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Originally published by Deseret News.
A new form of propaganda has begun to permeate and poison debates over data centers in Utah: “slopaganda.” Left unaddressed, fear and polarization will win over facts and principles, resulting in misinformed Utahns, degraded dialogue and missed opportunities.
Slopaganda refers to low-cost, AI-generated, highly shareable propaganda that tries to influence people through missing context and vibes instead of solid arguments. The posts rely on clickbait culture, speed, and scale to be successful. They are designed to provoke alarm, not to inform or educate.
A perfect example is the recent claim that a proposed data center in Box Elder County would produce the heat of 23 atomic bombs every day. Thousands of posts promoting this claim have exploded across social media in recent days after a news article included the comparison. The posts are often accompanied by AI-generated images of data centers alongside mushroom clouds spewing radioactive material into the air.
It’s not shocking that regular Utahns then get nervous about data centers, especially when these posts are shared by trusted members of the community. When statistics about atomic weapons are paired with AI-generated images of mushroom clouds and radioactive symbols, however, the posts cross the line from misleading rhetoric into actual misinformation.
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