TikTok Spammers and the ‘A.I.’ Tools That Enable Them ⇥ youtube.com

Jason Koebler, 404 Media:

We have recently been getting bombarded with Instagram Reels of influencers explaining how they make five figures a month by using AI to create tons of viral TikTok pages using stolen celebrity clips juxtaposed next to Minecraft gameplay footage. This strategy, the influencers say, allows them to passively make $10,000 a month by flooding social media platforms with stolen and low-effort clips while working from private helicopters, the beach, the ski slope, a park, etc.

What I found was a complex ecosystem of content parasitism, with thousands of people using a variety of AI tools to make low-quality spammy videos that recycle Reddit AMAs, weird “Would You Rather” games, AI-narrated “scary ocean” clips, ChatGPT-generated fun facts, slideshows of tweets, clips lifted from celebrities, YouTubers, and podcasts.

Abbie Richards, in a video for Media Matters co-presented with “Joe Rogan”:

So that’s how you make a conspiracy theory video, but the more important question is “why?”

Remember when I said that the videos need to be over sixty seconds long? The reason is because art really requires that people be present in the moment and pause and really listen to — I’m kidding, the reason is money.

In case you needed another reason to watch it, this video contains the sentence “I don’t feel like ‘spooky sea shanty’ is the right vibe for Play-Doh conspiracy theory”.