"An AI-generated video shows a crowd of young - mostly black - men, wearing balaclavas and padded jackets, slipping down a water slide into a dirty swimming pool with litter bobbing on the surface. The caption describes the scene as a taxpayer-funded water park in Croydon. It is one of a wave of deepfakes showing often absurd scenes of urban decline, and regularly purporting to be in the same south London neighbourhood."
"The creator, who uses the online handle RadialB, says he didn't expect to spawn copycats or be politically provocative. He says his content is intended to be funny - but that he also wants people to believe his fake scenes are real to grab their attention. "If people saw it and they immediately knew it was fake, then they would just scroll. The selling point of generative AI models is that they look real," RadialB tells me over the phone."
AI-generated videos depict scenes of urban decay, including crowds of young, mostly black men in balaclavas sliding into littered pools, labeled as taxpayer-funded facilities in Croydon. The clips are deepfakes that form part of a broader trend portraying Western cities as overrun by immigrants and crime, often called "decline porn." Dozens of copycat accounts have replicated similar content and collectively amassed millions of views on TikTok and Instagram Reels. These fabricated or exaggerated narratives fuel anger and racist backlash among viewers who accept them as genuine. The creator using the handle RadialB says the content is meant to be funny, seeks believability to capture attention, did not expect copycats or political provocation, and refuses to reveal his real name.
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]