How racist AI Facebook posts made one Sri Lankan influencer rich – TBIJ

In brief Geeth Sooriyapura, a Sri Lankan influencer, claims to have made $300,000 running Facebook pages and groups His UK politics pages promoting Islamophobic and anti-immigrant ideas have have amassed more than a million followers Generative AI allows him and his students to create content at speed and maximise ad revenue from viral posts Sri Lankan influencer Geeth Sooriyapura’s Instagram feed shows off his lavish lifestyle. He and his friends flash expensive-looking watches, dine at a five-star seafront hotel, and film videos at a sleek modern apartment with a pool. He claims to have made his money – $300,000 of it – by running Facebook pages, including some which push racist, Islamophobic and anti-migrant posts aimed at British audiences. He said he targets “old people … because they are the ones who don’t like immigrants,” in an interview with TBIJ. A joint investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Sunday Times reveals that the self-proclaimed “Facebook ads king” gets paid to teach others the secrets of his success, promising that they too can turn Facebook into a “money bank”. In total, TBIJ and ISD found 128 Facebook pages and groups targeting
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