Paul Bouchaud
@paulbouchaud.com
(they/them) Researcher in Algorithmic Auditing, Social Simulation & Evidenced-Based Policymaking | paulbouchaud.com | working with aiforensics.org
Last week, 5 major porn sites rolled out “age verification” in France to comply with regulators.
3 of them — xvideos, xnxx, tnaflix — use AgeGO.
AgeGO:
• Collects the exact video URL before consent
• Sends webcam streams directly to Amazon
• Forces users to give an email via an unskippable step
3 of them — xvideos, xnxx, tnaflix — use AgeGO.
AgeGO:
• Collects the exact video URL before consent
• Sends webcam streams directly to Amazon
• Forces users to give an email via an unskippable step
September 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Last week, 5 major porn sites rolled out “age verification” in France to comply with regulators.
3 of them — xvideos, xnxx, tnaflix — use AgeGO.
AgeGO:
• Collects the exact video URL before consent
• Sends webcam streams directly to Amazon
• Forces users to give an email via an unskippable step
3 of them — xvideos, xnxx, tnaflix — use AgeGO.
AgeGO:
• Collects the exact video URL before consent
• Sends webcam streams directly to Amazon
• Forces users to give an email via an unskippable step
Vous pouvez aussi juste déposer les fichiers de pub et rien d'autre ! Aussi si vous mettez votre zip, la décompression se fait dans votre navigateur en local pour y extraire les fichiers de pub. [Le code de la page et ce qui est envoyé et disponible en un clic de manière transparente]
June 19, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Vous pouvez aussi juste déposer les fichiers de pub et rien d'autre ! Aussi si vous mettez votre zip, la décompression se fait dans votre navigateur en local pour y extraire les fichiers de pub. [Le code de la page et ce qui est envoyé et disponible en un clic de manière transparente]
Wanna check if you've been targeted by ads based on sensitive data? Just drop your X portability archive to find out haveibeentargeted.online
June 19, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Wanna check if you've been targeted by ads based on sensitive data? Just drop your X portability archive to find out haveibeentargeted.online
Through the X Ads repository, mandated by the DSA, we exported the ads run by major companies, and checked their targeting criteria. What we found is concerning:
June 18, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Through the X Ads repository, mandated by the DSA, we exported the ads run by major companies, and checked their targeting criteria. What we found is concerning:
How X enables major brands to target your most sensitive personal data - from health conditions to political beliefs - check out our new report! aiforensics.org/work/sensiti...
June 18, 2025 at 7:14 AM
How X enables major brands to target your most sensitive personal data - from health conditions to political beliefs - check out our new report! aiforensics.org/work/sensiti...
"This is a highly adversarial space, we are investing a lot in our detection systems..." Meanwhile, our latest report at @aiforensics.org found Meta reviewed, approved, and displayed fake medicine advertisements over 292 million times to EU users since the DSA took effect.
April 14, 2025 at 9:24 AM
"This is a highly adversarial space, we are investing a lot in our detection systems..." Meanwhile, our latest report at @aiforensics.org found Meta reviewed, approved, and displayed fake medicine advertisements over 292 million times to EU users since the DSA took effect.
The French discussion channel, “S-ф”, was open, revealing a conversation on the right. Алина and colleagues shared a link to a fake @le_Parisien article and messages that seem to read: “Changed the text of the task to 'You [… ] that Ukraine can win […] the war? I don’t'.”
June 27, 2024 at 7:35 AM
The French discussion channel, “S-ф”, was open, revealing a conversation on the right. Алина and colleagues shared a link to a fake @le_Parisien article and messages that seem to read: “Changed the text of the task to 'You [… ] that Ukraine can win […] the war? I don’t'.”
Their choice of logos is quite telling: a beer for Germany, cheese for France pizza for Italy and Winnie-the-Pooh for their channel dedicated to websites and animations 🧸.
June 27, 2024 at 7:35 AM
Their choice of logos is quite telling: a beer for Germany, cheese for France pizza for Italy and Winnie-the-Pooh for their channel dedicated to websites and animations 🧸.
