'Amelia': the AI-generated British schoolgirl, a far-right social media star

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/25/ai-generated-british-schoolgirl-becomes-far-right-social-media-meme

Comments

djohnstonJan 25, 2026, 3:12 PM
My favorite part of this whole game / controversy is how "doing your own research" on an issue leads you to the alt-right. Parody-level blunder from the left on that one.
throwawayqqq11Jan 25, 2026, 3:22 PM
Any suggestions where the billions for biased economic research, biased LLMs, skewed algorithms, selective ad revenue, massive botnet operations, campaign funding, corrupted influencal networks, media ownership -- and the most important part: a functioning education system to immunize people against propaganda so they can actually do ther own research against all odds -- should come from?

What would you suggest, when it turns out, that even with massive fact checking capabilities, lies just spread faster no mattet your factual accurracy?

Blaming the left for the current upheaval is a right prolaganda message too, so did my broadening reply work on you? No?

mycallJan 25, 2026, 3:39 PM
Fact checking isn't built into each article readers or video playback systems. That is half the problem as I would find a fact checking curator that I trusted and use that for all knowledge acquisition.
pstuartJan 25, 2026, 8:15 PM
djohnstonJan 25, 2026, 3:29 PM
[flagged]
throwawayqqq11Jan 25, 2026, 3:35 PM
And how did i discourage you from discovering the truth?
collingreenJan 25, 2026, 3:44 PM
Remember you don't have to feed the trolls.

It's frustrating when people fake argue with you on the internet and seem like they just aren't quite engaging with what you're saying. Unfortunately, sometimes that's the point since it inherently devalues the conversation as a whole.

Not telling you what to do; just passing by and reminding that you're under no obligation to engage with a convo that isn't good faith because sometimes I forget that myself in the moment.

throwawayqqq11Jan 25, 2026, 4:01 PM
I believe, i cannot reason pathological dipshits out of ther idiocy. I do this for the silent, maybe tumbling bystanders. But thanks for the heads up.
djohnstonJan 25, 2026, 3:41 PM
Not you - the game! The game is teaching children that the act of trying to independently research information is a dangerous pathway that can lead to extremism. That belief is drivel - any self-respecting intelligent child will instinctively reject it. I feel for those who fall victim to such indoctrination though.
throwawayqqq11Jan 25, 2026, 3:56 PM
So by pointing out that an outsider of the game, the left, is not to blame for its outcome, i somehow made a point for that rigged game? I discouraged you with this?!

Please dont reply. You are dwelling deeper and deeper.

The actual problem is the _massive and intentional_ cognitive inability of critical thought.

djohnstonJan 25, 2026, 7:09 PM
The game in question was made to propagate leftist narratives to children, obviously. You needed that connection spelled out? It’s a game that discourages people from trying to reach an independent viewpoint on migration because it might lead them to be anti-migration. Who else would send such a warning, the right? Some politically unmotivated developer building educational games at the behest of the governing party? lol.
seanmcdirmidJan 25, 2026, 4:19 PM
They don’t mean actually “do your own research”, they mean “do your own research from these far right biased resources.” All you have to do is plant the seed of a bias and lead them to confirming those biases. Real research would require not having an opinion in the first place and just looking for the cause of a problem from a variety of sources with different biases.
ericmcerJan 25, 2026, 9:21 PM
Maybe because the lefts big issues are very "all or none". In 2021 if you said "I support trans rights in every area except trans women competing in women's sports" that would make you alt-right. You either completely swallow the narrative or you get thrown out completely, no room for nuance or discussion.
cauchJan 25, 2026, 11:56 PM
But saying that will also make you a woke terrorist for the right.

I'm not saying it is not a problem and the left is not to blame. But I don't see why you explain the situation because of the "all or none" of the left, rather than the "all or none" of everyone in the US: left and right.

bigbadfelineJan 26, 2026, 4:39 AM
> But I don't see why you explain the situation because of the "all or none" of the left

I'm not sure about the person whose comment you addressed but, from experience, I can think of these reasons:

1. A Democratic supporter naturally assumes the Democratic party is the smarter one and holds them to a higher standard.

2. Most of us independents have written the GOP off as a total loss sometime after last January. I suspect, many Dem supporters had arrived at the same conclusion a tad earlier. In other words, what's the point of beating a dead horse?

