Why the Algorithm Loves a Villain, And How to Beat It

When the internet is full of distortions, fake news, and AI-generated slop, how can facts and journalism rise to the top?
Former BBC and Vice journalist Sophia Smith Galer has one possible way to beat the misinformation and exploitation. Her app Sophiana writes "algorithm-ready" video scripts for journalists and experts, to cut through the noise and help them go viral.
In this episode of Revolution.Social, Rabble (Twitter’s first employee) sits down with Sophia to talk about her reporting on our broken digital discourse, as well as her new book "How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words.”
Today on the podcast, Sophia and Rabble explore:
- How bad actors manipulate our feeds
- The transition from traditional newsrooms to video journalism on TikTok
- The decline of language diversity around the world due to "linguicide"
Plus: What happened when Sophia discovered an AI-generated "autobiography" of herself.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
3:53 Gaming the Algorithm and Content Moderation
9:39 Sophia's AI-Hallucinated Biography
13:12 From BBC News to Independent Journalism
16:27 Building Sophiana: AI Tools for Journalists
19:13 Longform Books vs. Short-Form Video
24:00 Platform Lock-in and Substack
26:12 Instagram and the Myth of "Exposure"
28:29 Labor Rights and Industry Chaos
32:05 How to Kill a Language
37:32 Saving Endangered Languages in California
40:21 Multilingualism and Cultural Identity
Sophia’s book, “How to Kill a Language”
Her Instagram
Sophiana
Follow Rabble on Bluesky
Follow the podcast
This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing.
To learn more about Rabble’s Social Media Bill of Rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/