From the Fringe Web to Real Life: How Seriously Should We Be Taking Conspiracy Theories?

Back in December, we did an episode about Pyrra, an AI-powered software that tracks sifts through the far corners of the internet – in some places you probably haven’t even heard of – to see what narratives are emerging from the people who post there. A lot of these are conspiracy theories, and also violent threats. This week, we check back in with the creator of that software, Dr. Welton Chang, about what narratives he’s seeing, right now, that might soon make the jump from fringe shitposts to actually having an impact in the real world.  Welton’s especially worried about the violent rhetoric aimed at one particular group of people, which has been topping the charts in recent weeks. Welton is the creator of Pyrra Technologies, and Vice President for Digital Intelligence Solutions at AlertMedia.  A listener asked us to clarify that the Romanian presidential elections we refer to in the beginning of this episode are first-round elections, meaning the winning candidate still had to win another round before becoming president. Sign up for our newsletter: www.kcrw.com/questioneverything “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices