Identity Slop: The Rise of Synthetic Media Experts

Mar 26, 2026

Rob Waugh, technology and investigations journalist who exposed fabricated media experts, discusses the rise of synthetic identities in news. He recounts discovering fake experts, the companies and motives behind them, how publishers and search systems enable the spread, risks from dangerous misinformation, and practical signs and remedies for spotting and countering automated authority.

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ANECDOTE

Journalist Finds Mass Produced Fake Experts

Rob Waugh discovered many quoted "experts" did not exist after finding an Oxford‑educated psychiatrist who only appeared in press quotes.
Barbara Santini appeared in ~120 articles across national outlets yet had no verifiable employment or online footprint beyond media quotes.

INSIGHT

Fake Experts Are Value Extraction For SEO

The fake experts are deployed primarily for SEO value: securing high‑quality backlinks from reputable newspapers.
Operators send thousands of responses to journalist services to place quotes that boost domain rankings for clients like casinos and affiliate sites.

INSIGHT

Synthetic Authority Crowds Out Real Advice

Fake experts often give dangerously inaccurate medical or practical advice that can outcompete real guidance online.
Their volume drowns out genuine sources, degrading the information pool that LLMs and users rely on.

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What if the expert quoted in the story doesn’t exist?

Jesse Chambers is quoted across British newspapers as a travel expert, offering advice on everything from cruise ships to long-haul flights.

There is just one problem.
She doesn’t exist.

In this episode of Me:chine Dialogues, Tracey Follows speaks with journalist Rob Waugh about the emergence of synthetic experts: fabricated identities designed to supply quotes, authority, and credibility within media systems.

Me:chine Dialogues is a special series from The Future of You exploring identity, agency, and AI-mediated systems — where the machinable and unmachinable selves meet.

What begins as a curious case opens into something much larger. These are not isolated errors or instances of misinformation. They point to a structural shift in how identity is produced and used.

Tracey introduces the concept of identity slop: the moment when personal identity becomes commoditised, scalable, and generated to meet the needs of AI-mediated information systems.

If expertise can be generated, identity can be fabricated.
And if identity can be fabricated, authority itself can be automated.

This conversation explores what happens next: for trust, for authorship, and for the human self inside increasingly synthetic systems.

Key Ideas

Identity Slop synthetic identity as low-cost, scalable content
Synthetic Experts fabricated authority inserted into media systems
Machine-Readable Identity selves optimised for system consumption
AI-Mediated Information Systems environments that generate and reward synthetic identity

You can find more about this topic through Rob’s work at Press Gazette

Visit:

→ Me:chine World and essays: me-chine.com

→ Podcast archive The Future of You

→ Audiobook series (weekly chapters) Introduction

About Tracey Follows

Tracey Follows is a futurist specialising in identity, agency, and the relationship between systems and selves in an AI-mediated world.

Her work includes the frameworks Systems & Self, Identity as Infrastructure, and Me:chine exploring the machinable and unmachinable dimensions of human identity.

Her central premise: “The future is written between the system and the self.”

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Music

"A New Day (intro)" Performed by Skott

Licensed courtesy of Cosmos Music, Safari Riot

Licensed courtesy of Downtown Music UK Limited, Safari Riot Publishing, Sony Music Publishing