Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli, Google News, and Other LLM Slopfarms

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 29, 2025

Today's Slopwatch starts with Brian Fagioli and his slop about "agentic" slop:

There were some real articles about this topic. The above is just LLM slop.

WebProNews has been boosted by Google News again, with a couple of fake articles containing fake images:

Notice how WSL (i.e. Windows) is again leveraged for FUD about Linux.

Google News has also failed to detect the following as: 1) slopfarms; 2) run by the same people; 3) containing almost the same text, with LLM permutations.

Why does Google News keep promoting these fake articles?

These ones also (just hours ago):

Google News and the Web in general serve to boost plagiarism. As an associate put it earlier today, "I'm finding that the regular sites which used to have news are now filling with chaff and stenography. And then there is the matter of AI slop."

See "Study claims 9% of US newspaper articles at least partly AI generated" (they mean slop, not "AI").

Next week, once we're done with search and the anniversary party we're planning to look into an approach for culling fake articles and chaff. █

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Torvalds Capitulated on Rust and Slop, Now He's Paying the Price: they are pushing Microsoft and slop for grifters and scammers
Whistleblowers Needed: We Are Seeing Many Layoffs in Red Hat (Not Just in China), We Want to Know More: Last week we learned about some people who said they had left Red Hat or are leaving Red Hat
Links 19/05/2026: More Obituaries for Peter G. Neumann, Taiwan Abandoned by Cheeto House for Don's Personal Gain: Links for the day
Links 19/05/2026: Online 'Storage' (Surveillance) Accounts Lower Thresholds (Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos), Slop Debacles Expand (False Promises Made to Staff Regarding Compensation): Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 81 Out of 200: SLAPP Censorship Does Not Work If Your Sole Strategy is Revenge (and You Attack the Family): Both yours and others'
Techrights at 20 (Soon): It does not seek popularity or affirmation from "Establishment" outlets
We Pay More for Less, for Things That Last Less Time and Are Almost Impossible to Repair: Ever noticed how "modern" or "smart" TVs come with dumber and dumber (worse) controllers?
Vista 11 Turns 5 in a Couple of Months. Not Many People Use It.: It is the only supported version of Windows; many people move elsewhere
Head of GitHub Recently Left, Microsoft Need No Longer Report Mass Layoffs There (User Activity is Declining): We've long said that LinkedIn and GitHub, which Microsoft bought, would likely end up like Skype
The Slop Bubble is Already Bursting: Slop is not desirable and the general public is growingly impatient, seeing that slop has improved nothing for them
Gemini Links 19/05/2026: Reliable Old Tech, Collection of Essays: Links for the day
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVII - European Patent Office (EPO) Became a "Toxic Work Environment" When Cocaine Addicts Put in Charge: They are putting at risk colleagues by abusing them
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 18, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, May 18, 2026
Links 18/05/2026: Slop-induced Shortages, Solicitors Regulation Authority Says It's Unable to Deal With Complaints Load (So Regulation Does Not Really Exist): Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Ghost Essay and World Wide Web Considered Broken: Links for the day
Cooperation and Collaboration, on a More Personal Level: Rianne, to me, isn't just a wife; she is also my best friend
IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft): It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM
Links 18/05/2026: 25 Years of OLDaily and Dangers of "Living With Too Much Tech": Links for the day
Trips to London: London isn't a bad place, but it's a long journey and we'd rather stay in Manchester and write about technology
SLAPP Censorship - Part 80 Out of 200: Having Run Out of Time to Meet a Judge's Deadline, Microsoft's Graveley Had Garrett's Lawyers Argued My ~190-Page Defence and CounterClaim (DCC) Was Unclear About My Position: Nothing could be further from the truth
Working in the Shell (and Fish): Yesterday we spent about 5 hours on the shells and fish
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVI - Campinos Has Put Unfit-for-Employment Drug Addicts in Charge of the European Patent Office (EPO): How many months has Campinos got left before the delegates show him the door?
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 17, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, May 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Poetry, Sauna, and GNU Taler: Links for the day
"The Society of Media Lawyers" (UK) is a Truly Malicious Anti-Media Lobby Which Helps Rich/Abusive Americans and Hostile Countries Attack Actual Media Workers in the UK: They typically source their money from aboard to besiege domestic actors (like honest journalists or independent outlets that document suppressed beats/topics)
Slop Still Waning, Its Momentum is Driven by Companies That Stand to Lose a Lot (or Everything) When the Bubble Pops: When it comes to LLM slop disguised as news, it's just not working out
Gemini Links 17/05/2026: arXiv Brings Down the Hammer, UnderPOWERed, and Slopping With Tcl/Tk: Links for the day
Links 17/05/2026: Amazon Employees Herded Into Slop, Taiwan Sold Down the River by Cheeto: Links for the day
Links 17/05/2026: Society of Media Lawyers (Brett Wilson LLP et al) Lobby for More SLAPPs in the UK, “Courage in Journalism Award” Given in Oppressive Country: Links for the day
Finland Needs to Dump Microsoft (Microslop) for National Security Reasons and the Same is True for Hundreds of Countries: "I don't see why Ryssäs would want Finns to use microslop products..."
Cyber Show UK is Already Available Over Gemini Protocol: This past week the total number of active Gemini capsules hit all-time records several times
Fight Til the End: This comes to show that persistence pays off
SLAPP Censorship - Part 79 Out of 200: They Will Soon Reach the 100 KG (Kilograms) Milestone; Wheelbarrows, Not Justice (Quantity of Legal Papers Sent to Us): It's about the quality, not quantity (unless your sole aim is to drown out or "flood the zone")
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXV - Not Bringing Intelligence to the EPO, Not 'Artificial Intelligence' Either (But Intelligence-Eroding Drugs): The EPO was meant to be about science and law. In practice, however, it's about breaking the law and being stoned.
The Cyber Show on Why Coding is Important and Slop Cannot Change or Replace That: Hand-crafting one's site has plenty of advantages
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 16, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, May 16, 2026
Gemini Links 17/05/2026: Music Theory, Reticulum Git Repos, and Releasing Kiln: Links for the day