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Fake Protest Videos Are the Latest AI Slop to Go Viral in MAGA World

Fake Protest Videos Are the Latest AI Slop to Go Viral in MAGA World

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Last week, OpenAI released Sora 2, the latest version of its AI video creator, along with a new Sora app for making and sharing those videos. The new tool has led to an explosion in realistic AI videos on social media, including plenty of fresh discussion about intellectual property rights. But one of the oddest things to emerge with Sora 2 is a new crop of videos showing AI protesters.

These aren’t just any protest videos. Specifically, supporters of President Donald Trump appear to be making videos of protesters being brutalized by the federal agents and troops who have been sent to U.S. cities. Trump has most recently tried to deploy National Guard troops to Portland and Chicago, and while those deployments have been delayed by the courts, those cities are still crawling with ICE agents terrorizing immigrant communities.

One of the new fake protester videos, which has over 40 million views on Instagram, shows someone clad in black shouting in the face of a soldier dressed in fatigues.

“What’s your name, soldier?” the AI protester yells repeatedly. The text on the screen reads “wait for it” before the AI soldier sprays the protester with orange pepper spray, yelling back “Sergeant Pepper.”

The video has been shared on several platforms, including TikTok and X, where many people don’t seem to understand it’s AI. The actor James Woods, a Trump supporter who frequently shares right-wing memes on X, wrote on Tuesday about the video, “Couldn’t get better than this. Haiku-level brilliant.” Many of the comments seem to be just as oblivious to the fact that it’s AI.

Another video that’s become popular on Facebook, Instagram, and X shows AI protesters shouting “no queso, no cheese,” apparently a racist riff on the common protest chant “no justice, no peace.” The AI protesters in the video are also sprayed with a chemical agent.

The video has gotten over 1.5 million views on X alone, with the caption, “Lmfao, that was beautiful and before you ask I voted 100 for this!!”

The phrase “I voted for this” has become a common thing for far-right supporters of Trump to say when something particularly brutal has happened to their political opponents.

The Instagram version of the video includes the caption “Liberals acting like clowns – got treated like clowns by federal agents – goodbye – FAFO,” an acronym for “fuck around and find out.” Some users on Instagram have pointed out that it’s AI, but the account insists in the comments that it’s real.

It’s not real, obviously. And the big Sora watermark should be the clue to anyone who’s familiar with OpenAI. But unfortunately, that kind of watermark isn’t enough for most people these days to differentiate between fake and real content.

The shorter Sora videos are also being compiled into larger compilations of AI-generated fakes, like in this one on X that includes jokes about the protesters being paid. It’s a common right-wing accusation that all the people protesting Donald Trump are actually paid to be there, often by liberal activists like George Soros.

The most curious thing about all of these fake protester videos is that there are plenty of real videos to share. For example, a pastor in Chicago was shot in the head with pepper balls by agents last month. Rev. David Black was protesting outside an ICE facility near Chicago, Illinois, and was simply speaking peacefully when he was attacked.

Another one of several videos showing protesters getting brutalized while doing nothing wrong was recently captured in Portland. A woman is seen simply talking with police before she’s sprayed for absolutely no discernible reason.

But real videos of a pastor or a woman getting treated with unnecessary violence don’t really fit the narrative that President Trump and his fascist goons are trying to sell. Trump has claimed the reason he’s sending agents and troops to U.S. cities is that they’re overrun with crime. And he just wants to restore law and order.

In reality, violent crime is near a 50-year low, and Trump is simply trying to strike fear into the hearts of ordinary Americans as his thugs disrupt countless lives. That disruption is having an economic impact, as restaurants in Chicago are comparing the loss of business to the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps that’s why we’re seeing so many fake videos of protests on social media right now. They need a pretext to justify their brutal crackdown on working people. Trump himself seems to have been convinced to deploy the National Guard to Oregon because he saw too many old videos of Portland from the summer of 2020 on TV. And when it comes to Trump, he’s pretty easy to fool.

Trump has even shared an AI video of himself promoting a magical “med bed” that can cure all diseases. The president’s Truth Social account deleted the video, but it’s still not clear why he shared the conspiracy theory in the first place. It’s entirely possible he thought it was real. We simply don’t know.

