Source: NYT > Business (paywall)
Deepfake militaria is becoming a preferred vehicle for engagement farming and clickbait because it weaponizes genuine patriotic sentiment—users are far more likely to share and engage with content about troops than generic viral videos. Platforms' algorithmic preference for emotional content combined with near-zero friction for AI video generation means bad actors can manufacture "soldier" content at scale, capture attention and ad revenue, then vanish before moderation catches up. This creates a vulnerability in how consumer platforms handle identity-adjacent content, where the emotional authenticity consumers perceive (a soldier's story) is entirely synthetic, degrading trust in both the platform and legitimate military communication channels.