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Ben West 🦋

@benwest.bsky.social
3.1K followers 3.1K following 1.6K posts

"Seasoned" campaigner & aspiring computer whisperer. Anxious dog person. Rewiring broken systems. BenWest.blog Climate solutions, democratization, infosec and anti-surveillance advocate. He/They 🍉 📍Huron-Wendat and Anishinaabek Territory

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 8h
This was the moment our PM announced support for what they are now calling the Pacific Link pipeline which would send an additional 1 million barrels per day of oilsands crude to the coast. I'm all for diversifying trading partners away from the US but this isn't that... #cdnpoli #bcpoli #climate
PM Mark Carney and Albertas Premier Danielle Smith in Fort McMurry announcing support for a new dangerous oilsands diluted bituemen pipeline. They are st s podium that says csnsds strong for all and are flanked in the background by workers in hard hats. Carney and Smith look very happy yet it makes me very sad.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 15h
New from @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me: "It is high time for us to regulate usage of systems sold as “AI”, not because they are magical machines, but because they are error-prone products that shouldn’t be used in high stakes scenarios." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Forget ‘superintelligence’: error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month | Timnit Gebru and Emily M Bender
The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 29/09/2026
Meta's "Muse" launched with a nasty zero day flaw that gave hackers the ability to spy on Mac users, openly gives root access to people pretending to be Muse agents, and invited strangers over to another guy's house without telling him
karlbode.com
Meta's Latest AI Product Is A Terrifying And Hilarious Mess
Authoritarian-friendly mass surveillance has never been more adorable
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404 Media @404media.co · 30/09/2026
BREAKING: The Trump administration is using a grant program from the 1980s to force cities around the US to funnel their ongoing collection of Flock, Axon, and other ALPR data into large federal surveillance centers that fall under the White House’s jurisdiction, 404 Media has learned
404media.co
How Cities Are Forced to Funnel License Plate Data to a Massive Federal Surveillance Program
How the federal government built a massive database of license plate reader data through an anti-drug trafficking program.
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Max Ufberg @maxuf.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Over the summer, I visited Ukraine’s hidden offices and testing fields to meet the startups, soldiers, and government engineers making cutting-edge AI weapons at a pace the rest of the world is scrambling to match. Read more @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91611099/ins...
fastcompany.com
Inside Ukraine’s secretive tech world building the future of war
I visited Kyiv’s hidden offices and testing fields to meet the startups, soldiers, and government engineers making cutting-edge weapons at a pace the rest of the world is scrambling to match.
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I'm so mad at David Eby right now... This election in the midst of the "trade war" is not only unnecessary and short sighted. The Trump regime has two more years in power. The next election in BC wasnt needed for two more years. He's about to potentially hand over power to pro trump folks in BC.
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🗝️🐍🦉🌙 Dolly 🗡️ Dagger 🍉🇺🇦📚🌈 @dollydagger6.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
WHO DID THIS
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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We can’t allow this man to get within striking distance of a viable presidential candidacy.
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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This conversation with @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social couldn't be more timely. With the AI industry talking about *its own products' potential to cause human extinction* we drill into who might still want to build such technology, and why. Hint: it's in the title of their new book.
bloodinthemachine.com
The End Times Fascists of AI, ft. Naomi Klein + Astra Taylor
Listen now (64 mins) | A conversation with Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor about “end times fascism” in the tech industry.
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404 Media @404media.co · 03/09/2026
Flock taught cops how they could surveil the No Kings protests and “small parades” using a mix of Flock’s technology and law enforcement’s own databases in a webinar last year. Here's a short clip from the webinar: @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports: www.404media.co/flock-taught...
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Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 03/09/2026
FBI tells me it's investigating the suspected breach at IDScan after a crime site let anyone to search the driver's licenses of 150+ million people, including the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. A DOD spox. told me it's aware and "evaluating" the report. Bypass for ad-blockers: archive.ph/5xFMq
techcrunch.com
It sure looks like hackers breached a major ID card verification service | TechCrunch
An identity theft search site claimed to have more than 150 million driver's license photos stolen from an ID verification service. The crime site has now shut down.