Remember when the president saw a photoshopped image of the letters “MS-13” on someone’s hand back in April and insisted it was real?

President Donald Trump holds up an image of a hand that’s been photoshopped to add the characters “MS-13” at the White House on April 18, 2025. Image: Truth Social

Trump is not a smart man. And his followers are even dumber, as they spread AI slop far and wide, creating an alternative reality where sadistic troops dole out punishment to the left on American streets. Unfortunately, you don’t need AI to see so much brutality right now. And if Trump has his way, you’re going to see a lot more of it very soon.



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“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.

During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk">The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk

one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk">The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting

“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.

During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk

BookCon returned from its hiatus in April 2026. It was a rousing success, quickly selling out tickets and major news breaking at the event, including the announcement of a new Divergent book. By the end of the weekend, 2027 BookCon dates were dropped, but there’s an update for next year’s convention.

ReedPop, the organizers behind BookCon, just announced that BookCon will now run for three days in 2027. Returning to the Javits Center, BookCon will take place April 9 to 11. The extra day means there will be even more panels, authors, and workshops to attend — and maybe a better chance at snagging tickets.

“The passion of our fans and the storytelling community found at BookCon 2026 was beyond our wildest dreams, and we can’t wait to bring the event back even bigger next year,” said Jenny Martin, Event Director, ReedPop. “Our team has been hard at work reviewing the feedback we received from attendees and partners after this year’s show, and we are excited about the changes and improvements we are bringing to the 2027 event, starting with the expansion to three days of programming, signings, and shopping.”

Last year’s event welcomed bestselling authors including Rachel Reid, Veronica Roth, Andy Weir, and Rufi Thorpe. While authors for next year’s event have yet to be announced, ReedPop is promising an even bigger BookCon.

#BookCon #dates #announced #Heres">BookCon 2027 dates have been announced: Here’s what we know BookCon returned from its hiatus in April 2026. It was a rousing success, quickly selling out tickets and major news breaking at the event, including the announcement of a new Divergent book. By the end of the weekend, 2027 BookCon dates were dropped, but there’s an update for next year’s convention.ReedPop, the organizers behind BookCon, just announced that BookCon will now run for three days in 2027. Returning to the Javits Center, BookCon will take place April 9 to 11. The extra day means there will be even more panels, authors, and workshops to attend — and maybe a better chance at snagging tickets. Mashable Trend Report “The passion of our fans and the storytelling community found at BookCon 2026 was beyond our wildest dreams, and we can’t wait to bring the event back even bigger next year,” said Jenny Martin, Event Director, ReedPop. “Our team has been hard at work reviewing the feedback we received from attendees and partners after this year’s show, and we are excited about the changes and improvements we are bringing to the 2027 event, starting with the expansion to three days of programming, signings, and shopping.” Last year’s event welcomed bestselling authors including Rachel Reid, Veronica Roth, Andy Weir, and Rufi Thorpe. While authors for next year’s event have yet to be announced, ReedPop is promising an even bigger BookCon. #BookCon #dates #announced #Heres

BookCon returned from its hiatus in April 2026. It was a rousing success, quickly selling out tickets and major news breaking at the event, including the announcement of a new Divergent book. By the end of the weekend, 2027 BookCon dates were dropped, but there’s an update for next year’s convention.

ReedPop, the organizers behind BookCon, just announced that BookCon will now run for three days in 2027. Returning to the Javits Center, BookCon will take place April 9 to 11. The extra day means there will be even more panels, authors, and workshops to attend — and maybe a better chance at snagging tickets.

“The passion of our fans and the storytelling community found at BookCon 2026 was beyond our wildest dreams, and we can’t wait to bring the event back even bigger next year,” said Jenny Martin, Event Director, ReedPop. “Our team has been hard at work reviewing the feedback we received from attendees and partners after this year’s show, and we are excited about the changes and improvements we are bringing to the 2027 event, starting with the expansion to three days of programming, signings, and shopping.”

Last year’s event welcomed bestselling authors including Rachel Reid, Veronica Roth, Andy Weir, and Rufi Thorpe. While authors for next year’s event have yet to be announced, ReedPop is promising an even bigger BookCon.

