Manufactured racist videos become a real economic model and a political weapon, according to Axios.
In Axios’ latest report, it’s clear that when you place powerful technology – through which fake photos and videos can be fabricated to appear real to untrained, or even sophisticated, eyes – in the hands of racists, a lot of damage can be done.
For example, in a viral video, black women are seen knocking on a door with the caption “store attacked.” Another video appears to show brown Walmart employees being loaded into an ICE van – both videos were made using AI. And judging by the clips, it’s clear they were created to go viral by reinforcing old stereotypes and sparking outrage.
Creating this content is now as simple as typing a complicated prompt on platforms like Sora or Veo and letting the template do the rest, no editing skills required.
Not long ago, AI knockoffs were easy to spot thanks to their extra fingers or glitchy faces; newer versions look sharp enough to transition from just a scroll. Researchers say this trend reflects “digital blackface,” in which non-Black creators take advantage of caricatured depictions of Black and brown people for influence or to promote racist narratives.
“It’s more of the agricultural outrage that we’ve always seen,” Rianna Walcottassociate director of the Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab, told Axios. “It doesn’t even have to be interesting or accurate content; it just has to generate audience.”
With platforms like TikTok paying for views, outrage farming has become both a major activity and, for some, a hobby. Experts warn that even when people know a clip is fake, the images stick in the brain and subtly shape our beliefs.
A false trend showed black women bragging about abusing food assistance during a shutdown, fueling comments section attacks on poor families and the program itself, even though most SNAP recipients are non-Hispanic whites.
“The consequence of spreading these images is that these harmful stereotypes seep into people’s brains,” said Michael Huggins of the racial justice organization Color of Change.
He continued: “Many people get more information from social media. And what worries me is that this could have a huge impact on how people view the upcoming midterm elections, and even the 2028 elections.”
Supporters fear these AI fakes will hit harder as elections approach, especially when many young voters receive information primarily from feeds rather than traditional media.
Civil rights groups say the real danger lies in how easy it is to industrialize racist content on a large scale and hide it behind “they’re just memes.”
Tech companies have started adding guardrails — banning slurs, limiting abusive deepfakes of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and promising to follow up on reports of abuse — but critics say the harm is spreading much faster than platforms are responding.
