The Italian data protection authority has ordered Amazon Italia Logistics to halt processing of sensitive employee data after investigators found that the company gathered details ranging from health conditions to union involvement.
Information about workers’ private lives and family members had also been collected, often retained for a decade through internal tracking systems rather than being limited to what labour rules in Italy allow.
Regulators discovered that some data originated from cameras positioned near restrooms and staff break areas, a practice that breached EU privacy standards.
The watchdog concluded that the company’s monitoring went far beyond what employers are permitted to compile when assessing staff performance or workplace needs.
Amazon responded by stressing that protecting employee information remains a priority and said that internal rules and training programmes are designed to ensure compliance. The company added that any findings from the Italian authority would prompt a review of its procedures instead of being dismissed.
An order that arrives as Amazon attempts to regain its lobby badges at the European Parliament.
Access was suspended in 2024 after senior representatives declined to attend hearings on warehouse working conditions, and opposition from MEPs continues to place pressure on Parliament President Roberta Metsola to reject reinstatement.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Regulatory scrutiny of the EU’s digital fairness framework is set to begin on 1 July as the European Commission moves to tighten its supervision of online platforms.
The Commission is preparing a major upgrade of its consumer protection framework, expected by December 2026.
The reforms aim to reinforce enforcement tools under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation, allowing regulators to intervene more effectively when platforms breach fairness standards.
Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and Rule of Law, has highlighted the need for greater transparency and accountability as digital markets expand rapidly.
The forthcoming scrutiny focuses on ensuring that platforms respect transparency obligations, avoid manipulating users and provide fair conditions in online transactions.
Regulators seek to replace fragmented enforcement with a more coordinated model that reflects the increasingly cross-border nature of digital commerce.
Stronger consumer safeguards are becoming central to the digital agenda of the EU.
The next phase of reforms is expected to streamline investigations across member states and deliver more predictable outcomes for affected consumers, offering steadier enforcement instead of reactive measures taken after violations escalate.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
In December 2025, the Macquarie Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, and the American Dialect Society named ‘slop’ as the Word of the Year, reflecting a widespread reaction to AI-generated content online, often referred to as ‘AI slop.’ By choosing ‘slop’, typically associated with unappetising animal feed, they captured unease about the digital clutter created by AI tools.
As LLMs and AI tools became accessible to more people, many saw them as opportunities for profit through the creation of artificial content for marketing or entertainment, or through the manipulation of social media algorithms. However, despite video and image generation advances, there is a growing gap between perceived quality and actual detection: many overestimate how easily AI content evades notice, fueling scepticism about its online value.
As generative AI systems expand, the debate goes beyond digital clutter to deeper concerns about trust, market incentives, and regulatory resilience. How will societies manage the social, economic, and governance impacts of an information ecosystem increasingly shaped by automated abundance? In simplified terms, is AI slop more than a simple digital nuisance, or do we needlessly worry about a transient vogue that will eventually fade away?
The social aspect of AI slop’s influence
The most visible effects of AI slop emerge on large social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Users frequently encounter AI-generated images and videos that appropriate celebrity likenesses without consent, depict fabricated events, or present sensational and misleading scenarios. Comment sections often become informal verification spaces, where some users identify visual inconsistencies and warn others, while many remain uncertain about the content’s authenticity.
However, no platform has suffered the AI slop effect as much as Facebook, and once you take a glance at its demographics, the pieces start to come together. According to multiple studies, Facebook’s user base is mostly populated by adults aged 25-34, but users over the age of 55 make up nearly 24 percent of all users. While seniors do not constitute the majority (yet), younger generations have been steadily migrating to social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and X, leaving the most popular platform to the whims of the older generation.
Due to factors such as cognitive decline, positivity bias, or digital (il)literacy, older social media users are more likely to fall for scams and fraud. Such conditions make Facebook an ideal place for spreading low-quality AI slop and false information. Scammers use AI tools to create fake images and videos about made-up crises to raise money for causes that are not real.
