[ The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem (Netflix) really floods the zone between those two “M” words in the title. Co-directed by Giorgio Angelini and Arhtur Jones, the doc explores how early internet mischief-making on sites like 4Chan spawned an entire universe of “to” prepositions, leading to everything from aggressive hacking raids and online vigilante … Read more
[ Remember the viral clip from a couple years ago in which Alex Jones was caught committing perjury in court? You get to revisit it in The Truth vs. Alex Jones (now streaming on Max), an enraging and heartbreaking HBO documentary from Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed. It chronicles the defamation suits filed by parents … Read more
[ Group chats, including at least one of mine, can’t get enough. #KateGate—loosely, a collection of theories around the whereabouts and well-being of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales—presently seems to be occupying more brain cells than oxygen. Gossip has been flying ever since January, when Middleton took a step back from public life for … Read more
[ Since her abdominal surgery a few months ago, the Princess of Wales Catherine, commonly known by her maiden name Kate Middleton, has not made any public appearances. Instead, the Kensington Palace has stated that Kate is on a break to recover from her surgery, and will resume her duties after Easter. However, Kate’s long … Read more
[ In the whirlwind of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, public figures often find themselves at the center of speculation and rumor. In recent weeks, the absence of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, commonly known as Kate Middleton, from public engagements has sparked a flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories. Kate Middleton has not … Read more
[ Several people are typing, and they’re all saying Netflix’s Leave the World Behind is wildly prescient. The movie, directed by Sam Esmail, opens on a world where communication has been knocked out following a cyberattack. And earlier this week, when nearly all of Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Threads—went down, people took to (other) social media … Read more
[ WASHINGTON: Coined by the World Health Organization to denote a hypothetical future pandemic, “Disease X” is at the center of a blizzard of misinformation that American conspiracy theorists are amplifying – and profiting from. The falsehoods, including that the unknown pathogen indicates an elitist plot to depopulate the earth, appeared to originate in the … Read more
[ Over the past two weeks, Taylor Swift has made headlines dozens of times. Only one, maybe two of those instances have been because of something she actually did. Her music getting removed from TikTok? That was a disagreement between Universal Music Group and the app itself. Her songs getting boosted illegally? That was pirates. … Read more
[ Public perception of psychological operations soured in a big way in the mid-1970s, when details of the CIA’s MK-ULTRA program were first released, detailing a plot—more based in science fiction than science—to brainwash subjects using psychoactive drugs. Further revelations that the US had supplied Nicaraguan death squads with psychological warfare guides would not help … Read more
[ WASHINGTON: Conspiracy theorists who believe in a secret cabal of child sex traffickers have set their sights on yet another online retailer: Etsy, a website best known for selling handmade items. Social media users point to what they say are “suspicious listings” on Etsy – including downloadable images of pizza selling for thousands of … Read more
