'Meme Wars' authors highlight online threats to democracy, Sept. 29

Joan Donovan, research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Policy at Harvard, and Emily Dreyfuss, a senior writer at Wired, will explore how nefarious online activity threatens the U.S. political system at a National Press Club in-person Headliners Book Event on at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29.

Donovan and Dreyfuss will discuss their new book “Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America,” which dives into how bad actors are using hate-based memes and social media to spread disinformation online and to organize various communities that are damaging U.S. democracy.

Tickets cost $5 for Club members and $10 for the general public. Buy tickets online. Pre-ordered books will be available for pickup and signing at the event. Attendees will also be able to purchase books at the door.

The book shows step-by-step how memes are used to bring together a variety of right-wing communities online and then drive real-life movements like Stop the Steal.  It also illustrates how key figures like Steve Bannon, Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, Richard Spencer, and Milo Yiannopoulos used social media to foment outrage, exacerbate already polarizing fissures in U.S. culture, and ultimately lead them to form an uneasy coalition to support Former President Trump. 

The program will include a question-and-answer session with Donovan and Dreyfuss. To submit a question in advance for the speaker, put MEME in the subject line and email to [email protected].