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Cynthia Brumfield @metacurity.com · 02/09/2026
Super scary - an identity theft service called Nexus is offering digital scans of identity documents for more than 170 million people in North America, including scans at airports and cannabis dispensaries. Krebs says the details check out. krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-...
krebsonsecurity.com
FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses – Krebs on Security
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Charles Rusnell @charlesrusnell.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The U.S. ambassador to Canada reposted this
Repost by American ambassador to Canada Pete Hoeskstra of a Whitehouse post of an AI-generated photo of an eagle killing a Canada goose.
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Surveillance cameras are in Canada now... youtube.com/watch?v=5ojU... #deflock #cdnpoli #surveillance #privacy
youtube.com
Canadian police quietly deploying AI-powered cameras, sensors
YouTube video by CBC News: The National
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 26/08/2026
A democratic socialist AND a member of the Chickasaw Nation?!
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I could not be more grateful for @avilewis.ca being out there speaking on behalf of Canada in the midst if the most stupid trade war in history. youtu.be/5gEJOTQg0pY?... And thank you to @democracynow.org who have been doing some of the most important journalism on earth for decades. #cdnpoli
youtu.be
“Most Stupid Trade Fight in History”: U.S. & Canadian Workers Lose in Trump’s New Tariff War
YouTube video by Democracy Now!
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Fight for the Future @fightforthefuture.org · 20/08/2026
We joined @wearecasa.bsky.social @eff.org @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social along with other civil rights & privacy groups calling out data brokers who are sharing Maryland residents sensitive data with federal agents in violation of state law. www.npr.org/2026/08/20/n...
npr.org
Privacy advocates call on Maryland to investigate data brokers
Maryland has one of the strictest data privacy laws in the country. But privacy advocates allege that data brokers are violating the law by selling data to police and federal immigration agencies.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 20/08/2026
It was just racist bullshit
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Maddening bs as usual from Trump. He's posting AI slop about Keystone XL pipeline being back from the grave. And meanwhile the proposal requires State approvals, is a smaller pipe and only goes to Wyoming instead of Texas. Se routed to void Montana. Everything is a psyop with him. #cdnpoli
CBC news showing the ridiculous AI slop that President Trump shared on his social media. It's DJT holding onto a big falic pipeline coming up between his spread legs next to a tombstone that reads burried by Biden and ofcourse a couple America flags. Honestly it's so dumb I wouldn't be surprised if he made it himself with Grok or some SuperGrok BS he uses. The only upside was getting to listen to CBC reporters try to carefully describe what they are looking at. A screen shot from CBC news showing the route of the proposed Keystone XL "Bridger" pipeline, which makes clear that this is in fact not at all the keystone pipeline. Don't get me wrong, we need to be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels not expanding it. This proposal is bad too. But it's not Keystone XL. Just wanted to point that out. They can argue it's a first step towards thus being built, albeit smaller. But that isn't the point of course. Its about keystone XL as a symbol. What's notable is how they need to route around montano. Its funny in this diagram as you see the pipeline route proposal now going way out of its way and turning a couple times to stay outside of that state.
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Joe Uchill @joeuchill.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
So, uh, historically in China, Iran and Russia, a lot of cyber criminals are employees of intelligence agencies either moonlight in crime or intelligence. Tools from a major government contractor (I-Soon) in China were regularly used in crime. Someone is going to accidentally start a war.
nytimes.com
Trump Gives Green Light to U.S. Companies to Aim Hacks at Cybercriminals (Gift Article)
The practice would align the United States more closely with countries like China and Russia, where spy agencies have long relied on private-sector hackers to help with national security missions.
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Tom Gibson @tmgibs.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
469 federal judges ruled that ICE’s July 2025 detention memo was an illegal distortion of long-settled policy, triggering a historic judicial rebuke
politico.com
‘We’ve never seen anything like this’: ICE’s detention crackdown swamps the courts
Families, lawyers and judges describe a year of frantic emergency cases after ICE began detaining people who have lived in the U.S. for years.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
New from 404 Media: ICE to spend millions to buy data from LexisNexis to then feed into a Palantir system. ICE has long bought data from LexisNexis, which feds use to map out a person's addresses, location, assets, etc. But now explicitly want to use with Palantir www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-l...
404media.co
ICE to Pay LexisNexis Millions for Data to Feed to Palantir
LexisNexis sells a massive amount of data to law enforcement, including ICE. New records indicate ICE wants to feed that data into a Palantir system.
