With the midterms approaching and Republicans deploying desperate tactics to overcome their grim poll numbers, Democrats — and the American public — will need to beware of attempts to manipulate voters with misinformation.

President Donald Trump’s use of artificial intelligence-generated slop to promote propaganda — some of it brazenly racist — has been well documented. Independent journalist Judd Legum recently highlighted how a dark money organization aligned with the Senate GOP launched a slew of propaganda websites designed to look like actual news platforms. Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale now runs a digital strategy firm that is involved with an Israel-funded effort to game AI chatbots so they’ll spew pro-Israel propaganda.

And a new report from Semafor has exposed yet another such effort:

Over the last several months, a new generation of YouTube growth-hackers have flooded American politics with sensationalized, low-quality content, reaching millions of viewers with nearly identical videos taking aim at progressive politicians including [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Notably, while the videos are presented as laypeople giving straight-to-camera ideological news recaps, they feature actors and spokespeople paid small amounts of money to read nearly identical scripts laced with misleading claims and outright falsehoods.

According to the report, the videos have targeted some of conservatives’ favorite punching bags, such as Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson. The actors involved have been called “ghost creators” by one of the men behind the network, a YouTuber named Caleb Chan, who has boasted about his ability to make AI-assisted content go viral.

Semafor’s report cites evidence that the scripts these actors are reading have been generated with AI:

Turbocharged by AI, these “ghost creator” accounts appear to be run not by political operatives trying to win, or foreign intelligence efforts seeking to destabilize the US, but by engagement junkies detached from the stakes of politics. They closely monitor online trends and stories, churning out topical videos, hoping to ride YouTube’s algorithmic wave to virality and a cut of advertising revenue.

Whatever their motivation is, these creators are undeniably benefiting from a longtime push by the GOP to oppose efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation online. In recent years, I’ve written about Republicans who have sought to demonize experts and digital platforms that have sought to curb the spread of misinformation and disinformation. Semafor’s report underscores how conservatives can reap rewards when platforms allow such falsehoods to flourish.

The current political reality doesn’t suit Republicans well. Their party’s standard-bearer, Trump, has seen his polling numbers plummet to historic depths, with various surveys showing a majority of Americans believe he’s too fixated on enriching himself and not focused enough on the issues plaguing the country.

It’s not hard to see how today’s GOP can benefit from voters occupying an alternate reality online, one in which they’re bombarded with misinformation about liberals. So the fight to counter these narratives — by connecting with voters to help them discern fact from fiction, and by targeting social platforms that allow fake news to spread — will be crucial for Democrats as the midterms approach.

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