In the foreground, we see the image they likely wanted to use, sent by an "Алина Малинина" on June 8 via their VK Teams . On the left, there are distinct discussion channels for the countries targeted by the Doppelgänger operations: Ukraine, Germany, France, Israel, US, Italy, and Poland.
June 27, 2024 at 7:35 AM
In the foreground, we see the image they likely wanted to use, sent by an "Алина Малинина" on June 8 via their VK Teams . On the left, there are distinct discussion channels for the countries targeted by the Doppelgänger operations: Ukraine, Germany, France, Israel, US, Italy, and Poland.
Instead of uploading the desired image, they accidentally uploaded a screenshot of it, took last Friday, revealing their VK Teams interface in the background. After a loooong process of enhancing the compressed image, I managed to decipher it 👀
June 27, 2024 at 7:34 AM
Instead of uploading the desired image, they accidentally uploaded a screenshot of it, took last Friday, revealing their VK Teams interface in the background. After a loooong process of enhancing the compressed image, I managed to decipher it 👀
While skimming through tens of Doppelgänger propaganda ads approved by Meta, for a total reach over 200k people in France, Germany, Italy, and Poland over the past two weeks, I stumbled upon an interesting slip-up in one of their ads 👇
June 27, 2024 at 7:33 AM
While skimming through tens of Doppelgänger propaganda ads approved by Meta, for a total reach over 200k people in France, Germany, Italy, and Poland over the past two weeks, I stumbled upon an interesting slip-up in one of their ads 👇
In posts about Russia-Ukraine, the presidential majority and left-leaning parties condemn Russian aggression. Meanwhile, both the far-left and far-right advocate for a ceasefire and oppose sending French troops to Ukraine.
June 3, 2024 at 4:01 PM
In posts about Russia-Ukraine, the presidential majority and left-leaning parties condemn Russian aggression. Meanwhile, both the far-left and far-right advocate for a ceasefire and oppose sending French troops to Ukraine.
In posts about Israel-Palestine: the left condemns the action of Israeli military and demands adherence to international law, while the presidential majority and (far)-right-leaning groups echo messages from the Israeli embassy and criticize pro-Palestine protests at SciencesPo.
June 3, 2024 at 4:00 PM
In posts about Israel-Palestine: the left condemns the action of Israeli military and demands adherence to international law, while the presidential majority and (far)-right-leaning groups echo messages from the Israeli embassy and criticize pro-Palestine protests at SciencesPo.
As the EU elections are coming up this Sunday, let's take a closer look at the French political discussion on X. By pulling together reposts from politicians and activists, we see a similar structure as the one reported in 2023 by ISCPIF politoscope.org
June 3, 2024 at 3:59 PM
As the EU elections are coming up this Sunday, let's take a closer look at the French political discussion on X. By pulling together reposts from politicians and activists, we see a similar structure as the one reported in 2023 by ISCPIF politoscope.org
After publishing its Adversarial Threat Report on Wednesday, Meta approved new pro-Russian propaganda ads to run on Thursday, which linked to spoofed domains impersonating news media. No systemic measures appear to have been implemented to moderate political advertisements, days before the elections
June 1, 2024 at 10:58 AM
After publishing its Adversarial Threat Report on Wednesday, Meta approved new pro-Russian propaganda ads to run on Thursday, which linked to spoofed domains impersonating news media. No systemic measures appear to have been implemented to moderate political advertisements, days before the elections
Better late than never, I guess... But moderating propaganda ads before they go live would certainly be more impactful than after they become inactive
May 29, 2024 at 5:16 PM
Better late than never, I guess... But moderating propaganda ads before they go live would certainly be more impactful than after they become inactive
Les propagandistes pro-russes exploitent la situation en Nouvelle-Calédonie pour affaiblir le soutien français à l'Ukraine, et Meta approuve les publicités sans avertissement politique.
