NFL Fan Free Zone: How Rage Bait, Spam Networks, and AI Slop Hijacked Sports Fandoms

A new Alethea investigation has uncovered a sprawling ecosystem of inauthentic, coordinated “fan page” networks pushing rage bait, commercial spam, and AI-generated misinformation across social platforms, targeting nearly every major U.S. professional sports league. These pages present themselves as community hubs, but function as high-volume attention farms designed to monetize reactions, funneling traffic to scam sites, collecting ad revenue, and siphoning engagement from leagues, teams, broadcasters, and legitimate publishers. Their goal is not fandom — it’s friction, virality, and revenue.