#BookCon #dates #announced #Heres">BookCon 2027 dates have been announced: Here’s what we know

BookCon returned from its hiatus in April 2026. It was a rousing success, quickly selling out tickets and major news breaking at the event, including the announcement of a new Divergent book. By the end of the weekend, 2027 BookCon dates were dropped, but there’s an update for next year’s convention.

ReedPop, the organizers behind BookCon, just announced that BookCon will now run for three days in 2027. Returning to the Javits Center, BookCon will take place April 9 to 11. The extra day means there will be even more panels, authors, and workshops to attend — and maybe a better chance at snagging tickets.

“The passion of our fans and the storytelling community found at BookCon 2026 was beyond our wildest dreams, and we can’t wait to bring the event back even bigger next year,” said Jenny Martin, Event Director, ReedPop. “Our team has been hard at work reviewing the feedback we received from attendees and partners after this year’s show, and we are excited about the changes and improvements we are bringing to the 2027 event, starting with the expansion to three days of programming, signings, and shopping.”

Last year’s event welcomed bestselling authors including Rachel Reid, Veronica Roth, Andy Weir, and Rufi Thorpe. While authors for next year’s event have yet to be announced, ReedPop is promising an even bigger BookCon.

#BookCon #dates #announced #Heres

The company calls the suite of tools “Rules Hub,” and the tools let mods decide what rules should be automatically enforced and what should happen when a rule is triggered. Rules Hub relies on LLMs to evaluate “whether a post or comment matches the intent of a rule,” which “allows Rules Hub to better handle nuance, natural language, and edge cases while preserving moderator control,” Reddit says in a blog post. Right now, many subreddits use tools from a feature called Automoderator (aka Automod) to take action on rules, but Automod’s tools “depend on exact keyword and pattern matching.”

Reddit says that Rules Hub has been in testing for “the past few months” with “new and experienced moderators from over 700 communities, including members of Reddit’s Mod Council Network.” That test of Rules Hub is now expanding to “all newly created communities” and will be “widely available” at some point later in 2026.

Rules Hub will be optional for new communities, spokesperson Rosa Kim tells The Verge. However, it does sound as if Reddit plans to retire Automod’s enforcement features down the line: In its post, Reddit says that “Looking ahead, we believe Rules Hub, together with newer systems like Post & Comment Guidance and Safety Filters, can eventually replace many of the enforcement workflows that communities rely on from Automod,” Reddit says in its post.

The updated mod tools are just one of a few big platform announcements Reddit is making on Wednesday. The company is also planning big changes that will affect developers: It’s going to require new third-party apps to use the developer platform instead of the API.

“We envision a future where all good, trusted automation on Reddit runs within an ecosystem that allows us to offer support and enforce our policies consistently,” Reddit says. “To achieve this, we will continue supporting limited public API access, but we will gradually restrict new requests and require third-party apps to transition to and operate on Reddit’s Developer Platform.”

The shift follows Reddit’s major API changes in 2023 that it put in place to get AI companies to pony up for Reddit’s data but also caused widespread backlash in part because they forced many beloved Reddit apps to shut down. (Currently, if a developer wants to make a Reddit mobile app, they have to get permission from Reddit to get public API exemptions, and that will continue to be the case, Kim says.) Reddit doesn’t have a “set timeline” yet for requiring the developer platform, but the company will give “give the community ample notice” and provide a clear timeline, Kim says. The upcoming change will affect “all API apps except the ones we explicitly grant exceptions to,” according to Kim.

Reddit is also saying today that it’s planning more changes to old Reddit as part of its ongoing efforts to fight unauthorized scraping of its content. Those efforts already include blocking Reddit results from search engines that don’t pay, suing Anthropic and Perplexity, and blocking the Internet Archive to stop AI companies from using it to scrape data, and in June, the company announced that people would have to be logged in if they wanted to use the old Reddit interface.

Reddit doesn’t specify what the changes to old Reddit will be, but Kim says the company is “exploring different options” and notes that “in the short term we will limit access to logged-in users and migrate critical bots and moderator workflows.”