3. follows from the previous two - there is a sense of real urgency as to make the Dem party do something meaningful, so by pointing the criticism only to them we deprive them from their favorite excuse - that the other party is even worse - they've been hysterically eager to use that excuse for many decades.

Otherwise, both parties are very selective about what they do or don't compromise on, but in either case, the public rarely gets something other than the short end of the stick.

estearumJan 25, 2026, 4:13 PM
Much easier to flood the zone with bullshit when you have no regard for truth. It's extremely hard to propagate facts, especially since facts on almost any salient issue are complex, vague, apparently contradictory, and otherwise require a lot of attention to wrap one's head around.
torginusJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
The fundamental issue is that actual information of what the fck is going on in the world/your country and why is so far buried and removed from the public eye that people either accept the BS narrative, latch onto crazy conspiracy theories, or sink into total apathy.

It would be journalists' job to actually dig into this, but you know.

Working at an organization owned by a media conglomerate whose majority shareholder is a billionaire with very clear state connections usually qualifies as independent journalism among friends and state propaganda among enemies.

baggy_threeJan 25, 2026, 5:58 PM
This sort of thing is why I've moved away from left-wing politics as I've got older. I'm now centre-left and not much engaged with politics any more, whereas in my twenties I considered myself far-left and would be leafleting, going to protests, and have social groups full of people who felt the same way.

I came to realise that most leftists are idiots who don't think for themselves and need to be spoonfed the latest acceptable opinions, usually from a social media echo chamber. And these opinions change with the wind.

Like why shouldn't I do my own research and try to discuss it with people who supposedly have similar principles? No apparently that's not allowed and you'll get shouted down for it, maybe even banned for wrongthink.

jamiek88Jan 25, 2026, 6:11 PM
Anyone who uses the term ‘leftist’ is just a right winger cosplaying.

There’s a fascist take over of the government, citizens being executed in broad daylight on the street. But no the real problem is ‘leftists’ talking mean to me.

Ok, 16 minute old account.

baggy_threeJan 25, 2026, 6:18 PM
Thank you for a live demonstration of what I'm talking about. You sound just like the arseholes I fell out with back in the day.

Not my government, by the way. I'm in the UK and so the propensity of USians to blast each other away with guns for stupid reasons isn't something that particularly concerns me. You people have a school shooting pretty much every week. Absolute shithole of a country no matter who is in charge.

Also, are you aware you have neo-Nazi numbers in your username? Funny to see such an account complaining about fascism, in an incongruous kind of way.

jamiek88Jan 25, 2026, 6:40 PM
I was born in 88 you weirdo. Use your real account, coward. Also I’m British. 3/3 wrong there, sparky who’s scared of ‘leftists’ mocking them so deeply they become right wing? Make that make sense.

You are saying your beliefs are so shallow, so little thought through that kids on the internet mocking them are enough for you to become the opposite and join the culture war?

baggy_threeJan 25, 2026, 6:51 PM
If you're British then I pity your obsession with USian politics to the point where you're referring to their executive as "the government".

As for the rest of your comment, I advise you work on both your reading comprehension and your sense of nuance. Hint: someone being irritated by exclusionary groupthink in a subset of the left doesn't mean they are right-wing. If you weren't such a cretinous fool, this would be obvious.

jamiek88Jan 25, 2026, 7:03 PM
Because I live in the USA. 0/4 now leftist.
weezingJan 25, 2026, 9:33 PM
It feels like you just keep inventing new facts about yourself with every comment just to prove your point.
wolvoleoJan 25, 2026, 3:35 PM
Goth girls would normally not subscribe to extreme right viewpoints so I wonder why they picked that look.
ksynwaJan 25, 2026, 4:16 PM
It's probably similar to how the extremely pro-AI people started generating Studio Ghibli-style images in droves. It's sort of a disrespectful co-opting.
duxupJan 25, 2026, 9:37 PM
Drawing in folks who want to watch young girls on the internet ... there was a similar story in Russia with AI generated young Russian women, but apparently run by China.
isubkhankulovJan 25, 2026, 6:56 PM
Thats because the character was originally created for a UK government-backed game designed to help young people recognise and resist right-wing ideology.

