Renée Diresta: On Online Conspiracies, Anti-Vaxxers, Hunter Biden, the 2020 Election, and Social Media Manipulation

Renée Diresta spends most of her life looking online for conspiracies. 

Within the half-truths and outright lies online, she and her associates at Stanford Internet Observatory are on a mission to investigate and understand "the spread of malign narratives across social networks." In an increasingly polarizing political climate, where no one is sure what's true and what's fabricated pseudofiction, Renée and her team are on the veritable front lines of an information war that is many decades in the making, and whose tools are becoming more nuanced and deadly with each new story "leak." Renée has been a contributor for, well...just about every publication talking about the role that tech platforms can and do play in the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories. Her unique perspective and ability to interpret and understand the various parts of a supposed narrative and its veracity or dubiousness have made her the go-to expert for corporations, networks, and the federal government.

Whether it's understanding the power and appeal of the anti-vaxxer movement, or how easily outside influencers can organize and arrange two opposing sides of an issue, Renée's journey to being one of the nation's foremost experts on misinformation during an era of extreme mistrust and unrest is a storied one. Her fascination with information and creative approach to understanding and dissecting how it is shared allows her and her team the opportunity to assist policymakers in devising responses to the problem and awareness of the appeal of half-truths in the American story.

Curiously Creative

ReneeDiresta.com

Twitter: @NoUpside

“She Warned of ‘Peer-to-Peer Misinformation.’ Congress Listened.” The New York Times

“Renée DiResta: Putting 'Numbers, Systems, And Efficiency' To Work In A Classic Un-Career” Women@Forbes

“Anti-Vaxxers Are Using Twitter to Manipulate a Vaccine Bill” WIRED

“Social Network Algorithms Are Distorting Reality By Boosting Conspiracy Theories” Fast Company Co.Exist

“How Social Network Manipulation Tactics Are Impacting Amazon and Influencing Consumers” lecture at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University (video)

“What We Now Know About Russian Disinformation” The New York Times (op. ed.)

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