"Is Netanyahu Dead?" Can Democracies Survive the Age of AI Propaganda? | Travis Hawley
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Dear Subscribers,
I hope you don’t get your news from social media. Because lately, every time I open Twitter, the top post is some lunatic conspiracy theory or piece of disinformation. I can tell what’s bullshit when it comes to Israel. But most people can’t. And that’s on purpose.
We are living in the grips of a Disinformation Apocalypse, one driven by ultra-realistic artificial intelligence and malign state actors seeking to divide and undermine the West. In Israel’s case, the phenomenon is on steroids because of the widespread tendency to believe conspiracy theories about Jews, but this is a global phenomenon.
In the last week, I’ve seen supposedly sensible people—I know they’re anti-Israel lunatics, but they have big fan bases—convince themselves that Netanyahu is dead and all his recent appearances have been AI. Many of them are also convinced that Tel Aviv is destroyed and the Israeli Government is covering up that everything is rubble.
What’s going on? That’s why I wanted to sit with Travis Hawley, an open source intelligence analyst who used to work for the US National Security Agency. He piqued my interest with a Twitter thread showing how the viral rumor that Netanyahu was dead was not organic: it was being driven by bot farms. In other words, by state actors with an interest in sowing chaos and confusion.
We sat down to discuss:
Where these crazy conspiracy theories are coming from
Why Western societies are so susceptible to falling for
And how democracies are all at risk if the Disinformation Apocalypse is not reversed
This episode was filmed under fire. If you want to show your support as we keep bringing you these conversations from a war zone, please become subscriber on Patreon for just $10 a month. Patreon subscribers can ask questions that I will answer at the end of each podcast, as a thank you for helping to keep this show running.
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Eylon
For this exact reason, I follow reliable sources.
Broken telephone is not on our side. People that believe we drink blood and all the other nonsense have been attacked psychologically. This has been perfected over many years. Thank you for your moral clarity. Thank you for your tireless support. We hear you🫶🏻