The right then took the character and made it their ironic symbol.

wolvoleoJan 25, 2026, 11:15 PM
It does sound like a worthy goal of the government but I hope this backfire doesn't taint goth culture by attracting the right to it. I have a lot of respect for goths, they're super nice people. Very progressive.

I guess the right are too conservative to wear purple hair, makeup and sexy clothing though.

iniminoJan 25, 2026, 8:38 PM
Literally nothing about her purple hair and her outfit is goth in any way shape or form so it's interesting that people are latching onto that.
wolvoleoJan 25, 2026, 11:18 PM
Goth culture has changed a lot, it's no longer all black and white (literally) like it was in the 90s. And I see purple hair a lot. But yeah the rest of her outfit doesn't match. I only had two images to go by :)
estearumJan 25, 2026, 4:12 PM
The modern right is extremely, extremely confused.
laughing_manJan 25, 2026, 5:10 PM
The character was created by leftists. She was meant to be the antagonist in the world's cringiest teaching aid game aimed at teenagers but pitched as if they were four year olds. This whole thing was predictable.
pstuartJan 25, 2026, 8:19 PM
The masses are. The ringleaders are savants at manipulation -- the Right defines the language and the talking points and floods the zone, where the Left plays defense and is always scrambling.
jazzyjacksonJan 25, 2026, 5:27 PM
you want what you can't have
paulddraperJan 25, 2026, 4:30 PM
> The Home Office said Prevent had diverted nearly 6,000 people away from violent ideologies. It added that projects such as the Pathways game were designed to target local radicalisation risks

Original matter aside, this Ministry of Truth update is as creepy as anything else in the article.

AndrewKemendoJan 25, 2026, 4:24 PM
Hang on, this looks like classic Internet trolling:

//

Pathways: Navigating the Internet and Extremism is a simple multiple choice format game with basic animation. Its players are taken on a journey as characters at a college. They are invited to make decisions in scenarios including whether or download potentially extremist content or join an Amelia character on a rally organised by “a small political group” protesting against changes in society and the “erosion in British values”…

However, it is a subversion of the Amelia character that has exploded across social media channels …

Manga-style Amelia, a Wallace and Gromit version and AI-generated “real life” encounters between her and the characters of Father Ted or Harry Potter, accompanied by racist language and far-right messaging.

…We have seen the meme having a remarkable spread and proliferating among the far right and beyond, but what’s also been of note is how it is now international

//

So a bunch of trolls did classic troll things (which is to be expected because you’re on the internet) then the right wingers picked it up and ruined it and then it spread to become a meme coin

The article wants to make this as though there’s a hardcore group of right wing meme-lords in some giant conspiracy

This is keeps happening and it’s super wierd.

Remember the 2007 mooninite panic? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42225609

Is trolling considered right wing now?

laughing_manJan 25, 2026, 5:15 PM
"Classic internet trolling" is exactly what it is. You can find video of the original game on YouTube -- it's got a painful "hello, fellow kids" vibe to it that just invites ridicule.
tim333Jan 26, 2026, 12:40 AM
I have to say having watched an original and a 'troll' version it's fairly natural taking the piss.

real one https://youtu.be/2UI1ZqGpqXk

anti islam one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu2K48F71rg

And someone doing a meme coin isn't a "one of the most surreal twists" - people do that for everything these days as the cost of making one is ~$0 and they may may a few bob off suckers.

cauchJan 25, 2026, 7:22 PM
Your reaction makes me remember the "Angry Jack" videos about Gamergate, in particular the video discussing the fact that when some people (troll or not) were propagating racist or sexist things, they were reacting by saying "whaaaat, I'm not racist/sexist, how dare you". Who cares about them, and what they "are" really: for the society, if someone is spreading racist information "for the lols" or spreading it because they really believe in the content, the damage is exactly the same.

