Feature interview: why do conspiracy theories thrive?

If you make it trend you make it true says Renee DiResta, the former technical research manager at the Stanford university Internet Observatory. She herself as been the subject of a conspiracy theory gone viral, accused by Republican lawmakers in America of working with the government to suppress conservative speech online. DiResta says conspiracy theories and misinformation thrive because Influencers, algorithms, and crowds shape reality today. She pulls back the curtain to reveal how the new system of persuasion works, how its' altering so much of our lives, and what we can do to understand it. Her book is called Invisible Rulers, The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality.