What’s the State of Misinformation? with Renée DiResta

We’re all so used to turning to our phones for information, but how exactly does it travel across the internet…and what happens if that information is wrong? Renée DiResta is the perfect expert to break it all down for us! Jonathan and Renée dig into the differences and potential dangers of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. From generative AI and Father Coughlin, to political polarization and being subpoenaed by Jim Jordan, we cover it all.

Renée DiResta is the Research Manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory where she investigates the spread of malign narratives across social networks, and assists policymakers in understanding and responding to the problem. She has advised Congress, the State Department, and other academic, civic, and business organizations, and has studied disinformation and computational propaganda in the context of pseudoscience conspiracies, terrorism, and state-sponsored information warfare. Her latest book, “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality” is out on June 11th.

You can follow Renée on Threads @renee.diresta and on LinkedIn.

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Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

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Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall.

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