on a timer. Or your neighbor goes far-right (US, maybe eventually Germany/France) and suddenly they start objecting to your internal policies (eg regulating big tech). Or Russia+Covid combo suddenly inflating all kinds of prices, and again the far right surges. I think it's going to be a dramatic few decades.
    - morgengold 9mo ago
      Yes, extremely tricky. Imo the current ruling class just needs to mess up just on thing, because there is a deep underlaying discontent with the subjectively felt way of living in our modern societies. So housing / migrants are just the spark.
HtmlProgrammer 9mo ago
This is very upsetting to see. I am more and more concerned for my American based friends by the day
taylodl 9mo ago
Can you imagine what Goebbel could have accomplished with the tools we have today? Unfortunately, now we don't have to.
whateveracct 9mo ago
> [flagged] Now surely, this won't stay removed from the front page. This is highly relevant to tech current events and therefore HN.
salamanderman 9mo ago
Hey fellow nerds, never forget that your inventions will be turned into a weapon. We must always consider how dangerous that weapon will be. And there you go, generative AI being used by an authoritarian government to slander and defame political opponents. It's not the first time, I'm sure, and they've been using it for propaganda memes and NFT trash for a while, but this is the most blatant I've seen. It's not obviously altered, it's very believable, and it's for a minor dissident, a protest organizer. I'm really scared.
danorama 9mo ago
[flagged]
- miltonlost 9mo ago
  Glad you love fascism and don't think its use of Gen AI is worth discussing
  - whateveracct 9mo ago
    (it was sarcasm i'm p sure)
  - danorama 9mo ago
    Apologies. I forget the /s is mandatory in 2026, since the world is so weird that it's really not obvious any more.
    - miltonlost 9mo ago
      Ah, I had replied before your parenthetical addition. That portion made the /s clear.
ChrisArchitect 9mo ago
[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725268
JohnTHaller 9mo ago
Link for when MAGA flags it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755734 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755734
dev_256 9mo ago
Damn, HN is turning into Reddit, fast.
1attice 9mo ago
How is this flagged? Deepfakes aren't a tech story now? HN reveals itself again as the manicured lawn of the fascist tranche of our industry

343 points by wmeredith 9mo ago

There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very quickly. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota civil rights attorney, being arrested at a political protest. A half hour later, the official White House X account posted an altered version in which Armstrong’s face was manipulated to make it appear that she was crying. Wild to see this tech get adopted so fast and so unapologetically used.

