It's no secret that much of social media has become profoundly dysfunctional. Rather than bringing us together into one utopian public square and fostering a healthy exchange of ideas, these platforms too often create filter bubbles or echo chambers. A small number of high-profile users garner the lion's share of attention and influence, and the algorithms designed to maximize engagement end up merely amplifying outrage and conflict, ensuring the dominance of the loudest and most extreme users—thereby increasing polarization even more.
Numerous platform-level intervention strategies have been proposed to combat these issues, but according to a preprint posted to the physics arXiv, none of them are likely to be effective. And it's not the fault of much-hated algorithms, non-chronological feeds, or our human proclivity for seeking out negativity. Rather, the dynamics that give rise to all those negative outcomes are structurally embedded in the very architecture of social media. So we're probably doomed to endless toxic feedback loops unless someone hits upon a brilliant fundamental redesign that manages to change those dynamics.
Co-authors Petter Törnberg and Maik Larooij of the University of Amsterdam wanted to learn more about the mechanisms that give rise to the worst aspects of social media: the partisan echo chambers, the concentration of influence among a small group of elite users (attention inequality), and the amplification of the most extreme divisive voices. So they combined standard agent-based modeling with large language models (LLMs), essentially creating little AI personas to simulate online social media behavior. "What we found is that we didn't need to put any algorithms in, we didn't need to massage the model," Törnberg told Ars. "It just came out of the baseline model, all of these dynamics."
© Aurich Lawson | Getty Images
For eight months, a 35-year-old man in India was bothered by his left eye. It was red and blurry. When he finally visited an ophthalmology clinic, it didn't take long for doctors to unearth the cause.
In a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors report that they first noted that the eye was bloodshot and inflamed, and the pupil was dilated and fixed. The man's vision in the eye was 20/80. A quick look inside his eye revealed it was all due to a small worm, which they watched "moving sluggishly" in the back of his eyeball.
To gouge out the parasitic pillager, the doctors performed a pars plana vitrectomy—a procedure that involves sucking out some of the jelly-like vitreous inside the eye. This procedure can be used in the treatment of a variety of eye conditions, but using it to hoover up worms is rare. In order to get in, the doctors make tiny incisions in the white parts of the eye (the sclera) and use a hollow needle-like device with suction. They replace extracted eye jelly with things like saline.
Recently, I found over 18,000 spam entries had flooded one of my lead generation forms overnight.
And more kept coming, which meant trouble. If I emailed all those fake addresses, it would have increased my email bounce rate – the percentage of emails that don’t get delivered to recipients’ inboxes.
A higher bounce rate damages my sender reputation with email providers, meaning even my emails to legitimate subscribers could end up in spam folders.
So, I immediately looked into what was happening. I had created this lead form a few years ago, but never updated it. This mistake was now threatening my entire email marketing operation.
Fortunately, I was able to stop the attack within about 10 minutes.
Here’s exactly what I did.
TL;DR: How I Blocked 18,000 Spam Leads in 10 Minutes 🛡️
Here’s a quick summary of the three WPForms features I used to stop the attack:
Now, let me show you exactly how I set it all up, step by step.
How can you protect a lead generation form in just 10 minutes… without making it harder for real people to sign up?
Most people use CAPTCHA to block spam. But when it comes to lead generation forms, the problem is that CAPTCHA can annoy visitors and stop them from joining your email list.
I didn’t want that.
I needed a way to keep our signup form easy for real users, but hard for spammers. So, I looked for a better way to STOP fake signups… one that worked in the background and didn’t bother our real readers.
Fortunately, this is where WPForms‘ spam protection features came in really handy and saved the day.
Here’s what I did to fix the problem while still getting real leads.
The first thing I did was enable the modern anti-spam protection setting.
This tool quietly works in the background to spot and block spam bots, so real users don’t even notice it’s there.
Plus, they don’t have to do anything extra.
📝 Note: WPForms is a paid plugin, but a limited free version called WPForms Lite is also available that you can try. It includes the modern anti-spam protection feature, but for conditional logic, you’ll need the pro plan.
It’s the easiest first step you can take.
To turn it on, you need to edit your form in the WPForms builder.
Go to Settings » Spam Protection and Security.
Next, just click the toggle to enable the ‘modern anti-spam protection’ option. It’s that simple.
This one change immediately blocked a huge number of automated POST requests.
After enabling modern anti-spam, I wanted to add an extra layer of protection for even more security.