#Reddit #introducing #moderatorAI,News,Reddit,Tech">Reddit is introducing a new moderator: AIReddit is enlisting AI to help moderate new subreddits — and eventually the rest of site. The company is introducing automated moderation tools that rely on LLMs to help mods manage their communities, and it’s expanding who can use those tools today ahead of a full launch later this year.The company calls the suite of tools “Rules Hub,” and the tools let mods decide what rules should be automatically enforced and what should happen when a rule is triggered. Rules Hub relies on LLMs to evaluate “whether a post or comment matches the intent of a rule,” which “allows Rules Hub to better handle nuance, natural language, and edge cases while preserving moderator control,” Reddit says in a blog post. Right now, many subreddits use tools from a feature called Automoderator (aka Automod) to take action on rules, but Automod’s tools “depend on exact keyword and pattern matching.”Reddit says that Rules Hub has been in testing for “the past few months” with “new and experienced moderators from over 700 communities, including members of Reddit’s Mod Council Network.” That test of Rules Hub is now expanding to “all newly created communities” and will be “widely available” at some point later in 2026.Rules Hub will be optional for new communities, spokesperson Rosa Kim tells The Verge. However, it does sound as if Reddit plans to retire Automod’s enforcement features down the line: In its post, Reddit says that “Looking ahead, we believe Rules Hub, together with newer systems like Post & Comment Guidance and Safety Filters, can eventually replace many of the enforcement workflows that communities rely on from Automod,” Reddit says in its post.The updated mod tools are just one of a few big platform announcements Reddit is making on Wednesday. The company is also planning big changes that will affect developers: It’s going to require new third-party apps to use the developer platform instead of the API.“We envision a future where all good, trusted automation on Reddit runs within an ecosystem that allows us to offer support and enforce our policies consistently,” Reddit says. “To achieve this, we will continue supporting limited public API access, but we will gradually restrict new requests and require third-party apps to transition to and operate on Reddit’s Developer Platform.”The shift follows Reddit’s major API changes in 2023 that it put in place to get AI companies to pony up for Reddit’s data but also caused widespread backlash in part because they forced many beloved Reddit apps to shut down. (Currently, if a developer wants to make a Reddit mobile app, they have to get permission from Reddit to get public API exemptions, and that will continue to be the case, Kim says.) Reddit doesn’t have a “set timeline” yet for requiring the developer platform, but the company will give “give the community ample notice” and provide a clear timeline, Kim says. The upcoming change will affect “all API apps except the ones we explicitly grant exceptions to,” according to Kim.Reddit is also saying today that it’s planning more changes to old Reddit as part of its ongoing efforts to fight unauthorized scraping of its content. Those efforts already include blocking Reddit results from search engines that don’t pay, suing Anthropic and Perplexity, and blocking the Internet Archive to stop AI companies from using it to scrape data, and in June, the company announced that people would have to be logged in if they wanted to use the old Reddit interface.Reddit doesn’t specify what the changes to old Reddit will be, but Kim says the company is “exploring different options” and notes that “in the short term we will limit access to logged-in users and migrate critical bots and moderator workflows.”#Reddit #introducing #moderatorAI,News,Reddit,Tech

Reddit says that Rules Hub has been in testing for “the past few months” with “new and experienced moderators from over 700 communities, including members of Reddit’s Mod Council Network.” That test of Rules Hub is now expanding to “all newly created communities” and will be “widely available” at some point later in 2026.

Rules Hub will be optional for new communities, spokesperson Rosa Kim tells The Verge. However, it does sound as if Reddit plans to retire Automod’s enforcement features down the line: In its post, Reddit says that “Looking ahead, we believe Rules Hub, together with newer systems like Post & Comment Guidance and Safety Filters, can eventually replace many of the enforcement workflows that communities rely on from Automod,” Reddit says in its post.

The updated mod tools are just one of a few big platform announcements Reddit is making on Wednesday. The company is also planning big changes that will affect developers: It’s going to require new third-party apps to use the developer platform instead of the API.

“We envision a future where all good, trusted automation on Reddit runs within an ecosystem that allows us to offer support and enforce our policies consistently,” Reddit says. “To achieve this, we will continue supporting limited public API access, but we will gradually restrict new requests and require third-party apps to transition to and operate on Reddit’s Developer Platform.”

