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An “essential and riveting” (Jonathan Haidt) account of the small communities of propagandists revolutionizing politics, culture, and society Invisible Rulers is about a profound transformation in power and influence that is altering our politics, our local government, and even our relationships with friends and neighbors. Today, small communities of propagandists increasingly shape public opinion and even control our relationship to the truth. Our shared reality has splintered into discrete bespoke realities driven by algorithms, influencers, and curated content. Very little can bridge the divide, thereby making democratic consensus nearly impossible to achieve. Renée DiResta exposes how these propagandists and their followers undermine the institutions that make society work, from anti-vaccine zealots who flood social media with fringe viewpoints to influencers who use AI-generated images to manipulate our perception of reality. She also provides readers with a new conception of civics that helps us understand and fight back against these new invisible rulers.
About the author
Renée DiResta is the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, a cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching, and policy engagement for the study of abuse in information technologies. Her work examines rumors and propaganda in the digital age. She has analyzed geopolitical campaigns created by foreign powers such as Russia, China, and Iran; voting‑ related rumors that led to the January 6 insurrection; and health misinformation and conspiracy theories pushed by domestic influencers. She is a contributor at
The Atlantic. Her bylined writing has appeared in
Wired, Foreign Affairs, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Times, Washington Post, Yale Review, The Guardian, POLITICO, Slate, and Noema, as well as many academic journals.
DiResta has been a Presidential Leadership Scholar (a program run by the Presidents Bush, Clinton, and the LBJ Foundations); named an Emerson Fellow, a Truman National Security Project fellow, Mozilla Fellow in Media, Misinformation, and Trust, a Harvard Berkman-Klein affiliate, and a Council on Foreign Relations term member.
Summary
A brilliant, original investigation into the radical shift of power and influence and the invisible rulers revolutionizing politics, culture, and society.
Foreword
A brilliant, original investigation into the radical shift of power and influence and the invisible rulers revolutionizing politics, culture, and society.