May 24, 2024 at 7:47 AM
Les propagandistes pro-russes exploitent la situation en Nouvelle-Calédonie pour affaiblir le soutien français à l'Ukraine, et Meta approuve les publicités sans avertissement politique.
Less than 3 weeks to the EU elections and Meta
is still letting foreign interference slide on its ads platform! If we can detect these campaigns, so should Meta. Time to step up and act on the commitment to "preserve the integrity of these elections on our platforms."
is still letting foreign interference slide on its ads platform! If we can detect these campaigns, so should Meta. Time to step up and act on the commitment to "preserve the integrity of these elections on our platforms."
May 20, 2024 at 10:06 AM
Less than 3 weeks to the EU elections and Meta
is still letting foreign interference slide on its ads platform! If we can detect these campaigns, so should Meta. Time to step up and act on the commitment to "preserve the integrity of these elections on our platforms."
is still letting foreign interference slide on its ads platform! If we can detect these campaigns, so should Meta. Time to step up and act on the commitment to "preserve the integrity of these elections on our platforms."
Meta fails to apply moderation decisions across duplicated ads. Meta considers the content of this ad to be against their Advertising Standards, yet this pro-Kremlin propaganda ad has been shown to 252,528 accounts, and is still running.
April 28, 2024 at 6:58 PM
Meta fails to apply moderation decisions across duplicated ads. Meta considers the content of this ad to be against their Advertising Standards, yet this pro-Kremlin propaganda ad has been shown to 252,528 accounts, and is still running.
Weeks before the EU elections, the European Commission published guidelines under the DSA for the mitigation of systemic risks online for elections. In these regards, as well others, our findings are deeply concerning.
April 17, 2024 at 7:50 AM
Weeks before the EU elections, the European Commission published guidelines under the DSA for the mitigation of systemic risks online for elections. In these regards, as well others, our findings are deeply concerning.
We observe an all-time high activity, when the German governing coalition agreed to double the country’s military aid for Ukraine next year to 8 billion euros. Between Nov 12-30, Meta massively delivered propaganda ads to 1.7 million German accounts.
April 17, 2024 at 7:47 AM
We observe an all-time high activity, when the German governing coalition agreed to double the country’s military aid for Ukraine next year to 8 billion euros. Between Nov 12-30, Meta massively delivered propaganda ads to 1.7 million German accounts.
In Germany, the pro-Russian ads reached 37k accounts daily, on average, 2.8 times less than in France. Interestingly, the number of unique ads is only 1.5 times smaller, propagandists seem to invest more in ads targeting in France.
April 17, 2024 at 7:46 AM
In Germany, the pro-Russian ads reached 37k accounts daily, on average, 2.8 times less than in France. Interestingly, the number of unique ads is only 1.5 times smaller, propagandists seem to invest more in ads targeting in France.
Less than 2 days later the Crocus City Hall attack ads relaying the Kremlin's allegations of Ukrainian and Western involvement were launched in France, none were moderated as political by Meta.
April 17, 2024 at 7:46 AM
Less than 2 days later the Crocus City Hall attack ads relaying the Kremlin's allegations of Ukrainian and Western involvement were launched in France, none were moderated as political by Meta.
In January 2024, during the farmers protest, the ads advocated against the integration of Ukraine into the EU, arguing it would create unfair competition for French farmers.
April 17, 2024 at 7:45 AM
In January 2024, during the farmers protest, the ads advocated against the integration of Ukraine into the EU, arguing it would create unfair competition for French farmers.
After the Hamas-led attack, Meta allowed ads accusing the Ukrainian President of embezzling weapons from the Ukrainian army for personal gain, weapons allegedly used against Israelis. Such ads total a reach of 2.1 million accounts in France 624k in Germany.
April 17, 2024 at 7:45 AM
After the Hamas-led attack, Meta allowed ads accusing the Ukrainian President of embezzling weapons from the Ukrainian army for personal gain, weapons allegedly used against Israelis. Such ads total a reach of 2.1 million accounts in France 624k in Germany.