The lack of regulation on Meta’s side is the most glaring sore spot, evidenced by the company pushing back against the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), viewing them as ‘overreaching‘ and stifling innovation. The math is simple: content generates engagement, resulting in more revenue for Facebook and other platforms owned by Meta. Whether that content is authentic and high-quality or low-effort AI slop, the numbers don’t care.
The economics behind AI slop
At its core, AI content is not just a social media phenomenon, but an economic one as well. GenAI tools drastically reduce the cost and time required to produce all types of content, and when production approaches zero marginal cost, the incentive to churn out AI slop seems too good to ignore. Even minimal engagement can generate positive returns through advertising, affiliate marketing, or platform monetisation schemes.
AI content production goes beyond exploiting social media algorithms and monetisation policies. SEO can now be automated at scale, thus generating thousands of keyword-optimised articles within hours. Affiliate link farming allows creators to monetise their products or product recommendations with minimal editorial input.
On video platforms like TikTok and YouTube, synthetic voice-overs and AI-generated visuals are on full display, banking on trending topics and using AI-generated thumbnails to garner more views on a whim. Thanks to AI tools, content creators can post relevant AI-generated content in minutes, enabling them to jump on the hottest topics and drive clicks faster than with any other authentic content creation method.
To add salt to the wound, YouTube content creators share the sentiment that they are victims of the platform’s double standards in enforcing its strict community guidelines. Even the largest YouTube Channels are often flagged for a plethora of breaches, including copyright claims and depictions of dangerous or illegal activities, and harmful speech, to name a few. On the other hand, AI slop videos seem to fly under YouTube’s radar, leading to more resentment towards AI-generated content.
Businesses that rely on generative AI tools to market their services online are also finding AI to be the way to go, as most users are still not too keen on distinguishing authentic content, nor do they give much importance to those aspects. Instead of paying voice-over artists and illustrators, it is way cheaper to simply create a desired post in under a few minutes, adding fuel to an already raging fire. Some might call it AI slop, but again, the numbers are what truly matter.
The regulatory challenge of AI slop
AI slop is not only a social and economic issue, but also a regulatory one. The problem is not a single AI-generated post that promotes harmful behaviour or misleading information, but the sheer scale of synthetic content entering digital platforms. When large volumes of low-value or deceptive material circulate on the web, they can distort information ecosystems and make moderation a tough challenge. Such a predicament shifts the focus from individual violations to broader systemic effects.
In the EU, the DSA requires very large online platforms to assess and mitigate the systemic risks linked to their services. While the DSA does not specifically target AI slop, its provisions on transparency, content recommendation algorithms, and risk mitigation could apply if AI content significantly affects public discourse or enables fraud. The challenge lies in defining when content volume prevails over quality control, becoming a systemic issue rather than isolated misuse.
Debates around labelling AI slop and transparency also play a large role. Policymakers and platforms have explored ways to flag AI-generated content throughout disclosures or watermarking. For example, OpenAI’s Sora generates videos with a faint Sora watermark, although it is hardly visible to an uninitiated user. Nevertheless, labelling alone may not address deeper concerns if recommendation systems continue to prioritise engagement above all else, with the issue not only being whether users know the content is AI-generated, but how such content is ranked, amplified, and monetised.
More broadly, AI slop highlights the limits of traditional content moderation. As generative tools make production faster and cheaper, enforcement systems may struggle to keep pace. Regulation, therefore, faces a structural question: can existing digital governance frameworks preserve information quality in an environment where automated content production continues to grow?
Building resilience in the era of AI slop
Humans are considered the most adaptable species on Earth, and for good reason. While AI slop has exposed weaknesses in platform design, monetisation models, and moderation systems, it may also serve as a catalyst for adaptation. Unless regulatory bodies unite under one banner and agree to ban AI content for good, it is safe to say that synthetic content is here to stay. However, sooner or later, systemic regulations will evolve to address this new AI craze and mitigate its negative effects.
