Dad Minus One

I came across this Instagram user in America named Elly Maye Blanco and what she posted was fascinating, horrifying and validating all at the same time.

So Elly has been running these little social media experiments for a while, trying to discern just how much of the content we engage and interact with is artificial.

To test out her theory that most of it was artificial, she used the Lindsay Clancy trial as a test case and uploaded a video of herself saying absolute word salad, with highly disconnected phraseology in a particular register to try and attract the swarm.

“Justice. Women. Unfair. Men. Innocent. Guilty. Male judge...”

Nothing more than a few key buzzwords and an inflection that would trigger the attention of some automated accounts.

After that, she sat back and watched as the algorithmic tide brought the trash in.

Within hours her comment section was flooded with accounts furiously arguing against a position she never took, deriding her look, intellect, physical ability and character. She was accused of being a sympathiser with school shooters, attacked and advised that men were the rulers of society, and torn down - all by accounts which looked legitimate, but didn’t actually even exist IRL - they were just artificially created interference arguing against a video about absolutely nothing.

And that’s the critical take away here.

It’s now harder than ever to identify whether you’re arguing with someone authentic but misguided or if you’ve entered a slanging match with a bot. They are summoned based on a signal, and it’s why some of the news comment sections look more like dystopic wastelands than thinktanks of society.

The cadence, keywords and engagement bait summoned them.

But before you think this s**t is isolated, it’s important to note this is consistent across the playing field and the actual numbers behind it are grim.

2024 showed us that for the first time since the internet was created, 51% of all web traffic generated was accounted for by bots, with only 49% made up of genuine human interactions.

Malicious bad faith bots make up 40% of everything online today and by 2025 that figure had crept to 53% and 47% respectively and attacks originating from AI agents or platforms spiked 12x.

Research firm graphite has been tracking all articles published online and since November of 2024 more AI content has been published than human. More than half of everything now produced online is machine written.

Bear that in mind the next time you’re contemplating entering a screaming match with a certain orange coloured group of tribalists.

I think the most fu**ed thing for me though, is that this s**t is happening across the spectrum of politics, human rights, conflict and any other polarising subject.

I’ve been running my own little crude experiment for a couple of months. I take the content of a few pages I admire or who align with my world views and I run their content through the AI filter.

100% AI generated content.

Then I see another page vehemently dissecting their stuff and clinically ‘debunking’ in a way that I don’t agree with, but that sounds convincing if you don’t know any better.

Again. 100% AI generated content.

We’re literally at the point where AI platforms are yelling at themselves in the mirror and the people left are standing around picking sides.

There’s always a margin of error in any exercise like this, so I would never make any concrete accusations, but when you’ve read enough of this nonsense, you get pretty good at whiffing out the bulls**t. It’s almost disheartening that this s**t has come so far, so quickly though, that it’s getting harder and harder to spot the difference.

But there’s a purpose to all of this.

It’s a war of attrition and the end goal is to convince you that all your neighbours are unhinged, that the opposite viewpoints are complete monsters, and that you should isolate yourself because almost everyone is cooked (that, and an angry and isolated population are far easier to steer and manipulate).

Outrage is the cheapest fuel there is, and right now moreso than ever before, genuine human connection is the lifeblood that will see us through this god awful period in history.

The next time you feel your blood boiling because of a vile or outrageous comment, video or interaction you see, check for all the tells.

Locked accounts, sudden spike in activity, miniscule number of friends, number of followers, 4000 digits at the end of their username. None of these are certainties (and tbh, there are still authentic and genuine flogs out there in the world) but it may save you the time and effort of arguing with a toaster.

For me, I see the writing on the wall. I think the timeline for posting on these platforms is extremely limited, and I’m trying to come up with a solution that maintains this community which doesn’t rely on our billionaire tech overlords.

But in the meantime, save your energy and maintain your connectivity with the important humans in your world.

Authentic human community is king 💪🏻💙

-D-1

“bUt I aLwAyS sTaY aPoLiTiCaL”

Correction. You speak up on issues that are convenient and won’t damage your brand.

Snivelling coward.

🇵🇸💪🏻❤️

This has honestly made my day.

