Ainka Williams is a media maven in Trinidad and Tobago. Her voice and personality has welcomed and energized both the entertainment and corporate landscapes, not only in T&T, but across the region. Her brand has however been threatened by a malicious digital smear that she now hopes she can protect others from experiencing.

“There is misinformation about me. An entity has crafted what appears to be a headline that alleges that the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago is suing me for letting out their secrets as to how to be a millionaire,” Ainka explained to Ebuzztt. She said it’s been six weeks since the fake story hit the internet and she has since lost earnings as a result. The situation has however given her the ammunition needed to educate others, teaching on the importance of discernment and better media engagement practices.

The defamatory piece originated on the African continent, according to information received following research done. Ainka says because it is outside of Trinidad and Tobago, legal redress, while justifiable, would be time consuming and tremendously expensive. As such, her recourse lies in effectively liaising with META, owners of Instagram and Facebook, to remove the placement of the falsified post, which appears on their sites as an advertisement. “People are reading this supposed article, which is made to look like it’s on the Newsday website. The interview that is referred to with Janine, never happened. I’ve never been interviewed by Janine. I suspect they used Chat GPT,” Williams explained.

Disclaimer Issued

In the early stages of circulation, proactive as she is, Ainka immediately issued a disclaimer, indicating that the information was false. “The entire item refers to me in the pronoun ‘He’ and they used images from my Instagram. It appears to be a move for engagement and there is no call to action,” she explained, adding that the situation has shown that many people lack the ability to discern false information from what’s accurate. “Now, as someone in the media, I think it’s my responsibility to educate people, guide them on how to identify these things and how to discern between accurate information and inaccurate information because I am not a financial advisor nor would I ever offer those sort of services,” she said. AinkaWil, a powerful feminine, Caribbean brand advocates for things of national importance; more specifically, matters that affect women and young people in particular.

The issue now shows just how dangerous artificial intelligence, if used maliciously, can be. “People have been messaging me seeking financial advice. It is misleading and it is a nuisance. The headline has nothing to do with the story; it is not a Newsday story but people are still engaging with the content,” she lamented. Ainka believes this situation can affect anyone.“I am a public figure so it makes sense for them to choose me, but it can happen to anyone.”

Amid the turmoil of this very unexpected turn of events in her professional life, Ainka Williams is making lemonade out of sour lemons, using her platform and positioning to bring awareness to others. “How we consume information is important. We can’t simply run with a headline and we shouldn’t just engage with content because of a defamatory headline. If you click on it fine – in this particular instance there was no hacking happening. People should have seen the indicators that it was not a legit story though. The desire to stop engaging with it, should have ended there,” she assessed, admitting however that this situation is a testament as to how easily people believe what they are fed on the internet. “This is why it’s very important for me to have this conversation now,” said Williams.

In a technology news feature on the subject for New Scientist, Jeremy Hsu gives valuable information on what online users can look out for, when it comes to avoiding misinformation in digital spaces.

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