Spammers are always finding new ways to target forms, often by sending repeated submissions from the same IP address or email domains. Their aim is to flood your site with as many fake entries as possible, as quickly as they can.
If you let that happen, you could end up with hundreds or even thousands of fake submissions in a matter of hours.
Rate limiting stops this kind of abuse in its tracks. By capping the number of entries allowed from a single IP or email address, you can block these repetitive spam attempts without touching legitimate users.
To switch it on, you need to go to Settings » Form Locker in the WPForms form builder.
Then, toggle the switch next to the ‘Enable User Entry Limit’ option located under Entry Limits & Restrictions.
You can limit by email, IP address, or both. Then, you can choose how many entries you want to allow from each IP address and what message to show them if they exceed this limit.
However, some advanced spam bots can get around simple protections by using many different email addresses and IPs. This makes it much harder to block them with basic rate limiting alone.
To catch these smarter tactics, I needed a more flexible way to spot unusual patterns and stop suspicious entries in real time.
That’s when I turned to the conditional logic feature in WPForms.
It’s important to keep these tricky spam entries out of your CRM and email marketing lists. Not only are bad leads frustrating, but they can also mess up your data, lead to more spam complaints, and damage your email deliverability.
The good news is that WPForms allows you to apply conditional logic with your marketing integrations. This means you can create specific rules so only real, high-quality leads make it into your CRM.
For example, I set up a rule that filtered out any entries containing common spam patterns, such as suspicious keywords or links. If a form submission looked suspicious, it was automatically kept out of my CRM.
To do the same in your form, just go to Marketing » [Your CRM Name].
Then, enable ‘Conditional Logic’ and add a rule.
For example, you could add ‘Don’t Process this connection if the email field ends with .ru’.
This was the final nail in the coffin for the spammers who attacked my form.
And overall, it took me about 10 minutes to implement all of these changes.
Dealing with this wave of spam was definitely stressful, but it also highlighted how important it is to protect your forms. Security isn’t just a nice feature anymore. It’s a must-have for any business that relies on quality leads.
If you value high-quality leads, then you can’t afford to let spam get in the way.
I’m incredibly proud of the work the WPForms team is doing. I get to use the tools we build every day to power our businesses, and this week, WPForms really saved the day.
Here are some of the cool features they recently added:
For more details, see our full WPForms review.
I hope my story helps you protect your own website. Taking a few minutes to check your forms today can save you a huge headache later.
After I posted this on LinkedIn, some of my followers reached out with a few follow-up questions.
Here are my answers to those questions.
Do I need all these WPForms features to stop spam?
Often, just enabling the modern anti-spam protection is enough for most websites. However, if you are under a heavy attack like I was, then using layers of protection, like rate limiting, is very effective.
Will these anti-spam features slow down my website?
No. All of these features are built to be lightweight. They add security without negatively impacting your site speed or the user experience.
Is adding a CAPTCHA a good idea?
A CAPTCHA can be effective, but it adds friction for your users and can lower your form conversion rate. I always recommend using it as a last resort after trying invisible methods first.
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The post How I Blocked 18,000 Spam Lead Attacks in My WordPress Form first appeared on WPBeginner.
Netflix has a summer megahit on its hands with its animated musical feature film, K-Pop Demon Hunters. Since its June release, the critically acclaimed film has won fans of all ages, fueled by a killer Korean pop soundtrack featuring one earworm after another. The biggest hit is "Golden," which just hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top 100 chart. (The last time a fictional ensemble topped the charts was in 2022 with Encanto's "We Don't Talk About Bruno.")
K-Pop Demon Hunters is now Netflix's most-watched animated film of all time, and that's not just because of the infectious music. The Sony Animation team delivers bold visuals that evoke the look and feel of anime, the plot is briskly paced, and the script strikes a fine balance between humor and heart.
(Spoilers below.)
© Netflix
After decades of connecting Americans to its online service and the Internet through telephone lines, AOL recently announced it is finally shutting down its dial-up modem service on September 30, 2025. The announcement marks the end of a technology that served as the primary gateway to the World Wide Web for millions of users throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
AOL confirmed the shutdown date in a help message to customers: "AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet. This service will no longer be available in AOL plans."
Along with the dial-up service, AOL announced it will retire its AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser on the same date. The dialer software managed the connection process between computers and AOL's network, while Shield was a web browser optimized for slower connections and older operating systems.
Hims & Hers posted record revenue this quarter.
It is still selling patented weight loss drugs on its platform and is now getting sued by the pharmaceutical companies.
