Invisible Rulers

88 “Topologies and Tribulations of Gettr: A Month in the Life of a New Alt-Network,” Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center, August 12, 2021, https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/topologies-and-tribulations-gettr.

89 David Thiel and Miles McCain, “Gabufacturing Dissent: An In-Depth Analysis of Gab,” Stanford Digital Repository, June 1, 2022, https://doi.org/10.25740/ns280ry2029.

90 Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, “A Pro-Trump Social Network Wants to Corner the Anti-vax ‘Jizz Market,’” Rolling Stone, March 16, 2023, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/covid-vaccines-infertility-antivax-gettr-social-media-1234697898.

91 Jay Caspian Kang, “What Bluesky Tells Us About the Future of Social Media,” New Yorker, May 12, 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-bluesky-tells-us-about-the-future-of-social-media.

92 Alex Heath, “This Is What Instagram’s Upcoming Twitter Competitor Looks Like,” The Verge, June 8, 2023, https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754304/instagram-meta-twitter-competitor-threads-activitypub.

93 DiResta, “How Online Mobs Act.”

94 Joseph B. Bak-Coleman et al., “Stewardship of Global Collective Behavior,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 21, 2021, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2025 764118.

95 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, trans. Martin Hammond (London: Penguin Books, 2006).

96 Anya Schiffrin, “Fighting Disinformation with Media Literacy—in 1939,” Columbia Journalism Review, October 10, 2018, https://www.cjr.org/innovations/institute-propaganda-analysis.php.

97 Institute for Propaganda Analysis, Propaganda, How to Recognize It and Deal with It (New York: Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938), 2.

98 Alfred McClung Lee and Elizabeth Briant Lee, The Fine Art of Propaganda: A Study of Father Coughlin’s Speeches (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939). The ABCs of propaganda were “ASCERTAIN the conflict element in the propaganda you are analyzing. BEHOLD your own reaction to this conflict element. CONCERN yourself with today’s propaganda associated with today’s conflicts. DOUBT that your opinions are ‘your very own.’ EVALUATE, therefore, with the greatest care, your own propagandas. FIND THE FACTS before you come to any conclusion. GUARD always, finally, against omnibus words.”

99 The “Tricks of the Trade” were articulated in Chapter 3 of The Fine Art of Propaganda. I have selected the most appropriate modern emojis available, but here note the original pictographs chosen: Name Calling was symbolized by “the ancient sign of condemnation used by the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Coliseum, a thumb turned down”; Glittering Generality was symbolized by “a glittering gem that may or may not have its apparent value”; Transfer was symbolized by a mask of the style worn by ancient Greek and Roman actors; Testimonial was symbolized by a seal and ribbons, the “stamp of authority”; Plain Folks was symbolized by an old shoe (period slang for an old friend); Card Stacking was symbolized by an ace of spades, “a card traditionally used to signify treachery”; and Band Wagon was symbolized by a bandmaster’s hat and baton.

100 Anya Schiffrin, “Fighting Disinformation in the 1930s: Clyde Miller and the Institute for Propaganda Analysis,” International Journal of Communication 16 (2022): 3715–3741.

101 Philipp Markolin, “Distort, Discredit, Dismiss: The Manipulation Playbook of Anti-science Actors, Part 2,” The Protagonist Future?, May 15, 2023, https://protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/distort-discredit-dismiss.

102 Stephan Lewandowsky, Ronald E. Robertson, and Renée DiResta, “Challenges in Understanding Human-Algorithm Entanglement During Online Information Consumption,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, July 10, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916231180809.

103 For a full discussion of recent studies examining intervention and responses to political rumors, see Adam J. Berinsky, Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023).

104 Lisa Belkin, “Procter & Gamble Fights Satan Story,” New York Times, April 18, 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/18/garden/procter-gamble-fights-satan-story.html.

105 Robert Skvarla, “When 1980s Satanic Panic Targeted Procter & Gamble,” Atlas Obscura, July 13, 2017, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/procter-gamble-satan-conspiracy-theory.

106 See Jean-Noël Kapferer, Rumors: Uses, Interpretations and Images (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2013), chap. 7–8.

107 Laura Blumenfeld, “Procter Gamble’s Devil of a Problem,” Washington Post, July 15, 1991, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/07/15/procter-gambles-devil-of-a-problem/36f27641-e679-40f4-ac02-9d12c59a2f3b.

108 Kapferer, Rumors, 235.

109 Jessica Contrera, “A QAnon Con: How the Viral Wayfair Sex Trafficking Lie Hurt Real Kids,” Washington Post, December 16, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2021/wayfair-qanon-sex-trafficking-conspiracy.