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
“Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles, it takes away today's peace.” – Unknown via @momentumdash.bsky.social
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
New: Flock planned to use cameras in hundreds of thousands of Uber, Lyft, and delivery driver vehicles as a way to collect more license plate data. Pitched the idea to an Attorney General. Would basically turn Uber/Lyft into roaming surveillance vehicles www.404media.co/flock-pitche...
404media.co
Flock Pitched a Plan To Turn Uber and Lyft Drivers Into Roaming Surveillance Vehicles
A Flock presentation shows the company planned to use around 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers to collect license plate data for its surveillance system.
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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson @ayanaeliza.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Well worth listening to what Ayisha Siddiqa has to say — on climate, law, and culture. Always a pleasure to be in conversation with her. Bonus: includes a stunning poem she wrote. ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/on-the-rig...
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com
On the rights of future generations. 🌱 (Plus,poetry.)
An interview with phenom Ayisha Siddiqa, my nominee for Cultured Magazine's 2026 young activist list.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
“The tornadoes were canceled by the wildfire smoke” is a particularly apocalyptic phrase. I’m not home in Maine right now (where this was happening), but I’m feeling the climate crisis in my body today, as I grapple with a bad flare from the Ontario wildfires while at a conference outside of Boston.
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Dean Obeidallah @deanobeidallah.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
UNREAL: New Mexico filed a lawsuit against Todd Blanche and DOJ for “stonewalling” its criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in the state. Blanche is still engaged in a cover up for Trump! Yet GOP is going to confirm him. GOP equals Guardians of Pedophiles! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
New Mexico sues justice department for ‘stonewalling’ Epstein investigation
Filing by attorney general Raúl Torrez comes after DoJ appears to have ignored deadline for key Epstein ranch files
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Cyberpunk dystopia
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 06/08/2026
A central part of why it seems like powerful, rich people live in a consequence-free world is that the social incentives to hold them to account have withered. www.ctinsider.com/columnist/ar... 𝟏𝟐-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“Why is climate action so difficult?” Mainly because the people who benefit most from not acting just made $93 billion, about $700,000 per minute, in three months. www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...
theguardian.com
Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis
Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Getting tired of memes like this going around every time we have bad forest fires. We are not adequately angry at the the Epstein class, the end times fascists and their boot licking troll armies. Time to get in touch with our anger? #memes #fascism #forestfires #fossilfuels #climatechange
A screenshot of a Facebook post with Bette Midler sharing a picture of a raging forest fire, I think the recent ones in Ontario Canada. It says Petition to stsrt naming heatwaves after oil companies and wildfires after their CEOs. 

It has 39.7k likes, 400 comments and 2.5k shares.
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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This matters a lot because people are constantly asking me if they should set up a duress passcode in order to fool law enforcement.
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This seems like a step in the right direction against #surveillanceCapitalism in the workplace. thenextweb.com/news/uk-trib... The stuff companies are getting away with in terms monitoring employees should honestly be enough to spark a revolution against the machine(s). #ethics #workersRights
thenextweb.com
Remote worker with anxiety wins discrimination case after employer refused to let her turn off her camera
A Croydon tribunal found Holiday Extras discriminated against a remote worker with anxiety, ADHD, and autism by refusing to let her keep her camera off
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I formally propose that the preamble before the main section of LLM output be called the "gotcha". Because it's a gotcha moment when we see brainless repetition of #AI text like this #Canadian politician did. Also the AI agent is mimicking cognition saying I gotcha, you want this, not that.
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
ICYMI: i have my own bit part in this drama. @404media.co revealed that Madison Square Garden was keeping a dossier on me, in a folder titled "facial recognition activists." To be fair, I am a facial recognition activists. @fightforthefuture.org has led some of the most prominent campaigns on this
404media.co
Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition
The document, titled “Facial Recognition Activists.docx,” includes specific activists’ comments about MSG's facial recognition program and tweets criticizing it.
