New Disinformation and Old Diseases feat. Anna Merlan (E328)
Added 2025-06-15 04:32:42 +0000 UTCHundreds of people have been arrested in Los Angeles after days of protests, which are in response to aggressive immigration raids ordered by President Trump. When people took to social media to make sense of the events, they were confronted with fake, AI-generated videos of the protests. They also saw real photos that were labelled as out-of-context by AI. Thus breaking new ground in worthless, deceitful slop.
Plus, we speak to Anna Merlan at Mother Jones about her recent reporting on the RFK Jr.-connected “MAHA Institute.” That organization’s head, Leland Lehrman, has pushed extremist ideas for decades, including endorsing the conspiracist fraudulent text "Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” RFK Jr. himself is evidently embracing a genuinely anti-vax agenda in his role as Health Secretary by firing and replacing the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP).
We've seen the future. And the future is an AI chatbot telling you to treat your latest typhus infection with apple cider vinegar.
Thank you for being a QAA subscriber!
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Anna Merlan on Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/annamerlan.bsky.social
The Head of a New RFK-Backing Group Promoted 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Flaming Hydra
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Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
REFERENCES
Bricks from Malaysia and New Jersey misrepresented amid LA unrest
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.49XW2T2
FACT FOCUS: A Craigslist ad is not proof of paid protesters in LA. It was posted as a prank
Fake videos and conspiracies fuel falsehoods about Los Angeles protests
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fake-videos-conspiracies-falsehoods-los-angeles-protests/
Los Angeles protests: How AI and chatbots are feeding fake news
AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse
https://www.wired.com/story/grok-chatgpt-ai-los-angeles-protest-disinformation/
Comments
Ugh, I love y'all, but every time you talk about AI I wish you would just actually learn what it is. "We are getting to the point where AI is so good that people are accusing real photos of being AI." This has been true for almost two years. We are getting to the point where AI is so good that people will be accusing real VIDEOS of being AI
bobore
2025-06-21 01:03:37 +0000 UTCPlease leave AO3 alone, Snake!
Virgil918
2025-06-20 03:26:39 +0000 UTCUnrelated, I was wondering if everyone had gone out drinking before recording this. Then realized I had accidentally set it to . 75x speed. Whoops. Great episode
Misselenaus
2025-06-18 03:18:47 +0000 UTCYa but the Elders of Zion had to be better than the Young Whippersnappers of Zion, right? Right?
Glenn Wiens
2025-06-17 06:57:33 +0000 UTCI really appreciate Julian's deadpan honesty about our situation, and it's time people stop trying to dumb it down with nostalgia/self medication. Democracy comes by the barrel of a gun.
Jeremy
2025-06-17 00:32:39 +0000 UTCI’m really glad I’m just a lil dog and I don’t understand anything they said here. I just like the sound of Jake’s voice. He seems nice.
Your dog
2025-06-16 22:59:19 +0000 UTCSlipping that goonies reference in there at the end
Shifty Comfort
2025-06-16 20:58:18 +0000 UTCThe energy between Jake and Julian is so good lately lol
Sebastian Pickett
2025-06-16 20:48:19 +0000 UTC