Investors would do best to avoid this stock until the legal battle is resolved.
Shares of Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS) stock sank 17% this week, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The telehealth platform is delivering huge revenue growth but is at risk of a legal battle with weight loss drugmakers. Shares of the stock are down 25% from all-time highs but are up 400% in the past five years due to the platform's fast growth.
Here's why the stock sank this week.
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In the second quarter of 2025, Hims & Hers' revenue grew 73% year over year to over $500 million, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. This was driven by 30% growth in total subscribers to Hims & Hers products and 30% growth in spend per active subscriber. The company offers telehealth services for basic pharmaceuticals such as hair loss, sexual wellness, and weight loss drugs.
While the company is growing quickly and now generating a profit, Hims & Hers is facing a looming legal battle with Novo Nordisk. The innovator in weight loss drugs originally had a partnership with Hims & Hers but pulled out of the deal because of disagreements over Hims & Hers selling knockoffs of its weight loss drug formula. Hims & Hers was permitted to sell patented weight loss drugs while they were in shortage, but now that the shortage is over, it is breaking the law by selling patented drugs to customers at a discount.
Unsurprisingly, Hims & Hers is getting sued for this practice, which is a fast-growing part of its business. Investors are worried about the future impacts of this legal battle and how it could hurt Hims & Hers' future revenue growth and profitability.
Image source: Getty Images.
Hims & Hers has been an incredible stock to own over the last few years, making shareholders rich. It has $2 billion in trailing revenue, up over 1,000% in the last five years. By far, it is the leading telehealth provider for drugs and medical treatments over the internet, making a ton of inroads in market share gains in the last few years.
If there were no legal battle looming, Hims & Hers would probably be a buy on this dip. However, we cannot ignore the potential legal ramifications and huge risk Hims & Hers management is putting on itself and shareholders by blatantly selling patented weight loss drugs on its website. This legal battle is not likely to end well. Don't buy the dip on Hims & Hers stock until its dispute with the weight loss drugmakers is resolved.
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Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Hims & Hers Health. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Texas is gearing up for war as a savage, flesh-eating fly appears poised for a US invasion and is expanding its range of victims.
On Friday, the Texas Department of Agriculture announced the debut of TDA Swormlure, a synthetic bait designed to attract the flies with a scent that mimics open flesh wounds, which are critical to the lifecycle of the fly, called the New World Screwworm. The parasite exploits any open wound or orifice on a wide range of warm-blooded animals to feed its ravenous spawn. Female flies lay hundreds of eggs in even the tiniest abrasion. From there, screw-shaped larvae—which give the flies their name—emerge to literally twist and bore into their victim, eating them alive and causing a putrid, life-threatening lesion. (You can see a graphic example here on a deer.)
The new lure for the flies is just one of several defense efforts in Texas, which stands to suffer heavy livestock losses from an invasion. Screwworms are a ferocious foe to many animals, but are particularly devastating to farm animals.
© CSIRO
Dozens of porn sites are turning to a familiar source to generate likes on Facebook—malware that causes browsers to surreptitiously endorse the sites. This time, the sites are using a newer vehicle for sowing this malware—.svg image files.
The Scalable Vector Graphics format is an open standard for rendering two-dimensional graphics. Unlike more common formats such as .jpg or .png, .svg uses XML-based text to specify how the image should appear, allowing files to be resized without losing quality due to pixelation. But therein lies the rub: The text in these files can incorporate HTML and JavaScript, and that, in turn, opens the risk of them being abused for a range of attacks, including cross-site scripting, HTML injection, and denial of service.
Security firm Malwarebytes on Friday said it recently discovered that porn sites have been seeding boobytrapped .svg files to select visitors. When one of these people clicks on the image, it causes browsers to surreptitiously register a like for Facebook posts promoting the site.
© Getty Images
AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They've warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic's AI training now threatens to "financially ruin" the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.
Last week, Anthropic petitioned to appeal the class certification, urging the court to weigh questions that the district court judge, William Alsup, seemingly did not. Alsup allegedly failed to conduct a "rigorous analysis" of the potential class and instead based his judgment on his "50 years" of experience, Anthropic said.
If the appeals court denies the petition, Anthropic argued, the emerging company may be doomed. As Anthropic argued, it now "faces hundreds of billions of dollars in potential damages liability at trial in four months" based on a class certification rushed at "warp speed" that involves "up to seven million potential claimants, whose works span a century of publishing history," each possibly triggering a $150,000 fine.
© monap | E+
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