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Slopwatch: Google News and Serial Sloppers (Fake Articles About "Linux")

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 19, 2025

Today's installment of "Slopwatch" will mostly focus on Google News having been infested with fake 'articles' about "Linux", starting with this slopfarm:

Slop or fake: Linux Kernel Netfilter Flaw Enables Privilege Escalation

The sister slopfarm (also in Google News, operated by the same people) uttered out a permutation just minutes/hours apart:

Slop or fake: Linux Kernel Netfilter Vulnerability Let Attackers Escalate Privileges

They hardly even altered the words. The images are slop and the text is slop.

Same for this (notice the similarity and slop images at the top)

Slop or fake: North Korean Hackers Stealthy Linux Malware Leaked Online

Slop or fake: North Korean Hackers’ Secret Linux Malware Surfaces Online

Google News wasn't just gamed by this pair of bad actors. It also gave visibility to this one:

Slop or fake: Hardening Systemd Services: Enhance Linux Security Against Threats

That's typical: fictional author names, fake images, and fake text; systemd promotion manufactured by an LLM bot.

The Serial Slopper had a go at a couple of real news items, but his rendition was - as usual - just LLM slop:

Slop or fake: Kdenlive 25.08 brings bug fixes and refinements to the open source video editor

Same for this one, piggybacking real articles to come up with a fake 'article':

Slop or fake: Ubuntu Linux 25.10 wallpaper revealed ahead of October release

It's basically a slopfarm. His previous employer gave him the boot for cheating, or for creating fake articles. This slopfarm is now his outlet or release valve, as an LLM addict.

All of this slopfarming (suffice to say, we hope) contributes to a lack of incentive or lower incentive to produce real, authentic stories. Calling out the culprits is thus crucial.

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