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Antoine Léaument estimated that Jean-Luc Mélenchon had clearly called for a rejection of actions lacking political significance and contrary to the methods of the Unsubmissive. He considered that Lecornu had made a mistake by designating the movement and described this approach as ridiculous. https://t.co/zhiyMf9m9x #Politique #Insoumis #JLMelenchon (translated)

In calmness, the actions of a few vandals on October 17 are compared by Le Parisien to... the attack on the Capitol by Trump's supporters in October 2021. The statue of Marianne overturned at the town hall of Marseille is likened to "a decapitated head rolling." Luckily, ridicule doesn't kill... (translated)

Florence Bergeaud-Blackler deemed ridiculous what she described as LCP's complacency towards a judge and its blind defense. She believed that he was not harassed, or not more than anyone else today, but that he was being questioned with fairly strong arguments regarding his commitments. According to her, he was presenting himself as a victim to avoid responding. #justice #débat #juges (translated)

Actu Foot reported that José Mourinho deemed the four-match suspension imposed on Vinicius Jr. absurd. He also criticized the fact that the decision was announced two hours before the match, while the team was on the bus heading to the stadium. Mourinho felt that this timing may have been deliberately chosen to disrupt Vinicius and the team ahead of an important match, according to comments broadcast by TNT Sports Brazil. https://t.co/mCg070VlS8 #ViniciusJR #JoséMourinho #Football (translated)

Ilies announced a new video in which he said he had attended a rally of supporters of Raphaël Glucksmann, then a meeting of candidates for the Socialist Party primary, in order to show what he deemed ridiculous about these events. He indicated that the rest was accessible via a link and referred to the video as "chicken." https://t.co/FV2KcLDoaO #Politique #PartiSocialiste #Vidéo (translated)

John Joodan estimated that a scene from DBS showed how ridiculous Goku had been made in his base form. He specified that the scene and dialogues were identical, but that the facial expression changed everything, adding that the criticisms were therefore not unfounded. #DragonBallSuper #Goku #Anime (translated)

The expression Bismillah it's the darkness, which was seen on various posters during recent demonstrations in Belgium and France, originated from an inappropriate attempt by French police officers to blend in with young people, resulting in a ridiculous viral meme on social media. #Bismillah #Manifestations #Belgique (translated)

Jean-Pierre LIHAU accused an unnamed person of treason and acting as an enemy agent amid the aggression against the nation. He stated that after 18 years in power, this person would seek to repeat their "exploits" of 1997 with Rwandan allies. LIHAU claimed that the Rwandans overthrew J.D. Mobutu in 1997 and placed one of their own at the head of the Congolese army. He also accused them of having assassinated LD Kabila in 2001 and having massacred millions of Congolese. He described the country that Félix Tshisekedi had inherited as infiltrated and destructured, with the M23, over 150 active armed groups, and a socio-economic situation that he termed catastrophic. LIHAU added that the Congolese were no longer fooled and would know how to take their responsibilities without giving in to intimidation. He asserted that the Republic was one and indivisible, that it would rise again, and that justice would catch up with its enemies. #RépubliqueDémocratiqueDuCongo #Justice #Politique (translated)

The author contrasted the caution invoked for Raphinha — who, according to the statement he cited, was not injured and had suffered three injuries the previous year — with Luis Enrique's decisions regarding Dembélé and Nuno Mendes. He questioned why these situations were handled differently and denounced what he saw as hypocrisy, while joking about the possibility of managing the best players in a league he deemed ridiculous. #Raphinha #Ligue1 #Football (translated)

Actu Foot reported that José Mourinho believed that Kylian Mbappé was a human being and that it was ridiculous, according to him, that everything revolved around the player. He added that the boos from the Bernabéu against Mbappé were a victory for his interlocutor. Mourinho stated that he expected questions on important topics, notably Manchester City and the Negreira case, which his interlocutor did not like to discuss, during a press conference reported by The Madrid Zone. #Mourinho #Football #Mbappé (translated)

