Teens Use AI ‘Slander Pages’ to Target Teachers
▼ Summary
– A new AI-video meme trend on Instagram and TikTok, called “slander pages,” involves students using AI tools to create videos mocking or attacking their school’s faculty for virality.
– These videos often use AI tools like Viggle AI to insert teachers’ faces into reference videos or animate them into lip-sync formats, with one tool cited as a potential frontier for extremist propaganda.
– The memes incorporate slang from unsavory online forums and sometimes use morphed extremist symbols, such as referencing the neo-Nazi occult setting of Agartha.
– In one extreme case, a viral TikTok account targeting a Texas high school inspired widespread harassment of teachers by people with no ties to the school, leading to account deletions.
– The creator of a prominent “slander” account claimed the content was meant as a joke and voluntarily deleted it after teachers faced harassment, though the account briefly resumed posting before being deleted entirely.
A disturbing new trend is spreading through social media, where students are using artificial intelligence to create malicious “slander pages” targeting their teachers. These accounts, primarily on Instagram and TikTok, generate AI-video memes designed to mock faculty and damage reputations, often simply for the sake of going viral. What begins as a digital prank carries serious consequences, blurring the line between adolescent humor and targeted harassment with tools capable of fabricating convincing, damaging content.
The clips often employ AI tools like Viggle AI, which allows users to insert a person’s face into any video or animate a static photo to lip-sync. This technology has been flagged by researchers as a potential new frontier for creating spontaneous propaganda. In one particularly egregious example that was later removed, a teacher’s face was superimposed over footage of someone having a seizure in a bathroom, with a caption falsely accusing the educator of using fentanyl. The videos frequently borrow slang from niche online communities, such as “looksmaxxing” forums, using terms like “mog” or “sub5” to insult appearances.
The content sometimes escalates beyond mockery into the appropriation of extremist symbolism. Some edits place teachers into fictional settings like Agartha, a concept co-opted by neo-Nazi occultism, using visual cues like glowing white or red eyes to signify acceptance or rejection into this racist fantasy realm. This layers a dangerous ideological subtext onto what perpetrators may dismiss as mere jokes.
In some communities, the situation has spiraled beyond control, with viral accounts inspiring harassment from people with no connection to the school. This was the case at Crandall High School in Texas, where a popular TikTok account’s memes broke containment. The content inspired outsiders to amplify attacks against teachers, leading to incidents where faculty were spam-called and emailed by strangers. The account creator eventually posted a statement claiming the page was meant as a joke and that the harassment was unintended, voluntarily deleting an associated Instagram. Despite this, the TikTok activity resumed briefly before the account was wiped entirely last week.
These “slander pages” represent a significant escalation from traditional schoolyard teasing. They leverage powerful, accessible AI to create persistent, shareable, and often shockingly believable false narratives about educators. The blend of cutting-edge technology, inflammatory online subcultures, and the relentless drive for social media clout creates a perfect storm for reputational harm, posing serious challenges for schools attempting to protect their staff and maintain a respectful learning environment.
(Source: Wired)