Excellent work as always by Van.

FINALLY! I guess it takes a houso from Sydney to stare down the evil supervillains.

Albo has announced: Australia will be introducing a “digital duty of care” act so we all don’t have to spend hours of our day in the EXHAUSTING daily fight through FORCE-FED bulls**t, lies and extremist propaganda for just trying to find out what the hell is going on in the world.

These laws will enable Australians to CHOOSE what they see online. At last at last at last. If you want the phone or computer to force you to look at something, you’ll have to opt-in.

What’s more, the e-safety commissioner will have new powers to protect kids under 18 from material trying to turn them into extremists - which is great news for everyone who thinks TERRORISM IS BAD.

Albo having the guts to do this is globally significant - because other politicians just don’t. What’s a bit of teen violence in the classroom… or crisis misinformation that puts your community at risk… or pro-eating disorder propaganda… when the tech barons have a lot of money and just might spend it on you?

Lots, pal. Lots.

Social media platforms are facing THOUSANDS of legal actions in the US brought by families, school districts and US state governments who claim their products are addictive and harmful.

NO S**T.

The platform you are on RIGHT NOW just settled to pay out an eye-watering $18bn to a combined suit from 29 US state governments who alleged the company “deliberately designed addictive products that hooked young people, leading to mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and su***de. The states additionally claimed the social media company regularly collected data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission in violation of federal and state laws” as per the Guardian.

As part of the settlement, the company denies wrongdoing.

Also, they just paid out $18 BILLION DOLLARS. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

It doesn’t matter if you think Albanese is an angel of light or the devil himself; for the sake of our kids, our right to CHOOSE what we consume and our combined mental health, our leader has the spine to stare down the richest people who have ever lived - and that makes me proud to be Australian. May the rest of the world join in. Enough is enough.

🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺

PS have a good look at the politicians complaining about Australians having power over OUR OWN FEEDS and ask yourself just what that might be about…

How would you feel if you discovered that a friend, family member, or colleague possessed thousands of graphic images depicting cartoon imagery of child abuse material?

What about if that material was photorealistic, in video form, and contained the depiction of simulated sexual acts with a child?

Would you feel comfortable visiting, spending time with them, or worse still, having your children in their physical presence?

How about if you saw that the images they possessed depicted not only generative abuse material from an AI platform that was near indistinguishable from actual humans, but that all the content that person possessed depicted children that looked eerily like your child?

Enough to make your skin crawl and reach for the shovel?

Well if you answered, ‘yes, that’s fu***ng vile’ like a normal human being, and were ready to throw hands at the mere prospect of the hypothetical, let me give you a fairly stern piece of life advice.

Stop. Uploading. Content. Of. Your. Children. To. Social. Media.

Before you think it’s overkill, a big ask, or super counterintuitive given you use the various platforms as a repository for cute videos, as a way to share stuff with your network, or as a way to keep friends and family located overseas abreast of what’s happening, I want you to digest this:

A ruling handed down by a federal judge as part of a three judge panel in the United States this past fortnight has effectively determined that American citizens are protected in their rights to possess simulated child sexual abuse material provided that material was created using AI and does not depict a ‘real person’.

Allow me to quote verbatim:

“The First Amendment protects an individual’s right to privately possess images or videos of child sexual abuse created using artificial intelligence — if the material does not depict a ‘real person’ and remains in the home, a federal appeals court judge ruled Tuesday. The decision came in a case that tested the scope of laws implemented before advances in AI made it easy to create realistic-looking fake images of children.”

Enough to jolt you away from oversharing on social media?

Or did you take a more flippant approach and think, “That’s wrong and disgusting – but at least they’re not real children”.

Well technically, you’re right – the law protects your child. But not a child built FROM your child.

You might also be dismissive and say 'yeah but that's America, what about Australia'.

Well here's where it gets even more fu**ed.

Allow me to pull verbatim from a second article from all the way back in 2024 (which you and I had no opt out for):

“…Facebook has admitted that it scrapes the public photos, posts and other data of Australian adult users to train its AI models and provides no opt-out option, even though it allows people in the European Union to refuse consent.