The author of the message accused a woman of having supported the genocide in Gaza, where tens of thousands of children have allegedly been massacred, and of having systematically attacked and ridiculed those who denounced it. He reproached her for then denouncing a "lack of empathy" and felt that she was allowing herself everything. #Gaza #Enfants #Humanité #IL #PS (translated)

The author criticized the philosophy teacher, whom he deemed selfish and disconnected from the reality of young people. He reproached her for having discredited Elwan's remarks on the grounds that he was 17 years old, and called her ridiculous. #LCI #Elwan #Debat #Philosophie #Éducation #Débat (translated)

The French Mileistes qualified the budget proposed the day before by the RN as a "gigantic joke" and believed it risked harming its economic credibility. They denounced the estimates, which they deemed rushed and unreliable, of political programs, adding that the projections for deficit reduction from Bercy were contradicted by reality each year. They described a political system where promises and assumptions would seldom be verified and where officials would not have to be held accountable in the event of lies. According to them, artificial intelligence would now allow for quick control of a program, with a first check in a few minutes and a thorough analysis in a few days, even though disagreements over the assumptions would persist. The French Mileistes called on other political leaders to learn from the RN's budget and to do better. #politique #budgets #responsabilité (translated)

The author confirmed the elimination of more than 120 taxes that he deemed ridiculous or unnecessary, presenting this measure as an essential administrative simplification. He stated that he wanted to amplify this approach as soon as his team had access to the services of Bercy. https://t.co/xQekmNVINC #Simplification #Fiscalité #Administration #FR (translated)

"passed the test with flying colors, except for a few ridiculous remnants" The president of the Académie Goncourt, Philippe Claudel, wishes to modify the rules to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI), France Inter learned on Tuesday, October 6, from Philippe Claudel. #AcadémieGoncourt #IntelligenceArtificielle #Littérature (translated)

