He Used to Make Videos About NYC Real Estate. Then He Became Radicalized by the Right.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Once innocuous videos, such as “Living in a Tiny Box-Apartment on an NYC Roof” or “SEE a $2,900 Brooklyn PENTHOUSE with ROOF DECK and a BALCONY,” have given way to clickbait titles like “NYC is Now So Dangerous … Nobody Can Live Here,” “NYC Installs Cameras … To Tax Trump Supporters,” and “Venezuelan Gang Invades Manhattan … As NYC Collapses.” Equally misleading are his preview thumbnails, which now exclusively feature images that appear to have been created by generative A.I. In recent years, social media platforms have either drastically loosened their moderation policies or eliminated fact-checking altogether in the United States, reverting to an approach before QAnon memes and “Plandemic” videos flooded the internet. “7 million views a month,” one such creator boasted in an X post, in which they also claimed that they earned tens of thousands of dollars from multiple YouTube channels specializing in anti-woke content such as “When Elon Musk DESTROYED a Woke Reporter …” and “ALL Celebrity & Liberal Meltdowns As Trump WINS ELECTION.” Combating this misinformation used to be the responsibility of the platforms themselves. Hannah Covington, of the News Literacy Project, told Slate that it’s crucial “to be able to understand what credibility looks like” and “recognize it in action.” “These are ‘digital survival skills,’ ” she added.