Meta's global privacy director Melinda Claybaugh was pressed at an inquiry as to whether the social media giant was hoovering up the data of all Australians in order to build its generative artificial intelligence tools, and initially rejected that claim.

(snip)…But that was quickly challenged by Greens senator David Shoebridge.

Shoebridge: "The truth of the matter is that unless you have consciously set those posts to private since 2007, Meta has just decided that you will scrape all of the photos and all of the texts from every public post on Instagram or Facebook since 2007, unless there was a conscious decision to set them on private. That's the reality, isn't it?

Claybaugh: "Correct."… “

Australian imagery, likenesses and photos of real life people were used by Meta to train up their AI on how to depict humans accurately.

And if you think that Meta is the only platform that’s using your private data to train its models, you’re naive and sadly mistaken.

The difference is now, that while the law plays catch up with the ever-evolving hellscape that is AI, there is a legal precedent which has been set by a three judge panel that effectively endorses those individuals based in the United States to privately possess images and likenesses, provided they can prove there are adequate layers of separation between the source material and a ‘real person’.

Even the judge who authored the findings acknowledges that the law isn’t equipped enough to deal with cases like this.

Now you won't be shocked to learn that this person is still being prosecuted, because (surprise surprise) they didn't just keep their vile depravity to themselves and proceeded to distribute it.

But if this s**t isn’t enough to, at minimum, enforce emergency regulation of the social media and tech platforms around the globe (and preferably a return to French haircuts with everything off the top in the middle of the street for those who control them) then I frankly don’t know what the f**k is.

Source articles below in the comments

-D-1

Latest article up on the stack looking at propaganda throughout history and how genuinely cooked we might all be in the modern era of AI.

Check it out if you like a longer read (link in the comments)

Lookalikes, but it’s just RFK Jr looking exactly like the food that’s been identified as contaminated and recalled under his watch.

The brain-worm is nothing if not versatile. 😎

So One Nation just won a working-class beachside Labor seat forty minutes south of Perth that Labor has held since 1989.

An 11.5 per cent Labor margin wiped out, coupled with a twenty-point drop in the primary vote, and we have a gym owner whose own party wouldn't let him debate the Greens candidate, installed as One Nation's first ever lower house MP in WA.

No doubt many of you would've seen that in recent times, more and more Australians have become engaged in the lack of taxes obtained from the resource companies and screaming at their representatives at both state and federal level to see OUR gas taxed properly.

I mean, we sit on top of one of the biggest gas reserves on earth and pay through the nose for power while the exporters post record quarters.

People are struggling to put groceries on their table while some MNCs continue posting billions of dollars in profits and are still paying $0 in tax.

Over here we in the lead up we had Roger Cook dramatically calling the campaign a fight for our lives and making it sound like the message from the community was being received loud and clear.

So, what did Labor do?

They turned up to the fight with a gas lobbyist who didn't even live inside the electorate and whose last job was government relations at Woodside.

Before that she worked for the federal resources minister and when a journalist asked whether she'd personally lobbied against a gas tax, she walked away and gave the silent treatment.

Talk about spitting in the face of your voter base.

This is the bigger issue at play that needs to be addressed, and one which Labor seems to be missing the point on.

I mean, you would've thought this would call for some actual leadership and intervention at the highest levels - and we did see Anthony Albanese fly into Perth the week before polling day.

Only he didn't go to Secret Harbour.

Nope.

He went to Mosman Park - Millionaire's row to be precise.

A suburb with a median house price of nearly 3 million dollars to attend a $10,000-a-head dinner in a mansion, supposedly to foster 'engagement' (to quote the man himself).

I promise you as a WA native who is all too familiar with that region of the world, there's not many residents inside of Secret Harbour who can afford to attend a function like that.

Not the bloke in Port Kennedy who can't get a GP appointment, just copped another power bill, and got offered a $100 fuel payment for his troubles.

Nor the NDIS participant who has had their scheme overhauled and their standard of living significantly reduced.

But you know who is attending events like this?

Lobbyists.

The ultra wealthy.

The top 1%.

That s**t's chump change to them.

And that's the major problem here as a once rusted on Labor voter.

The Australian population handed Labor a thumping majority last year.

