"Synthetic Propaganda - Tracing an AI-Driven Political Operation" with Effie Webb

This week we spoke with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism's AI reporter, Effie Webb about the use of AI in the political sphere and what researchers/journalists can effectively report on AI misuse. Effie uncovered what some experts are calling a first-of-its-kind case—where a registered political party paid for content from an AI-generated influencer pushing ideological messaging.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on April 16th 2026. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in our Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links:

Effie Webb's original reporting: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-03-12/danny-bones-meet-the-ai-rapper-funded-by-a-far-right-party

Effie's follow up investigation on the cash in following her reporting: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-03-26/the-hate-economy-in-action-how-an-ai-rapper-tried-to-cash-in-on-our-coverage

Advance UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_UK

Bellingcat coverage of Indian political parties using AI-generated images to spread hate: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03/31/india-bjp-hate-speech-ai /?utm_source=rss

The Node Project website: https://www.thenodeproject.com/

On AI lego videos from Iran conflict: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/15/iran-beating-us-social-media-wars

AI generated band finding success on Spotify: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/14/an-ai-generated-band-got-1m-plays-on-spotify-now-music-insiders-say-listeners-should-be-warned

One of our previous talks on digital political influence campaigns: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2021916/

On AI and the first amendment: https://www.freedomforum.org/artificial-intelligence-first-amendment/

Bellingcat's Auto Archiver: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2025/08/13/the-open-source-tool-that-has-preserved-150000-pieces-of-online-evidence/

Effie's contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/effie-webb-ab29941938

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