BBC reveals the web of spammers profiting from AI Holocaust Images

An international network of spammers posted AI-generated images of Holocaust victims on Facebook, a BBC investigation into “AI Slop” was discovered.

An organization dedicated to preserving Holocaust memories says the images are causing survivors and their families.

They also criticised Facebook's parent company Meta, saying users on the platform can turn atrocities into “emotional games.”

Only a handful of authentic photos from inside the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

However, in recent months, AI spammers have posted fake images intended for ones from within camps. For example, prisoners play violins and lovers at fence boundaries, and they collect tens of thousands of likes and stocks.

Powell Sawicky, spokesman for the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland, said:

“This is not a game. It's a real world, a real pain, a real person we want and want to commemorate.”

The BBC tracked many of these images to accounts of a network of content creators based in Pakistan. They are content monetization (CM) programs for the game meta, and are “invitation-only” systems that pay users for high-performance content and views.

One account named Abdul Mughees, listed as living in Pakistan, posted a screenshot claiming it had won $20,000 through a social media monetization scheme that included Meta. Another post appears to show accounts that have generated over 1.2 billion views of content over the course of four months.

The creator's revenue could not be independently verified.

Among the many Facebook posts from Abdul Mughees' account are photos of several AI-generated in fake stories, including fictional Holocaust victims and children with remaining babies on trains outside the concentration camp.

The BBC's analysis of online activity on accounts and dozens of other such people suggest that they have almost exclusively posted “AI slops.”

The term refers to images and text generated in low-quality AI that are usually generated in large quantities and spammed across social media.

Auschwitz has become a popular topic for history-themed pages and groups. Some names such as “Timeless Stories” and “History Haven” are posted more than 50 times a day.

In June, the Auschwitz Museum warned that such accounts stole posts, dealt with them through AI models, often distorting historical details, and creating a complete story and victimization. In a Facebook post, the museum said the images were “dangerous distortions” that “dovey the victim and disregard the memories.”

Sawicki said the tsunami of fake images undermines the Auschwitz Memorial mission to raise awareness of the Holocaust.

“We've already started receiving comments on Facebook posts saying, 'Oh, this is an AI-generated photo,'' he said.

Survivors and families are also suffering from a surge in Holocaust AI slops, according to an organization that promotes education and research in the Holocaust.

“They don't fully understand what they're looking at,” said Dr. Robert Williams, of the International Holocaust Memory Alliance.

He said Holocaust survivors feel that “this is allowed to happen” despite their investments in government and philanthropy.

“They feel that their efforts weren't enough,” he said.

“It's very sad because the last survivors leave us soon.”

Meta does not intentionally encourage users to post false stories about the Holocaust, but rather rewards the system with high engagement. The BBC has also discovered AI slop accounts based in India, Vietnam, Thailand and Nigeria.

To understand why these networks produce a large amount of certain types of content, the BBC spoke with Pakistani Fazal Rahman. Fazal Rahman has been registered in several social media content monetization schemes, and the work has become his sole source of income.

He says he didn't create images of the Holocaust himself and didn't know what the word meant when he was first asked, but he runs on the same Facebook group as those who do so.

Rahman said that if “premium content” was provided to more valuable audiences in the UK, the US and Europe, a Facebook page with 300,000 followers could earn USD 1,000 a month. He estimates that Western views are eight times more valuable than Western views from Asia.

He said history as a topic is a reliable driver of online traffic.

Other creators seem to agree. The BBC has seen step-by-step educational videos that can use popular AI models to generate continuous fake historical images and text.

In one video, the creator asked the AI ​​chatbot to list important historical events that could be used as the basis for content creation, and was given to the Holocaust as one of the answers.

Other advice given by some creators include tips on how to deceive your audience. You can build viewers by impersonating other entities on your page and qualify for Meta's commercial program.

Facebook has a page transparency feature that allows users to track previous page names. Using this, the BBC has found many pages that have posted Holocaust AI slops that once brought a variety of entities, including official US fire departments, commercial businesses, American influencers and more, without all consent.

These pages can also be sold or rented to anyone looking to break into the content creator market, according to public posts by creators.

The BBC also asked Meta about some profiles that posted Holocaust-themed AI content, and appeared to be involved in deceptive practices.

Several profiles and groups have been removed, including those originally flagged by the Auschwitz Memorial in June.

A spokesman for the tech giant found that these fake images did not violate its content policy, but they investigated them and violated rules regarding page spoofing and trading.

“We deleted the pages and groups that are shared with us and disabled the account behind us for violating our spam and fraudulent behavior policy,” they said.

While AI has been used in the past to commemorate the Holocaust and bring the stories of real victims back to life, Dr. Williams of the International Holocaust Memory Alliance warns that there is a risk that it can contribute to the sense that Holocaust history is somehow made.

“Any form of extreme manipulation is something we should avoid,” he said.

Umer Draz Nangiana, Additional Reports by BBC Urdu