Joe is a researcher and PhD candidate assisting in long-form investigations into disinformation and the actors behind it. He is interested in virality and memetics, the “truthiness” of false narratives, and all things to do with digital text and what it can do (for good or ill). His PhD research explores on how social media blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction when used as a venue for storytelling.
On November 19, the Metro (a free U.K. newspaper with an incredibly popular online presence) reported on an anti-lockdown campaign to “stop the M6”. The campaign had lofty ambitions. A poster announced that they had plans for “13 cities” and...
On August 22st we saw marches predominantly organized by U.S.-based Freedom For the Children happen worldwide under the “Save Our Children” banner. Though these protests may have at first glance appeared to be in support of a righteous cause—and...
On May 4th 2020, the first Plandemic video appeared on various social media platforms, seemingly from nowhere, and introduced Dr. Judy Mikovits to the world. The 26 minute long video was perfectly designed to tap into doubt and uncertainty around...
Last week, a shocking explosion at the port of Beirut that left over 130 dead and thousands more injured and displaced immediately gripped the world. Videos of the blast’s shockwave circulated quickly on social media, with the visible pressure...
A story claiming that popular e-commerce site, Wayfair, was using ‘overpriced’ cabinets recently set the Internet alight. The theory originated from a post by PrincessPeach1987 on Reddit’s conspiracy subreddit.
On Wednesday April 8th, Reddit user tobrown05 posted a link to a YouTube video with the title “Not news, but tbh if you have tiktok, just get rid of it.” The video has been removed by YouTube, but the contents can be at least partially inferred...
In the aftermath of Trump’s disastrously underattended rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the flooding of racist or pro-police hashtags and communication channels on Twitter, the Internet was awash with proclamations that the “zoomers” (members of...
As demonstrations and protests were met with violence, erupting into civil disobedience across the globe, we can show how an effort to fracture solidarity in the Black Lives Matter online movement instead drew the ire of the online right, got...