miltonlost 9mo ago
If only everyone could have predicted this happen!
jjbinx007 9mo ago
It's already got to the point that if I see an interesting video showing a cute animal doing something or a natural disaster my first thought is "Is this AI?"
- MattDaEskimo 9mo ago
  Makes one wonder what the other, more horrific side of this looks like, and how law enforcement and even begin to separate truth from fiction
  - techterrier 9mo ago
    In this instance, we've already got law enforcement using fiction to obfuscate fact. Probably not long before we see sora style videos of a 'new angle' of a controversial event, showing that the protestor / victim did in face have a gun / deserve it
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
    - anon7725 9mo ago
      Since many people are primed for this video to confirm their worldview, it doesn't even need to be that good. It will spread like wildfire, and its debunking won't. Technically, there is no reason why this can't be done today.
  - boothby 9mo ago
    Only, it's members of the federal government overtly spreading disinformation and laughing about it. It will be a miracle if anything is left of the law enforcement and judiciary that would push back in three years' time.
matthewdgreen 9mo ago
There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.
- GrowingSideways 9mo ago
  [dead]
- davidivadavid 9mo ago
  The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.
  - mothballed 9mo ago
    Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.
    - PearlRiver 9mo ago
      Many tech bros have always been racist and misogynist.
  - spwa4 9mo ago
    They shamed themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI Unfortunately ... it's all of them.
- coldpie 9mo ago
  I don't even know what a realistic plan to fix this looks like. How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet? Nuremberg-style trials for every single person working under this administration is obviously the base minimum to start to get a handle on this. Anyone who is not pushing for that is not being serious about tackling America's problems. Then what? Extreme anti-trust enforcement and implement wealth caps to prevent the harm from recurring and hope most of the population eventually comes back to planet Earth?
hbarka 9mo ago
Their vulgarity goes beyond tech and are unapologetic about it. They get to do it because mass media fails to call the lies. Over and over.
- zbentley 9mo ago
  > mass media fails to call the lies That can't be all it is: this and other recent, uncontroversially atrocious (when taken out of political context) actions taken by the Trump administration were very widely reported as lies/unconscionable by the vast majority of media outlets large and small. Hell, we're even only having this discussion because Ars Technica, a publication with ten million readers, did journalism about an event. That's not huge in the grander scheme, but it's not tiny either. There's certainly many stupid/corrupt things that news media companies should improve. I just don't think "A.P. News isn't calling $thing out" is the problem here.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
  - hbarka 9mo ago
    Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy aren’t reading Ars Technica. You know where their eyes and ears are glued. Critical reading is reserved for the HN crowd.
Hamuko 9mo ago
This is 100% within my expectations of how long it would take.
avree 9mo ago
Don't really understand how "AI" ties into this. This administration has been photoshopping and editing pictures long before AI, here's https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-posts-altered-photos-to-facebook-and-instagram-that-make-him-look-thinner https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-p... some examples from 2019 where they used shops to make him thin.
- WickyNilliams 9mo ago
  Yes of course this could've been done in photoshop. But a convincing Photoshop effort takes someone with years of experience working for likely hours. AI can churn out this kind of image in seconds, operated entirely by someone with zero skill or experience. It lowers the bar significantly, increasing the scope and scale of the output. For the same reason a fully automatic weapon is substantively different from a bolt action rifle, despite both being guns. It's also a fundamentally different scenario. Photoshoot-style touchups - likely at the request of the subject himself - for pure vanity, versus doctored images of an unwilling citizen (who presumably hasn't been convicted yet and is therefore considered innocent) as propaganda
mhitza 9mo ago
Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest. Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.
Tadpole9181 9mo ago
Not only did they make her cry, they also darkened her skin.

throwaway81523 9mo ago

Memes might continue but WH credibility won't. As if there was any in the first place.

torlok 9mo ago
The voter base doesn't care. Federal agents are sent to a state against the governor's will, a man gets shot and killed while carrying a holstered pistol, and all the MAGA 2nd amendment republicans think this was a justified killing because he had a gun on him.
- invalidOrTaken 9mo ago
  > Federal > against the governor's will that's kind of the idea
  - UtopiaPunk 9mo ago
    Can you elaborate?
    - salawat 9mo ago
      A Federal intervention is generally not called for unless a State pointedly does not get with some Federal mandate or another. See desegregation in the South for another notable historic example. Of the Little Rock 9 in Arkansas: >When integration began on September 4, 1957, the Arkansas National Guard was called in to "preserve the peace". Originally at orders of the governor, they were meant to prevent the black students from entering due to claims that there was "imminent danger of tumult, riot and breach of peace" at the integration. However, President Eisenhower issued Executive order 10730,[18] which federalized the Arkansas National Guard and 1,000 soldiers from the US Army and ordered them to support the integration on September 23 of that year, after which they protected the African American students. The Arkansas National Guard would escort these nine black children inside the school as it became the students' daily routine that year. Ideally though, this type of intervention should be exceedingly rare or reserved for the most egregious cases. Unfortunately, the present administration sees only the mechanism, and is motivated more by pettiness than any real commitment to Statecraft.

phplovesong 9mo ago

The US has become such a disgusting place. A failed democracy.