The AI slop bubble is bound to burst at some point, as online users will come to favour meticulously crafted content – whether authentic or artificial over low-quality content. Consequently, incentives may also evolve along with content saturation, leading to a greater focus on quality rather than quantity. Advertisers and brands often prioritise credibility and brand safety, which could encourage platforms to refine their ranking systems to reward originality, reliability, and verified creators.
Transparency requirements, systemic risk assessments, and discussions around provenance disclosure mechanisms imply that governance is responding to the realities of generative AI. Instead of marking the deterioration of digital spaces, AI slop may represent a transitional phase in which platforms, policymakers, and users are challenged to adjust their expectations and norms accordingly.
Finally, the long-term outcome will depend entirely on whether innovation, market incentives, and governance structures can converge around information quality and resilience. In that sense, AI slop may ultimately function less as a permanent state of affairs and more as a stress test to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the upcoming struggle between user experience and generative AI tools, the former will have the final say, which is an encouraging thought.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
A prize-winning AI-generated short film has been pulled from cinemas following criticism from audiences. Thanksgiving Day, created by filmmaker Igor Alferov, was due to screen in selected theatres before feature presentations.
Concerns emerged after news of the screening spread online, prompting complaints directed at AMC Theatres. The chain stated it had not programmed the film and that pre-show advertising partner Screenvision Media had arranged the placement.
AMC confirmed it would not participate in the initiative, meaning the AI film will no longer appear in its locations. The animated short, produced using Google’s Gemini 3.1 and Nano Banana Pro tools, had recently won an AI film festival award.
The episode comes amid broader debate about artificial intelligence in Hollywood. Industry insiders suggest studios are quietly increasing AI use in production, even as concerns grow over job losses and economic uncertainty within Los Angeles’ entertainment sector.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Ankara is seeing growing debate over the risks and benefits of medical AI as experts warn that poorly governed systems could threaten patient safety.
Associate professor Agah Tugrul Korucu said AI offers meaningful potential for healthcare only when supported by rigorous ethical rules and strong oversight instead of rapid deployment without proper safeguards.
Korucu explained that data bias remains one of the most significant dangers because AI models learn directly from the information they receive. Underrepresented age groups, regions or social classes can distort outcomes and create systematic errors.
Turkey’s national health database e-Nabiz provides a strategic advantage, yet raw information cannot generate value unless it is processed correctly and supported by clear standards, quality controls and reliable terminology.
He added that inconsistent hospital records, labelling errors and privacy vulnerabilities can mislead AI systems and pose legal challenges. Strict anonymisation and secure analysis environments are needed to prevent harmful breaches.
Medical AI works best as a second eye in fields such as radiology and pathology, where systems can reduce workloads by flagging suspicious areas instead of leaving clinicians to assess every scan alone.
Korucu said physicians must remain final decision makers because automation bias could push patients towards unnecessary risks.
He expects genomic data combined with AI to transform personalised medicine over the coming decade, allowing faster diagnoses and accurate medication choices for rare conditions.
Priority development areas for Turkey include triage tools, intensive care early warning systems and chronic disease management. He noted that the long-term model will be the AI-assisted physician rather than a fully automated clinician.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
South African consumers may soon pay more for smartphones and laptops due to a global shortage of memory chips. The high demand is largely driven by AI data centres, which require powerful microchips to operate.
Tech experts report that major AI companies are acquiring large quantities of these chips for their own data centres, limiting supply for other industries. At the same time, importing chips from regions such as China has become more difficult because of trade tensions and tariffs.
Industry leaders, including Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk, have expressed concern over the impact on production and business operations. The strain is being felt across the tech sector as companies compete for the limited supply of components.
