'Meme Wars' explores the relationship between online movements and real world actions, authors say

Mark Krikorian

October 03, 2022

Internet conspiracy theories that unexpectedly led to real-world actions, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, prompted veteran tech journalist Emily Dreyfuss, Harvard Shorenstein Center director Joan Donovan, and Shorenstein cultural ethnographer Brian Friedberg to team up on writing "Meme Wars," the authors said at a Headliners Book Event on Thursday, Sept. 29.

National Press Club Treasurer Emily Wilkins moderated a discussion with "Meme War" co-authors Joan Donovan, Emily Dretfuss and Brian Friedberg. Photo: Joseph Luchok

"The stories that we wrote about the 'alt-right' at the time were colorful features about weirdos that were interesting that seemed like they'd probably be irrelevant once Hillary Clinton became president," Dreyfuss said.

When the stories didn't disappear, Dreyfuss said she learned how "that kind of energy online usually translates into the real world."

"I learned to have a lot more respect, in some ways, for some of the people who were behind some of these shenanigans," she said.

The "shenanigans" in question are right-wing political activities on the Internet and their real-world manifestations, specifically the January 2021 riot at the Capitol. The publisher describes Meme Wars as the story of how "the 'redpill right' weaponizes memes, pushing conspiracy theories and disinformation into the mainstream to drag people down the rabbit hole."

Co-author Joan Donovan is research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Policy at Harvard University. Photo: Joseph Luchok

Donovan, the co-author and research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Policy, said she started this book a decade earlier, as she began to think about and research online social movements online.

"We really try to understand that relationship between the things that are happening online, that maybe get started as a prank . . . and then it turns into a political movement where people are willing to commit crimes in order to keep someone in power," Donovan said.

She said that her major takeaway from the book is her view that social media has transformed from "a technology heralded as the coming of a horizontal representative democracy into a tool for the very, very powerful to politically oppress the masses."

Friedberg said he began to focus on alternative media in 2017, particularly far-right media. As a result, he said he's learned about the differences and conflicts among different online groups.

"One of the main things they actually all agree on is that they hate the press, they hate us," Dreyfuss said. "They distrust us so much it's actually shocking."

One way to try to earn back some trust is for the media to take responsibility for its mistakes, such reporting that the Jussie Smollett hate-crime hoax was true, or that there were no possible detrimental health consequences of the COVID-19 vaccines, she said.

The event was moderated by Club Treasurer Emily WIlkins.