ku-man 9mo ago
[dead]
whateveracct 9mo ago
Failing - I didn't hear no bell. We have a fascist President, yes. We will see if this means we have a fascist government within the next decade.
loudmax 9mo ago
As a US citizen, I'm proud of Minnesotans for standing up for American values.
- mothballed 9mo ago
  It's nice that they're doing it. And they are certainly the bravest we have to offer; much braver than you or I. That said, the bravest we have are asking that they please not be murdered. And then peacefully kneeling down to be executed, even when they are armed. Obviously this only emboldens the murderers. The options moving forward look bleak.
  - spencerflem 9mo ago
    I’m not convinced we’d be in a better place if the ICE officer had been shot in self defense. It’s a really powerful story and cements to ‘normal people’ who are just barely following the news what ICE is like. FWIW I do think things might be different later but there’s still a lot of room for escalation left
  - filoeleven 9mo ago
    The instant there is armed pushback, Trump will declare martial law. It's entirely plausible that had there not been so many people with cameras around, this would have been used as the excuse. The best thing to do is to be out there recording everything. You are right that they are emboldened, so you're putting yourself in danger by filming. When people continue to do that despite the danger, and despite the internal or external pressure to escalate, it shows more people what's really happening. I've witnessed people change their position on ICE's actions based on the video evidence of the last killing. Videos 1 and 2 weren't convincing to them, but the 3rd angle was. That's important, because they now know that the administration is lying in the face of directly contradicting evidence.

cocodill 9mo ago

[flagged]

SilverElfin 9mo ago

Here’s a direct link to the tweet from the White House deputy communications director that said this, after being caught red handed altering photos to spread propaganda and lying to the public: https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358 https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358 Even crazier is the reply further down on that post from the deputy press secretary, Abigail Jackson, making fun of people who debunked that post like Snopes: https://xcancel.com/abigailmarone/status/2014411002561863790 https://xcancel.com/abigailmarone/status/2014411002561863790 It’s horrifying but shows that they’re completely shameless about lying. And shameless about being aggressive and obscene. You see this from the other people too like press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who regularly abuses journalists asking reasonable questions. And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess.

squigz 9mo ago
> And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess. I'd just like to say that judging public perception based on online comments, in 2026, is probably not a good indicator at all. Sort of ironic having to point this out in a thread about AI faked images, but...
- hhh 9mo ago
  Why? There’s plenty of people disavowing their actions and plenty supporting them. There will be plenty of blue checkmarks with full face shown selfdoxxing while they gleefully call for more to be killed.
  - squigz 9mo ago
    There is lots of propaganda being pushed online with fake accounts. Checkmarks and pictures of a face do not make a real account.
    - 9mo ago

webdoodle 9mo ago

The only reason A.I. is being pushed is to control the narrative, because human moderators can still choose to let the counter message slip through.

secabeen 9mo ago

Slander and libel laws are complicated, but she should have a pretty good case: - The defendant knew or should have know that he or she was making an untrue or defamatory statement about you. (Yes, they edited the photo.) - The false statement must clearly identify you. (It's a clear photo.) - The defendant must have spread the false information to at least one third party who is not the target. For a libel case, they must do so in print, and for a slander case, they must do so verbally. (They posted it on Social Media.) - The false statement must have damaged your character in some way. (Probably? This is the hardest one, but it's reasonable that the message that a "Far-Left" agitator would cry when arrested, rather than being stoic and strong could cause damage to her reputation or character. https://askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov/legalresearch/faq/367713 https://askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov/legalresearch/faq/3677...

Drunk_Engineer 9mo ago
IANAL but she could also have a good case that it will be impossible for her to get a fair trial. Some potential jurors will have seen these doctored photos. With the prosecution putting out obviously false info then it calls into question their credibility and any other evidence presented at trial.
mothballed 9mo ago
[flagged]
alright2565 9mo ago
The supreme court will declare them immune to the suit, if they haven't already done so.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
smw 9mo ago
Federal government can't be sued for defamation. "Federal sovereign immunity" basically says the government can't be sued unless it agrees to waive the immunity, and it doesn't for defamation cases.

