Busting AI slop - and our real residents' voices

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This week, suspicious news websites have been flooding my social media feeds. Topics are current issues, often providing factual details. But are these websites "real"? I went down a rabbit hole.

One that keeps turning up in my feeds, Japan News Now (no, I won't provide a link to boost their clicks). Immediately, I noticed that the stories were provoking both genuine and trollish comments. Earnest foreign residents in Japan and random drive-bys, perhaps even bots, reply, contributing to the slop. 

A screen grab of Google's AI overview

My curiosity got the better of me, so I started sleuthing. It turns out a company in Wyoming owns the website. That's not an indictment in itself. I grant that former foreign residents and bloggers write remotely. However, no principals' names appear on the Wyoming government website, and a fraud detection website lists a company with a similar name.

This platform, City Cost, is a breath of fresh air and one of the last bastions of authentic voices of foreign residents. We may not be authorities, but we elucidate the experiences of foreign residents in Japan. Shout out to the authentic voices - Genkidesu, BigfamJapan, and Samoona, among others. 

Have you spotted other dubious Japan-related online content? How did you determine it was sketchy?