I, like you, don't believe the phenomenon was the result of an organised action (of course). The phenomenon was started as meme, resonnated with the far-right, and both far-right and people who don't see any problem with far-right ideology just amplified it. After all, the government has made a lot of stupid videos, and yet, the popularity explodes mainly when it's aligned with far-right.

But I don't have a problem with considering that the "bunch of trolls who did classic troll things" are considered as far-right. They indeed totally jumped in the opportunity to make racist things for the lols. How does that not make them racist themselves? If you create stuffs that racists find great and very aligned with their ideology, I'm sorry, even if you think you are not intrinsically racist, just be an adult and accept the consequences of your actions: you are part of the racist community, you are one of their "allies".

So, I'm perfectly fine with trolls being considered as racists. Trolling is a pain on society anyway and each time a kid thinks of themselves as "super smart" because they are trolling, the reality is rather that the world would be a better place if this version of them was not part of it. Why should we care about what trolls are feeling, they choose to put themselves at the top of the list of people who don't deserve any consideration for their feelings.

AndrewKemendoJan 26, 2026, 12:31 AM
So the Hindus are racist because the Nazis appropriated the swastika, and nearly the entire western world doesn’t know the difference, yet they still use it?
delaminatorJan 25, 2026, 12:11 PM
[flagged]
BalinaresJan 25, 2026, 2:56 PM
Maybe right wing people should stop pushing far right policies, then.
ben_wJan 25, 2026, 12:52 PM
Has the Guardian ever described Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mog thusly? The Tory party as a whole?

Not "have said things that far/alt right cheer" but that they actually are more than "right wing"?

delaminatorJan 25, 2026, 9:37 PM
Far-right leaders join Trump in welcoming Boris Johnson to No 10

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/24/far-right-lead...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/far-right

About 6,735 results for The far right

https://www.theguardian.com/world/far-left

Sorry – we haven’t been able to serve the page you asked for.You may have followed an outdated link, or have mistyped a URL. If you believe this to be an error please report it.

add-sub-mul-divJan 25, 2026, 2:30 PM
Yeah, it's a bummer. As someone who doesn't vote for the right I sincerely feel bad for the sane and respectable people among the right who have watched their parties turn into this and have lost their voice and representation in the media.
qwertyu3Jan 25, 2026, 2:50 PM
Isn't the issue that they've most representation in their party more than in media? If anything in the US, I would say the media held onto the idea that moderate conservatives as having a voice in their party for too long.
throwawayqqq11Jan 25, 2026, 3:12 PM
I think its time for a distinction between (far) right and conservative.

To me, (far) right means being primarilly focused on some image of an enemy, nowadays conveyed by social media, and without a substancial constructive political vision. Disgust toward some outgroup and an illusion of former greatness as main drivers for political agitation.

IMO, conservatives can be similarly misguided by some bloated group identity but enlarge, its not their primary driver. Conservarism can find common ground with left leaning policies, whereas the far right cannot.

delaminatorJan 25, 2026, 9:38 PM
but that isn't "far right" at all and describes a multiplicity of groups
dyauspitrJan 25, 2026, 3:00 PM
I guess they have a hard time finding actual young women that would vote against their own interests.
elzbardicoJan 25, 2026, 3:57 PM
You know, things are not that black and white in the world. People have different problems, different points of view.

The fact that the system gives them only two opposing, radical polarities, doesn't mean that there isn't nuance.

You and I may agree or not, but there are indeed young woman who, for example, are not pro-choice. They may have varied views on the trans issue, they have different class/economics policy goals.

You don't get to decree what young women interest are, neither me nor anyone else than themselves.

theuppermiddleJan 25, 2026, 7:38 PM
> You don't get to decree what young women interest, neither me nor anyone else than themselves.

Is that not exactly what pro-choice means.

paulddraperJan 25, 2026, 11:31 PM
Brother, it was a (incredibly successful) internet troll
dyauspitrJan 26, 2026, 12:03 AM
Got to make up what you can’t find.