A counter-extremism video game backed by the British government has somewhat backfired, with people on social media using one of its characters, a purple-haired girl, to promote right-wing beliefs.
Artificial intelligence—a beloved tool of both Labour and the Conservatives—has been utilised to create videos in which this ‘girl,’ named Amelia, brandishes the Union Flag and warns about “third-world migrants.” As left-wing paper The Guardian put it in a piece—the publication of which no doubt delighted those using AI to put out content—last month, the character “appears to have a penchant for racism.”
Even TheGuardian can’t help but note that the origin of ‘Amelia’ is “ironic, to say the least.” The character appeared in a game designed for 11- to 18-year-old pupils, funded by Prevent, a Home Office programme for tackling extremism. The Daily Telegraphcriticised the game for treating “every teenager like a far-right extremist.”
Yet, that said, if there is any truth in the claim of French weekly magazine Valeurs actuelles, that Amelia has become “the viral mascot of anti-immigration networks on social media,” this is perhaps telling of a British Right that lacks a proper unifying representative and communicator.
AI-generated videos featuring ‘Amelia’ have been viewed millions of times on social media—not just in the UK but across the world. Some analysts have suggested that “clearly, the sexualised imagery is also key to this.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
