Modern solutions - Digital Threat Digest

There is a tendency to think that modern problems require modern solutions. Got a problem with AI-generated content? Your only hope is to build an AI-powered detection engine. Struggling to organise your photos? Well, I guess you should drop them all into soup, run a mix of OCR and concept extraction, and make them keyword-searchable by idea...

But suppose our problems aren’t actually that modern and the best solution is just a traditional one - like, maybe, just sort the photos in date order? This is an unpopular take in a world of AI-Agent startups and Tesla robots, but hear me out.

Every time I open a social media app this week, I’ve seen Dr Ally Louks. She posted a photo of herself on 27 November announcing she had achieved a PhD. Her PhD is in English Literature, more specifically in sensory imagery in literature, so naturally this has drawn the attention of the worst Venn diagram imaginable of blockchain bros, religious nationalists, and ‘I’m-not-a-white-supremacist-I’m-just-a-big-fan-of-the-Crusades’ who have piled on Louks to deride her achievement, as is now permitted (actively encouraged) by X's decision to abandon all semblance of moderation. You see, for these people, if you’re not planting wheat from dawn till dusk to harvest in the spring to bake your husband bagels from scratch when he happens to be in the mood for one then you’re not a contributing member of tradcath society.

The harassment of women by a chunk of people who believe that they are contributing to the end of society as we know it is not a modern problem, and it doesn’t have a modern solution. There is a staggering irony in a group of people radicalised by online disinformation and propaganda not seeing the value of a PhD in analysing sensory imagery in fiction; aka the core mechanics of how literature works. These people wake up, scroll through their curated feed of fiction that has been crafted and tailored to their susceptibilities, and passively consume the content without a second thought. Or even a first thought. They are simultaneously incapable of and unwilling to think critically about the content in front of their eyes, to apply a primary school level of education in breaking down the fiction. For these people, their X echo chamber can turn the healthy eating allegory of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that a primary school pupil could write a paragraph explaining into an analogy for a migrant, an asylum seeker, a member of the LGBTQ community, or anyone other than them who consumes their perceived resources. But sure, let's let them weigh in, unmoderated, on the importance of Louks' PhD thesis topic.

The wild reaction Dr Louks has faced isn’t surprising, it isn’t modern, and it doesn’t require a modern solution. It requires long-term investment in educaton to reinforce basic literacy, critical thinking, and human decency... And it requires a bit of content moderation effort to remove blatant hate and harassment from her comments and replies.

More about Protection Group International's Digital Investigations

Our Digital Investigations Analysts combine modern exploitative technology with deep human analytical expertise that covers the social media platforms themselves and the behaviours and the intents of those who use them. Our experienced analyst team have a deep understanding of how various threat groups use social media and follow a three-pronged approach focused on content, behaviour and infrastructure to assess and substantiate threat landscapes.

Disclaimer: Protection Group International does not endorse any of the linked content.