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

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

From Revolution.Social by Rabble a.k.a. Evan Henshaw-Plath

April 16, 2026 · 47 min · Season 1 · Episode 36

About this episode

Sophia Smith Galer discusses her app Sophiana and the challenges of journalism in the age of misinformation with host Rabble.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Rabble

Guest: Sophia Smith Galer

Topics covered

  • misinformation
  • journalism
  • AI
  • digital discourse
  • language diversity
  • video journalism

Keywords

  • algorithm
  • fake news
  • video scripts
  • linguicide
  • TikTok
  • content moderation
  • multilingualism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC, Vice, Sophiana

Books & works: How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words

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