Brazil’s synthetic voters – when AI manufactures public opinion They look like ordinary street interviews. A reporter approaches a passer-by in a Brazilian square and asks a simple question: who will you vote for? A young voter explains why Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva deserves another term. An elderly woman says Brazil needs Flávio Bolsonaro because he represents political renewal and greater security. The locations look plausible, the microphones are visible and the answers sound much like the brief political opinions heard in television vox pops around the world. None of the people are real. Ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on 4 October, fact-checking organisation Aos Fatos identified at least 50 TikTok videos in which artificial intelligence was used to manufacture voters, reporters and apparently spontaneous political interviews. Together, the videos had accumulated around 7.4 million views by mid-August. Some promoted Lula, others Flávio Bolsonaro, while another group used synthetic characters to ridicule or stereotype supporters of one side. Aos Fatos found no apparent evidence linking the accounts producing the videos to either presidential campaign. The opinion poll that never took place The format is important. These were not conventional deepfakes in which a recognisable politician is made to say something he never said. Instead, the creators reproduced the visual language of the vox pop – the short street interview used by broadcasters and social-media creators to illustrate what ordinary people supposedly think. In pro-Lula videos, synthetic voters described themselves as beneficiaries of social programmes or credited the president with improving their lives. In videos supporting Flávio Bolsonaro, artificial interviewees associated him with political renewal, public security and fighting corruption. Other clips were openly hostile: AI-generated characters presented as poor or living in parts of Brazil’s north-east were shown in dirty clothes or run-down surroundings, declaring support for Lula because they supposedly preferred welfare payments to work. The deception is therefore subtler than fabricating a candidate’s statement. It manufactures something that political communication normally treats as evidence of public sentiment. A real vox pop may be unscientific, but the people interviewed at least exist. These videos created the appearance that identifiable social groups – young people, pensioners, welfare recipients or residents of particular regions – were spontaneously expressing political preferences when no such encounters had taken place. An electoral-law specialist interviewed by Aos Fatos described the technique as the fabrication of a “social fact that never occurred”. That captures the central innovation: AI is being used not merely to falsify political speech, but to manufacture the impression of grassroots opinion. Fifty videos, but not one proven network The available evidence does not support describing the 50 posts as a centrally controlled influence operation. Aos Fatos located them through TikTok searches and recommendations produced by the platform itself, then examined the accounts responsible for publication. Most had relatively small individual audiences, although their combined reach was substantial. The first examples identified by the investigation appeared as early as March 2026. Activity increased in June and was concentrated particularly in July and the first half of August as Brazil’s election calendar intensified. Some accounts specialised in AI-generated videos generally, including fabricated podcast-style material. Others were explicitly political or supportive of a candidate, but Aos Fatos found no apparent links between those profiles and the official Lula or Bolsonaro campaigns. That distinction is essential. The evidence demonstrates a common technique and a shared political environment, not a single command structure. Some creators may have been motivated by ideology, others by engagement or monetisation. Publicly available evidence does not establish who commissioned the individual videos or whether any coordination existed between the accounts. This decentralised model also creates a different enforcement problem from a traditional bot network. There may be no headquarters to expose and no infrastructure whose removal disables the entire operation. The format itself can be copied by anyone with access to inexpensive generative-video tools. When the algorithm mixes real and synthetic citizens Aos Fatos documented another important feature of the phenomenon: TikTok’s recommendation system placed AI-generated interviews alongside genuine street interviews. For a user scrolling quickly through the platform, the transition between an authentic citizen and an entirely fabricated one could therefore be almost invisible. In 18 per cent of the 50 videos analysed, there was no indication that the people shown had been generated using AI. After Aos Fatos provided TikTok with the videos, the company said it had removed all of them for violating its rules on edited and AI-generated media. TikTok said its policies require creators to identify synthetic content and prohibit manipulated media capable of misleading users about matters of public importance or impersonating genuine journalistic material. The issue extends beyond one platform. Factchequeado’s review of Brazil’s 2026 election campaign found that synthetic endorsements and other deepfakes had become one of the most visible forms of AI-assisted electoral misinformation, alongside fabricated candidate statements and invented scenes. Brazil already had rules for synthetic politics Brazil entered the campaign with unusually detailed electoral rules governing artificial intelligence. The Superior Electoral Court, the TSE, requires electoral propaganda using synthetic multimedia to disclose clearly that AI was used. More importantly for the fake-voter videos, its rules prohibit synthetic audio or video used to favour or harm a candidacy when it creates or alters the image or voice of a living, deceased or fictitious person. The difficulty is attribution and enforcement. When a synthetic video is published by an official campaign, responsibility can be relatively straightforward to investigate. When it comes from an apparently independent account with no demonstrated relationship to a candidate, lawyers interviewed by Aos Fatos said responsibility is more likely to fall on the individual creator, while imposing electoral sanctions on a campaign would require evidence of a connection. For the final 72 hours before the election and the 24 hours following it, the TSE has imposed additional restrictions on newly published or republished synthetic material involving candidates or public figures, reflecting the particular difficulty of correcting fabricated content immediately before voting. From deepfake politicians to synthetic electorates The Brazilian case illustrates a broader change in political manipulation. The first generation of electoral deepfakes concentrated on famous people: make a politician appear to say something damaging, or fabricate an endorsement from a celebrity. Synthetic vox pops reverse the perspective. The politician can remain completely authentic; it is the electorate around the politician that is fabricated. That changes the psychological proposition of the message. Instead of saying the candidate believes this, the video suggests people like you believe this. Age, clothing, accent, neighbourhood and social class can all be generated to construct an artificial constituency around almost any political claim. There is no evidence that the 50 Brazilian videos identified by Aos Fatos constitute a single centrally directed campaign, nor evidence that they changed voting intentions. What they demonstrate is a technique whose barrier to entry has become extremely low. AI no longer needs to forge the politician. #DISINFORMED #Episode14 #Brazil #BrazilElection2026 #Elections #ElectionDisinformation #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #SyntheticVoters #SyntheticMedia #AIAvatars #AIGeneratedVideo #VoxPop #FakeInterviews #Astroturfing #AIPropaganda #PoliticalDisinformation #InfluenceOperations #InformationWarfare #SocialMediaManipulation #TikTok #PublicOpinion #ManufacturedConsent #SyntheticPublicOpinion #DigitalInfluence #Deepfakes #ElectionIntegrity #TSE #AosFatos #FactChecking #OSINT #MediaManipulation #WRLD (translated)