Podcasts Culture Decoding the Gurus Interview with Renee DiResta: Online Ecosystems, Disinformation, & Censorship Debates

Interview with Renee DiResta: Online Ecosystems, Disinformation, & Censorship Debates

Published: May 20, 2023, 1 a.m.

We are joined by Ren\xe9e DiResta a writer and researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory. Ren\xe9e has done a lot of interesting work on disinformation and influence campaigns. Including leading an investigation into the Russian Internet Research Agency\u2019s multi-year effort to manipulate American society in the lead-up to the 2016 election. More recently she was dubbed by the writer/conspiracy theorist, Michael Shellenberger, as the leader of 'The Censorship Industry'.

In short, Ren\xe9e stands accused of serving as an agent of the Distributed Idea Suppression Complex defending the Gated Institutional Narrative. So being good DISC soldiers ourselves we had to follow our orders and host our exalted leader.

We discuss all of this with her and a range of other topics including how important algorithms and bots are in disinformation networks, whether contemporary influence campaigns are really anything new, and how to address debates around censorship and free speech.

We enjoyed the discussion a lot and are sure that you will too... or else...

Also covered in this episode: Eric Weinstein's suggestions for Twitter CEO, evidence of Lex Fridman's pilled brain, and a rather confusing review.

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