That was a mandate to govern for the people who elected them and actually give a f**k about their community.

People want LESS corporate influence.

LESS lobbying.

LESS foreign governments buying whatever PR and decision making it feels like.

LESS religious lobbies making everyone's lives a misery.

LESS 'independent' (*cough* right wing) think-tanks spewing hate and rhetoric about minorities, while simultaneously watching the personal wealth of their backers skyrocket.

LESS data centres chewing through our power and water and obliterating our planet.

And LESS of big tech harvesting every scrap of our lives while Canberra shrugs.

Labor heard all of that at both state and federal level, nodded along, and installed the lobbyist anyway.

Because f**k you, that's why.

But there's a harsh truth in all of this that we'll all end up paying the price for if they don't sort their s**t.

History doesn't repeat itself - but f**k me if it doesn't rhyme an awful lot.

When people are frightened, broke and ignored, history says they don't reach out for nuance and measured governance.

They reach for the strongarm who pokes blame at an easy victim, promises to fix everything, and eviscerate the boogeyman at the same time.

So, when both the major parties look like the same machine wearing different coloured ties, an opportunist grifter will always turn up promising to burn it all down - and they always deliver it to a vulnerable and scared audience demanding security and stability.

In 2026 that grifter is an orange haired idiot flying around in a $1.3 million plane gifted by the richest woman in Australia.

Billionaire-funded populism cosplaying as a people's revolt - the oldest trick in the book.

But taking a look at the general population of Secret Harbour, if I had to wager, I'd be extremely confident that most individuals who placed a 1 next to the One Nation candidate weren't doing so because of any of their policies (probably because they don’t exist).

This s**t was bigger than that.

This was a collective middle finger to what government in general is perceived to have become and the manner in which it feels so out of touch with the common man.

The problem is that a lot of Labor's power brokers at both a state and federal level were too busy at a corporate dinner for the highest bidders to even realise that the ballot box F.U. was actually pointed squarely at them.

People are struggling in this new world and they want to know that the leadership which represents them is working towards actual, meaningful, positive change.

The kind that costs someone powerful something.

Taxing the gas and eliminating the corporate loopholes exploited by the wealthiest organisations.

Introducing affordable housing measures - the CGT was a start, but how about actually holding some of these developers hoarding land accountable.

Shutting down the influence from the wealthiest individuals and corporate lobbyists whilst giving ACTUAL transparency about where funding is coming from.

Addressing the AI onslaught head on, while preventing the rubber stamping of data centres at the community's expense.

And regulating the data harvesting and the overreach by big tech while cutting through the lobbyist noise and governing like you give a f**k about the community (instead of just your future position in the boardroom and the people who line your pockets).

Do even some of that, and this orange tide of dribble goes back out as quick as it came in.

Keep maintaining the status quo and Secret Harbour goes from being a warning shot to a bloodbath that will be replicated across the other state and federal ballots when the time comes.

-D-1

Man s**t, the world got a whole lot sadder today.

Dolly was a giant who embodied kindness, was fiercely supportive of lifting those up who were less fortunate and used her own personal wealth to support healthcare, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to support childhood health, literacy and support.

She did this for decades without the need for fanfare or acknowledgement, and the fact that this was just a side project to what was a remarkable singing career is testament to how wholesome and well rounded an individual she truly was.

Jolene is one of the single greatest songs of all time (so much so that my then 3 year old heard it once and proceeded to sing it everywhere she went, much to the amusement of her childcare at the time) and her list goes on and on.

Infectious personality, humble and always focused on those who helped her succeed.

It's hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world but somehow Dolly achieved it.

And that’s why this one hurts more than most.

💔

-D-1

YESSSSS 💚💛

Hey Melbourne followers!

If you happen to be attending the pregnancy, babies and children’s expo then you can come see me this weekend!

It’s true, I am now in your fair state.

I’ll be attending the expo both days talking all things immunisation and sharing Riley’s story.

Alternatively if you can’t make that, then you can also come see me at Fed Square causing a ruckus at an obnoxious hour watching the Socceroos 😎😂

Hope to see some of you legends there 🤰🏼

💚💛