Invisible Rulers

The People Who Turn Lies into Reality

By: Renee DiResta

Narrated by: Anna Caputo

Length: 15 hrs

Publisher's summary

A brilliant, original analysis of the radical shift in the dynamics of power and influence, revealing how the machinery that powered the Big Lie works to create bespoke realities revolutionizing politics, culture, and society.

Renée DiResta’s powerful, original investigation into the way power and influence have been profoundly transformed reveals how a virtual rumor mill of niche propagandists increasingly shapes public opinion. While propagandists position themselves as trustworthy Davids, their reach, influence, and economics make them classic Goliaths—invisible rulers who create bespoke realities to revolutionize politics, culture, and society. Their work is driven by a simple maxim: if you make it trend, you make it true.

By revealing the machinery and dynamics of the interplay between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds, DiResta vividly illustrates the way propagandists deliberately undermine belief in the fundamental legitimacy of institutions that make society work. This alternate system for shaping public opinion, unexamined until now, is rewriting the relationship between the people and their government in profound ways. It has become a force so shockingly effective that its destructive power seems limitless. Scientific proof is powerless in front of it. Democratic validity is bulldozed by it. Leaders are humiliated by it. But they need not be.

With its deep insight into the power of propagandists to drive online crowds into battle—while bearing no responsibility for the consequences—Invisible Rulers not only predicts those consequences but offers ways for leaders to rapidly adapt and fight back.

©2024 Renee DiResta (P)2024 PublicAffairs

Timely and important

Understanding how information travels has never been more important, but the internet often feels like a black box, hidden behind walls constructed by big corporations. Invisible Rulers pulls back the curtains and reveals the ongoing death spiral of our information ecosystem, as well as its history going back over a decade. It breaks down the historical and philosophical origins underpinning the spread of propaganda, as well as how modern propagandists leverage the tools and techniques of virality to influence masses and create the illusion of unanimity.

This book ties together crucial ideas to help us understand viral misinformation and gives us the tools to fight back. It also provides an incredibly up close and insightful analysis of some of the most destructive ideas being spread across the internet today. As we head into another election, in a year marked by the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence, and the bolstering of its usage to fool and deceive, this book could not have come at a better time.