ronbenton 9mo ago

It seems you can always without fail count on this administration to do the wrong thing

andrewflnr 9mo ago
You really can. Even when they superficially appear to have a good idea, or a middling idea with a potentially good side effect, they consistently find a way to mess up the details and dodge any potential good outcomes.
verdverm 9mo ago
look at their court briefings, they try do the same thing illegal in as many ways as possible, the goal is to break as much as they can, the constitution being a primary target #Project2025

codyb 9mo ago

[flagged]

codyb 9mo ago
Non-violent protest only! Encouraged by me based on successes at Selma, in India, and in response to the killing of George Floyd. It's a long, inexorable march, but violence only perpetuates more violence and reduces sympathy for the protest movement.
- filoeleven 9mo ago
  Not sure why this is being downvoted. It's from the same poster who just gave all the info. It mirrors what is working in Minneapolis. It shows public outrage at what is happening. The absence of violence in the crowd makes it even clearer that ICE are the ones provoking incidents. It helps city and state officials make their case that their people need protection from ICE, not the other way around.
  - codyb 9mo ago
    There's a lot of folk out here downvoting my protest and boycott encouragement. I just assume they're do nothing goobers or worse. The sad fact is, even most of the people who're sympathetic to democracy and human rights will do just about zero to protect or fight for them. I don't really know what else to do though, so I keep trying!
    - paperwallet 9mo ago
      Working with your local government and particpating in it will create greater change because you have the ability to influence laws at a local level. From there, it opens doors to working with towns and eventually the state. States have the power to override Federal laws in greater numbers. This is by design. If you dont understand how your country works, the systems that run it, then you will fail. Awareness helps, but it rarely changes things. Participating in the democratic process creates the potential for change before it's too late.

danorama 9mo ago

Not to be too reductive, but while there are some amazing technical achievements there, generative AI seems to be really good for individuals (particularly wealthy ones) and bad for society as a whole. I can create lots of neat new things for my own purposes while social trust dissolves in a sea of slop. Collective action problems are just the worst.

Swoerd 9mo ago

[dead]

deleted 9mo ago

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Herring 9mo ago

Reminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance. Europe found that out the hard way, and America is in the early stages of realizing it.

morgengold 9mo ago
If we (Europe) are not careful, we will have to find out this pretty soon again.
- Herring 9mo ago
  It's so tricky. You can do most things right like Denmark/Netherlands, then you mess up just one (housing) and the far-right surges. Now you can't import immigrants to deal with your aging population, which means you're on a timer. Or your neighbor goes far-right (US, maybe eventually Germany/France) and suddenly they start objecting to your internal policies (eg regulating big tech). Or Russia+Covid combo suddenly inflating all kinds of prices, and again the far right surges. I think it's going to be a dramatic few decades.
  - morgengold 9mo ago
    Yes, extremely tricky. Imo the current ruling class just needs to mess up just on thing, because there is a deep underlaying discontent with the subjectively felt way of living in our modern societies. So housing / migrants are just the spark.

HtmlProgrammer 9mo ago

This is very upsetting to see. I am more and more concerned for my American based friends by the day

taylodl 9mo ago

Can you imagine what Goebbel could have accomplished with the tools we have today? Unfortunately, now we don't have to.

whateveracct 9mo ago

> [flagged] Now surely, this won't stay removed from the front page. This is highly relevant to tech current events and therefore HN.

salamanderman 9mo ago

Hey fellow nerds, never forget that your inventions will be turned into a weapon. We must always consider how dangerous that weapon will be. And there you go, generative AI being used by an authoritarian government to slander and defame political opponents. It's not the first time, I'm sure, and they've been using it for propaganda memes and NFT trash for a while, but this is the most blatant I've seen. It's not obviously altered, it's very believable, and it's for a minor dissident, a protest organizer. I'm really scared.

danorama 9mo ago

[flagged]

miltonlost 9mo ago
Glad you love fascism and don't think its use of Gen AI is worth discussing
- whateveracct 9mo ago
  (it was sarcasm i'm p sure)
- danorama 9mo ago
  Apologies. I forget the /s is mandatory in 2026, since the world is so weird that it's really not obvious any more.
  - miltonlost 9mo ago
    Ah, I had replied before your parenthetical addition. That portion made the /s clear.

ChrisArchitect 9mo ago

[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725268

JohnTHaller 9mo ago

Link for when MAGA flags it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755734 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755734

dev_256 9mo ago

Damn, HN is turning into Reddit, fast.

1attice 9mo ago

How is this flagged? Deepfakes aren't a tech story now? HN reveals itself again as the manicured lawn of the fascist tranche of our industry