A friend recently informed me that a US passport costs $2,000. He said this with confidence because two social media influencers he follows also said it with confidence. They, however, were repeating AI-generated slop designed to ferment unrest against the USA’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The actual cost of a first time US passport is $165. Renewal is $130. And a passport card is $65 first time and $30 renewal.
The passport story was part of a wider AI blitz claiming that the SAVE Act will prevent tens of millions of US electors from being able to vote, since – wrongly – the AI claims that to register to vote, and to vote in an election, an elector must produce a valid passport and a birth certificate. The cost claim was designed to suggest that swathes of poorer Americans would be excluded, while the birth certificate claim implies that married women who changed their name would be denied a vote. And, of course, Democrats have long maintained that African Americans lack the ability to obtain a valid ID. So that, taken together, these “prove” that the SAVE Act is a step on the road to a fascist dictatorship.
One of the unpleasant side effects ofcalling everyone you disagree with a fascist is that pretty soon you find yourself surrounded by fascists. In this case, we would have to include a raft of countries which require voter ID in the same category, including: Argentina, Brazil, France (in towns over 1,000 residents), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Canada, Sweden and Switzerland also require ID, but are more flexible, accepting multiple forms of non-photo ID in lieu of a photo ID.
Nor is the USA as inflexible as the AI slop merchants insist. A passport, Citizenship-Marked REAL ID card (not all states have these yet) or a Place-of-Birth Photo ID count as stand alone proof of eligibility to vote. An alternative photo ID such as a driving licence must be backed up with a secondary document such as, but not restricted to, a birth certificate or a Hospital Record of Birth.
It is also worth noting that there is massive public support (84%) for voter ID in the USA – 95% Republicans and 71% Democrats.
This then, is just one recent example of the phenomenon ironically misattributed to Mark Twain, that:
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2026/02/17/the-age-of-slop/