With no immediate solution, the increased costs are expected to be passed down to consumers. Analysts warn that the combination of high demand, supply constraints, and global trade issues will make technology and appliances more expensive for consumers.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
X Corp., owned by Elon Musk, has filed an appeal with the General Court of the European Union against a €120 million fine imposed by the European Commission for breaching the Digital Services Act. The penalty, issued in December, marks the first enforcement action under the 2022 law.
The Commission concluded that X violated transparency obligations and misled users through its verification design, arguing that paid blue checkmarks made it harder to assess account authenticity. Officials also cited concerns about advertising transparency and researchers’ access to platform data.
Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, said deceptive verification and opaque advertising had no place online. The Commission opened its probe in December 2023, examining risk management, moderation practices, and alleged dark patterns.
X Corp. argued that the decision followed an incomplete investigation and a flawed reading of the DSA, citing procedural errors and due-process concerns. It said the appeal could shape future enforcement standards and penalty calculations under the regulation.
The EU is also assessing whether X mitigated systemic risks, including deepfaked content and child sexual abuse material linked to its Grok chatbot. US critics describe DSA enforcement as a threat to free speech, while EU officials say it strengthens accountability across the digital single market.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech, and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
OpenAI chief Sam Altman has called for urgent global regulation of AI, speaking at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Addressing leaders and executives in New Delhi, he said the rapid pace of development demands coordinated international oversight.
In New Delhi, Altman suggested creating a body similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency to oversee advanced AI systems. He warned that highly capable open source biomodels could pose serious biosecurity risks if misused.
Altman argued in New Delhi that democratising AI is essential to prevent power from being concentrated in a single company or country. He added that safeguards are urgently required, even as technology continues to disrupt labour markets.
During the summit in New Delhi, Altman said ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users in India, with more than a third being students. OpenAI also announced plans with Tata Consultancy Services to build data centre infrastructure in India.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
Beverage company Liquid Death triggered confusion during the Winter Olympics after airing an AI advert featuring a figure skater who transforms into a red-eyed demon. The commercial appeared on Peacock’s Olympics stream but was not posted online, leaving viewers questioning whether it was real.
The brand later confirmed the advert was intentional and designed to parody fears around AI. According to Liquid Death, the limited run and lack of online acknowledgement were meant to amplify the sense of unease during the Winter Olympics broadcast.
Marketing analysts said that brands are increasingly leaning into AI scepticism to build trust with wary consumers. Campaigns from Equinox and Almond Breeze have similarly contrasted human authenticity with AI-generated content.
Despite the strategy, the Winter Olympics stunt drew criticism on social media, with some users labelling the advert AI slop. The reaction highlights both the risks and rewards for brands experimenting with AI-themed messaging.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
The UK government plans to require technology platforms to remove intimate images shared without consent within forty-eight hours instead of allowing such content to remain online for days.
Through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, firms that fail to comply could face fines amounting to ten percent of their global revenue or risk having their services blocked in the UK.
A move that reflects ministers’ commitment to treat intimate image abuse with the same seriousness as child sexual abuse material and extremist content.
The action follows mounting concern after non-consensual sexual deepfakes produced by Grok circulated widely, prompting investigations by Ofcom and political pressure on platforms owned by Elon Musk.
The government now intends victims to report an image once instead of repeating the process across multiple services. Once flagged, the content should disappear across all platforms and be blocked automatically on future uploads through hash-matching or similar detection tools.
Ministers also aim to address content hosted outside the reach of the Online Safety Act by issuing guidance requiring internet providers to block access to sites that refuse to comply.
Keir Starmer, Liz Kendall and Alex Davies-Jones emphasised that no woman should be forced to pursue platform after platform to secure removal and that the online environment must offer safety and respect.
The package of reforms forms part of a broader pledge to halve violence against women and girls during the next decade.
Alongside tackling intimate image abuse, the government is legislating against nudification tools and ensuring AI chatbots fall within regulatory scope, using this agenda to reshape online safety instead of relying on voluntary compliance from large technology firms.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!
