She included a list of links to articles shed been featured in as an expert.
The biography on the site begins: Hello beloved, how wonderful to have you here!
Id come to this website trying to learn more about Cresss credentials and instead came away with more questions.
Illustration by Timo Lenzen
Is it really good advice toput a little glue into your pizza sauceto stop the cheese from sliding off?
Is Billy Corgan actually promoting the new Smashing Pumpkins albumin eight different languages?
For journalists, already professionally obligated to be skeptical, that mistrust has to extend to potential sources.
A screenshot from the now-unavailable website sophiecress.com.
And when youre a reporter juggling multiple assignments, an email interview can be tempting.
Its often quicker and more convenient for both the journalist and their source than scheduling a phone call.
Cresss bio appears onthe websites About page, but it isnt clear what her role is at the company.
A screenshot from now-unavailable website biodenix.com.
SexualAlpha did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
A screenshot from the now-unavailable website sophiecress.com.
On its own, this didnt indicate much to me.
A screenshot from now-unavailable website biodenix.com.
Many therapists have similar copy on their websites.
The whole sex toy review site thing also seemed unusual to Bognar.
I searched Cresss name on the North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensure Board website.
In many of the stories that use Cress as a source, her name links back to SexualAlpha.com.
So I had to ask myself: Is boosting SexualAlphas traffic the endgame here?
Is Sophie Cress a ploy to drive more visitors to a site that reviews sex toys?
According to Graveriss LinkedIn profile, he is based in Latvia.
She did not reply to my request for an interview for this story.
The model whose photo appears to depict Cress has a different name.
SexualAlphas website appeared to be back online after also displaying a similar error alert.
Graveris did not respond to multiple requests for comment nor did Biodenix.
A screenshot from now-unavailable website biodenix.com.
I attempted to contact Richman but received no response to my requests for comment.
Basically, search engines like Google say they prioritize sites that publish viable information thats helpful to consumers.
This approach has helped us get more SEO traffic juice.
We’ve recentlylaunched updatesto tackle low-quality, spammy content, whether it’s created by AI or other means.
Its very easy to gamify the web, Kane told me.
Over on Reddit, some conversations from months back about Connectively included replies from purported PR and marketing professionals.
When you click and buy, the site gets a percentage of the sale.
On some websites, artificial intelligence is playing a role in this strategy.
It’s like email spam, but for every digital platform you could think of.
And its rendering much of the internet useless.
But AI doesnt have to be involved for slop to be created.
Humans are perfectly capable of producing low-quality content and spreading misinformation.
There is at least one case of a tech conference founder being accused of inventing speakers.
He did not appear to address allegations of other fake listed speakers, including in previous years.
He did not respond to their requests for comment on these allegations.
And 3,000 words into this story, Im sure you do too.
The therapists I investigated in this piece have never been quoted inAllure.
Plus, writing can be an isolating gig.
Talking to another person is refreshing.
And for everyone else… good luck out there.
Some experiments have found that peopleprefer AI-generated contentto human-generated stuff or at leastcant tell the difference.
Even when content is human-generated, it seems that many prefer to embrace vibes over truth.
But, and perhaps this is old-fashioned, I happen to believe that facts matter.
Kara McGrath contributed reporting.
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