The shift follows Reddit’s major API changes in 2023 that it put in place to get AI companies to pony up for Reddit’s data but also caused widespread backlash in part because they forced many beloved Reddit apps to shut down. (Currently, if a developer wants to make a Reddit mobile app, they have to get permission from Reddit to get public API exemptions, and that will continue to be the case, Kim says.) Reddit doesn’t have a “set timeline” yet for requiring the developer platform, but the company will give “give the community ample notice” and provide a clear timeline, Kim says. The upcoming change will affect “all API apps except the ones we explicitly grant exceptions to,” according to Kim.

Reddit is also saying today that it’s planning more changes to old Reddit as part of its ongoing efforts to fight unauthorized scraping of its content. Those efforts already include blocking Reddit results from search engines that don’t pay, suing Anthropic and Perplexity, and blocking the Internet Archive to stop AI companies from using it to scrape data, and in June, the company announced that people would have to be logged in if they wanted to use the old Reddit interface.

Reddit doesn’t specify what the changes to old Reddit will be, but Kim says the company is “exploring different options” and notes that “in the short term we will limit access to logged-in users and migrate critical bots and moderator workflows.”

#Reddit #introducing #moderatorAI,News,Reddit,Tech">Reddit is introducing a new moderator: AI

Reddit is enlisting AI to help moderate new subreddits — and eventually the rest of site. The company is introducing automated moderation tools that rely on LLMs to help mods manage their communities, and it’s expanding who can use those tools today ahead of a full launch later this year.

The company calls the suite of tools “Rules Hub,” and the tools let mods decide what rules should be automatically enforced and what should happen when a rule is triggered. Rules Hub relies on LLMs to evaluate “whether a post or comment matches the intent of a rule,” which “allows Rules Hub to better handle nuance, natural language, and edge cases while preserving moderator control,” Reddit says in a blog post. Right now, many subreddits use tools from a feature called Automoderator (aka Automod) to take action on rules, but Automod’s tools “depend on exact keyword and pattern matching.”

Reddit says that Rules Hub has been in testing for “the past few months” with “new and experienced moderators from over 700 communities, including members of Reddit’s Mod Council Network.” That test of Rules Hub is now expanding to “all newly created communities” and will be “widely available” at some point later in 2026.

Rules Hub will be optional for new communities, spokesperson Rosa Kim tells The Verge. However, it does sound as if Reddit plans to retire Automod’s enforcement features down the line: In its post, Reddit says that “Looking ahead, we believe Rules Hub, together with newer systems like Post & Comment Guidance and Safety Filters, can eventually replace many of the enforcement workflows that communities rely on from Automod,” Reddit says in its post.

The updated mod tools are just one of a few big platform announcements Reddit is making on Wednesday. The company is also planning big changes that will affect developers: It’s going to require new third-party apps to use the developer platform instead of the API.

“We envision a future where all good, trusted automation on Reddit runs within an ecosystem that allows us to offer support and enforce our policies consistently,” Reddit says. “To achieve this, we will continue supporting limited public API access, but we will gradually restrict new requests and require third-party apps to transition to and operate on Reddit’s Developer Platform.”

The shift follows Reddit’s major API changes in 2023 that it put in place to get AI companies to pony up for Reddit’s data but also caused widespread backlash in part because they forced many beloved Reddit apps to shut down. (Currently, if a developer wants to make a Reddit mobile app, they have to get permission from Reddit to get public API exemptions, and that will continue to be the case, Kim says.) Reddit doesn’t have a “set timeline” yet for requiring the developer platform, but the company will give “give the community ample notice” and provide a clear timeline, Kim says. The upcoming change will affect “all API apps except the ones we explicitly grant exceptions to,” according to Kim.

Reddit is also saying today that it’s planning more changes to old Reddit as part of its ongoing efforts to fight unauthorized scraping of its content. Those efforts already include blocking Reddit results from search engines that don’t pay, suing Anthropic and Perplexity, and blocking the Internet Archive to stop AI companies from using it to scrape data, and in June, the company announced that people would have to be logged in if they wanted to use the old Reddit interface.

Reddit doesn’t specify what the changes to old Reddit will be, but Kim says the company is “exploring different options” and notes that “in the short term we will limit access to logged-in users and migrate critical bots and moderator workflows.”

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