“Shitposts” act like online fast food and are “empty mental calories” – Dr. Jakub Kuś, a psychologist of new technologies from SWPS University, told PAP. Ewelina Bartuzi-Trokielewicz from NASK added that short, provocative content is published online by “like farms” and examines recipients' reactions and behavior.
According to Dr. Kuś, getting used to such content affects concentration and brain functioning. The expert noted that this is especially dangerous for people in the development phase.
If a teenager gets used to constantly watching short, simple materials, he may have problems with critical thinking in adulthood, he said.
An example of an AI-generated “shitpost” is a graphic circulating on the Internet, showing a girl behind the wheel of a car, holding a dog on her lap. The shared post suggested that the 12-year-old was detained by the police when she tried to save the animal. On Platform X, the graphic was published in mid-October by the account tintinpapa1 and received 15.4 million views. Two days earlier, identical content appeared on Facebook, generating 66,000 likes. reactions and over 2 thousand shares.
Under entries containing graphics, you can see information provided by the Grok chatbot, according to which the graphics were generated by AI. Grok points out that the steering wheel is on the wrong side, there is no instrument cluster on the dashboard, and the passenger air vents are distorted and deformed.
Despite its seeming banality, “shitposting” is also used by politicians and state institutions. On October 19, US President Donald Trump published an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing him piloting a fighter jet with the words “King Trump” on it and dropping brown liquid on protesting citizens. The entry was a reaction to the ongoing “No Kings” demonstrations in the US, expressing opposition to the Trump administration.
According to Ewelina Bartuzi-Trokielewicz from NASK, publishing content generated by artificial intelligence by public figures is a new communication strategy. – This absurdity and provocations present in such materials are no longer just a cultural gesture or an expression of creativity, but also an element of a conscious game for voters' attention and emotions – emphasized the expert. She added that the aim of these activities is not to directly convince specific views, but to undermine the seriousness of public debate.
Earlier, on May 3 this year, Donald Trump published an image of himself as pope generated by artificial intelligence on the Truth Social website. The entry received 37.7 thousand likes. likes and was shared 8.5 thousand times. times. The White House published the same graphic on the X website, collecting 110.6 million views and 194,000 likes. likes. As reported by The New York Times, in May Trump admitted to journalists that he was not the author of this graphic and had no connection with it.
– Trump is pushing the boundaries of acceptable language to perpetuate the belief that everything is the proverbial meme. He builds the identity of an “internet leader”, speaks a funny language, not the language of the institution, and this allows him to reach directly to the emotions of the recipients – noted the expert.
According to Kuś, in the case of Trump, we are dealing with a politician who knows perfectly well what he is doing, because such content is attractive to his audience. However, the expert noted that this may result in an increase in disinformation. – This is a serious problem in the development of AI. With today's technology, it doesn't take much to create a deepfake, the expert warned.
The graphics generated by artificial intelligence were also shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On October 9, he published on X a photo created by AI showing him and Donald Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize. Above the photo, Netanyahu wrote, “Give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it.” The post gained 5 million views, and the graphic was later published by Trump himself on the Truth Social platform.
Bartuzi-Trokielewicz pointed out that representatives of the authorities, by using ironic and chaotic language, blur the line between a joke and political declarations. She added that because users may react to emotions rather than facts, trust in institutions may be eroded. She emphasized that these materials can fulfill various functions – from provocation, through self-irony, to social experiment. She added that “shitpost” can also be a form of commentary on the culture of gluttony, in which the value of content is measured by reach, not the content itself.
In turn, Dr. Kuś, when asked about the reasons for the popularity of “shitposting” content, compared this phenomenon to eating fast food. – Some people like to eat not entirely healthy food, just as some people consume “empty mental calories”. Such information does not give us anything, but “clogs” our cognitive system – said the expert. In his opinion, the problem is serious because some people can spend long hours browsing worthless content. – People often think that it is a form of rest, but it is not, because our brain is constantly working, filtering information all the time – he emphasized.
The expert also noted that this phenomenon may be an element of hybrid warfare. – This is a great way to fool Internet users in a foreign country. In a moment of crisis, people will not know what to believe. When faced with the threat of disinformation, we become potential victims ourselves, he noted.
Kuś also pointed out that the Internet is an escape from everyday life and stress for many people, which is related to the psychological phenomenon of the so-called cyberloafing. – In this case, we drift from page to page, from meme to meme. If someone asked us what exactly we saw at that time, we would have a problem answering, because we didn't actually absorb anything, but only “clogged” our cognitive system, he explained.
Bartuzi-Trokielewicz drew attention to regulations intended to prevent the blurring of the line between freedom of expression and manipulation or disinformation. One of them is the Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act) in the European Union, which introduces the obligation to label content generated by artificial intelligence. In turn, the Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges social media platforms and other digital service providers to actively limit the spread of disinformation and harmful content, as well as to increase the transparency of algorithms and moderation.
Weronika Moszpańska, Piotr Gregorczyk (PAP)
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