Simon Fraser University: Google autocomplete helps mislead public, legitimize conspiracy theorists: SFU study. “Google algorithms place innocuous subtitles on prominent conspiracy theorists, which mislead the public and amplify extremist views, according to Simon Fraser University researchers.”
Vice: Anti-Vax Podcaster Who Got COVID at a Conspiracy Conference Has Died. “Doug Kuzma, 61, from Newport News, Virginia, died on January 3 after being hospitalized 10 days earlier. Kuzma broadcasted on the FROG News podcasting network, which stands for ‘Fully Rely On God.’ Kuzma and his FROG fellow hosts pushed an array of conspiracy theories ranging from QAnon to COVID denial and election fraud lies.”
Daily Beast: Alex Jones Threatens to ‘Dish Dirt’ on Trump for Pushing Vaccine. “Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is threatening to ‘dish all the dirt’ on Donald Trump to get back at the ex-president over his endorsement of the COVID-19 vaccine. ‘Yeah, we all wish Trump would do the right thing,’ Jones said on his Wednesday afternoon InfoWars program, before urging his listeners to ‘move on’ from Trump due to his glowing endorsement of the vaccine.”
Business Insider: ‘I’ve lost my joy’: Anti-vax Republican, who worked for the Trump campaign and embraced QAnon, says she has COVID-19. “A Delaware Republican who said coronavirus vaccines were part of a satanic plan to cause ‘mass death’ is recovering from COVID-19, she announced Thursday, saying the illness had caused her to lose ‘all of my senses.’ Lauren Witzke, a self-styled ‘Christian nationalist’ who embraced QAnon and support from white supremacists, was the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, receiving 186,000 votes in her failed run against Democratic incumbent Sen. Chris Coons.”
Daily Beast: Delusional COVID Truthers Try to Invade Hospital Where This Mom Died Too Soon. “A big red heart fashioned with five dozen Post-its was in one of the windows of the intensive care unit at Utah Valley Hospital when the conspiracy theorists pulled into a parking lot that they found to be suspiciously empty. The heart was placed there by nurses to mark the room where one of their own died on Oct. 30. Neonatal intensive care nurse Patrice Grossman, who was born at the same hospital where she worked, had predicted when COVID-19 first arrived in America that she would be among the fatalities. She and seven other family members, beginning with her baby grandson, contracted it at home from out-of-state house guests who believed the virus is no big deal.”
Tampa Bay Times: Meet the Uber-driving, conspiracy theorist blogger who DeSantis just hired. “When Gov. Ron DeSantis needed to hire a data analyst, his staff picked a little-known Ohio sports blogger and Uber driver whose only relevant experience is spreading harmful conspiracy theories about COVID-19 on the Internet. In his own words, Kyle Lamb has few qualifications for the job at the state’s Office of Policy and Budget, which pays $40,000 per year.”
TIME: How Far-Right Personalities and Conspiracy Theorists Are Cashing in on the Pandemic Online. “[Nick] Fuentes, 22, a prolific podcaster who on his shows has compared the Holocaust to a cookie-baking operation, argued that the segregation of Black Americans ‘was better for them,’ and that the First Amendment was ‘not written for Muslims,’ is doing better than O.K. during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s part of a loose cohort of far-right provocateurs, white nationalists and right-wing extremists who have built large, engaged audiences on lesser-known platforms like DLive after being banned from main-stream sites for spreading hate speech and conspiracy theories.
Daily Dot: On Patreon, QAnon believers are turning conspiracy into cash. “QAnon followers have found a home on Patreon, one that is more hospitable and profitable than other social media platforms. Patreon is a fundraising platform where donors, or patrons, sign up to give a specific amount every month to access exclusive content. While Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube work to limit the spread, Patreon essentially accepts the conspiracy theorists with open arms. There some are making thousands of dollars every month.”
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