They Make Viral Gun Videos—With Hardline Christian Values
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.At the start of a slickly produced 19-minute YouTube video titled “How T.Rex Arms Got Started,” Lucas Botkin, the company’s 30-year-old founder, runs through an obstacle course. A guitar-heavy soundtrack plays as Botkin, decked out in tactical gear and…
“The Algorithm” Does Not Exist
Giovanni Medalla Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.In 2009, when Facebook changed its newsfeed significantly for the first time, there wasn’t much uproar over “the algorithm.” Now we’re all talking about it—whatever “it” is. The algorithm and its ramifications have been the focus of…
Climate Denialism on YouTube Has Evolved Into Something Else
Didem Mente/Anadolu/Getty/Grist This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Imagine if you could walk from your house to anywhere you needed to go in less than 15 minutes: the pharmacy, the bakery, the gym, and then back to the bakery. In a certain, conspiracy-addled corner of the internet, this…
Does Banning the Taliban From Social Media Actually Help Afghans?
A Taliban fighter searches for a network signal for his mobile phone at a hospital in the Andar district of Ghazni province.Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.When earlier this month the Taliban overtook Kabul, gaining control of Afghanistan, accounts on…
Investigation: Wait, Who Are the “Internet Stars” at This White House Social Media Briefing?
SOPAImages/Getty Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.When the White House tweeted last night about their “first-ever social media briefing” between Press Secretary Jen Psaki and 11 “internet stars,” the internet wrote back a resounding “who dis?”…