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Natanael, Tech janitor @natanael.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"“It’s concerning – and sends the message that [GrapheneOS] is criminal by default,” said Christophe Boutry, a cybersecurity and surveillance expert. Boutry and Bill Buddington, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, both said they had not seen a similar case."
theguardian.com
US government targets Cop City protester over phone operating system
Concern over US effort to prosecute Sam Tunick, accused by authorities of wiping his phone using GrapheneOS
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
My friend @dawndreams.bsky.social sent me this video and honestly it's amongst my favourite videos ever. I raise my hat to you Donttarob (not sure if they are on here) for your socio political analysis of backyard animals. #politics #video #analysis #funny #economics #animals #capitalism
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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦 @jmcelroy.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
First, the VPD said they couldn't explain how they would spend $1.4 million city council gave them to police five blocks of Granville for seven weeks because it was an operational matter. Then they said they were still figuring out their plans. Now they're saying it's too complicated to reveal.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 21/07/2026
Gee, seems like the arrest of Meta exec Josh Felker for sexting a child and Meta’s history of consistently lax standards around child protection might be related
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Mark Zuckerberg's assistant at Meta, Josh Felker, who was responsible for Meta's "digital experiences for kids," was arrested after admitting he tried to sext a 13-year-old during an undercover sting. nypost.com/2026/07/20/u...
nypost.com
Exclusive | Meta worker who developed ‘digital experiences for kids’ admits to trying to sext child in undercover NYC sting
He admitted he had been grooming and sexting someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl during a sting by vigilante group Predator Poachers Long Island.
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
WTF is this cringe FIFA anthem? Gross. #FIFA #WorldCup
Some annoying celebrities singing the FIFA anthem... Captions on the screen show them singing about Jesus, Lord.
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Markham Hislop @markhamhislop.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The Hidden $19 Billion Cost of Canada's Wildfires Canada doesn't escape paying for climate change damages. Economist Dave Sawyer lays out the costs imposed on healthcare, workplaces, etc. by wildfire smoke. @enviroeconomics #cdnpoli youtu.be/KVrI7deOoSM
youtu.be
The Hidden $19 Billion Cost of Canada's Wildfires
YouTube video by Energi Media
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
This is a level of billionaire surveillance & control (and downright pettiness) that should send chills down all of our spines. To what lengths will Jim Dolan go to assess the "risk score" of MSG attendees? And why in the world would his enterprise identify their sexual orientation in a database?
wired.com
Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities
An MSG database tracked and categorized hundreds of celebs, famous Knicks superfans, and even some of Taylor Swift’s wedding guests. Labels included “LGBTQIA,” “DO NOT HOST,” and low to high “risk.”
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Holy shit the accuracy
Threads post by ktownmessiah: The more I use Google Al, the more I realize it's just Cliff Clavin 


(Includes photo of Cliff on Cheers)
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
B.C. First Nation challenges dredging plan to accommodate larger tankers in Vancouver cheknews.ca/b-c-first-na... True leadership coming from Tsleil Waututh Nation while Carney and Eby and others keep trying to make things worse. #bcpoli #cdnpoli
cheknews.ca
B.C. First Nation challenges dredging plan to accommodate larger tankers in Vancouver
A British Columbia First Nation says it has launched a legal challenge against a plan by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to dredge Burrard Inlet to make room for oil tankers with larger loads to o...
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404 Media @404media.co · 06/07/2026
A Florida police officer met a woman on a TV set, surveilled her for weeks, stalked her, and nearly caused a head-on collision while chasing her to pull her over. Read now: www.404media.co/footage-show...
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Fight for the Future @fightforthefuture.org · 06/07/2026
Another gross abuse of ALPR surveillance tech by a law enforcement officer in pursuit of a woman he refers to as 'a shiny thing.' This tech should be BANNED. Dozens of cities are working to do so- join them & fight back. Get the toolkit: www.flockout.org www.local10.com/news/local/2...
local10.com
Keys deputy misused official databases to pursue woman he met on set of ‘Bad Monkey’: MCSO
An arrested Florida Keys sheriff’s deputy misused official law enforcement databases in pursuit of a woman he met on the set of the television show “Bad Monkey,” according to documents obtained by Loc...
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 08/07/2026
social media platforms that operate to maximize engagement, nazi ideology built on hate and rage, weak regulation and enforcement... democracy is dying before our eyes and big tech is fuel powering it www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
irishtimes.com
AI software that generates ‘rage bait’ developed by Germany’s far-right AfD
Alternita platform uses Google Gemini, OpenAI and Claude to create provocative social media posts
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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Good morning. Everything is totally normal in the world. Carry on. #dogsofbluesky #dog
A totally normal picture of the most normal dog in the world. Her name is River and cuteness flows out of her. She is a pot hound from Barbados who hates mosquito and prefers to be outside in the winter. She wants belly rubs to get over the trauma that is the outside world. Her signature underbite is the more adorable thing on planet earth. Thank you for your attention to these details.
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