Mark Scott, Digital Bridge, Politico: “After years of tracking online disinformation, propaganda and other digital nastiness, Renée diResta sees patterns where others see chaos. In her new book, “Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality,” the former Stanford University researcher tries to parse together a theory about why, seemingly out of the blue, online coalitions of unconnected people can quickly jump on a specific (sometimes political) issue, make it trend across social media and, in the worst cases, take it offline that can lead to real-world harm. Case in point: the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riots or the Jan. 8 attacks in Brasilia. For diResta, these increasingly occurring events, which often appear random, come down to three overlapping trends.

• You need online influencers to fan the flames of a cause.
• You need social media algorithms to promote those messages, far and wide.
• And you need online crowds of users, often with similar viewpoints to the influencer, willing to share the posts with whoever will listen.”