24 Sept 2026
#020: The Business Behind Rage Bait: Renée DiResta on Who Profits From YOutrage and How to Spot Propaganda
Your social media feed is full of rage bait, fake accounts, and propaganda, and someone is making money every time you engage with it.
Renée DiResta, author of Invisible Rulers and a Georgetown researcher who has studied online manipulation for over a decade, breaks down how rage bait, propaganda, and AI-generated content end up in your social media feed, and why so much of it comes down to money. We get into how fake accounts pose as everyday Americans, how foreign bot networks try to hijack real debates, why fact-checking and Community Notes struggle to keep up with misinformation, and how to spot an influencer who profits from making you distrust everyone else. Renée also shares the questions she asks herself before reacting to anything that makes her mad, and how to take back some control over your algorithm.
Key Takeaways:
Astroturfing creates the illusion of a grassroots movement using paid people or fake accounts. Falsely claiming that real protesters are paid is a common tactic for discrediting genuine movements.
Adversarial abuse is when bad actors deliberately exploit a platform's normal features to manipulate or harm people through scams, influence operations, or AI-generated exploitation content, usually without hacking anything.
Facebook pays creators for engagement, so fake accounts with AI-generated profile photos post rage bait into everyday spaces like coupon groups, hoping the angry comments turn into a payout.
The data center debate was targeted two ways at once: a suspected Chinese bot network trying to sow division, and Bangladeshi page operators posting the same outrage for money. Both were dwarfed by real Americans' opinions.
Many false claims spread as a signal of distrust in institutions, so a fact-check alone rarely changes minds, especially once someone has publicly shared the claim and feels invested in it.
Community Notes only appear when raters who usually disagree find the same note helpful. Contributors get no pay or recognition, so most notes never gather enough ratings to publish.
When X revealed where accounts were based, many fiery US political influencers turned out to be posting from countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan to collect engagement payouts.
Be wary of influencers who claim to have every answer, sell you the fix, and tell you to distrust doctors, the government, or the media. Trustworthy voices admit what they don't know.
Algorithms feed you more of whatever makes you angry, which can make a niche issue feel like the biggest story in the country while people with different feeds never see it at all.
Before reacting to something that enrages you, ask whether it happened and whether the world needs your take. A real video can still be used to support a false claim.
Find Renée DiResta online:
Instagram: (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbC05WWM5bnJidWo4T0RUYzJDWGZYd0ZqNm95Z3xBQ3Jtc0tuVGNSTmt5TGJuVS00cjNZbllJdGxZQnBaajZsRGE4RlVTaklVRDlPT1ZYNGU3OVFiZm5JMGZRR3Q4OVdNYjg1SS1FQVVjbGxnRnVCa3J5V2YxbE9ROXlnbVQ3RkRGT2NJWGktSF9ENm9mX0dfalZjVQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fkingavriel%2F%3Fhl%3Den&v=J8ytOWZrUc8)https://www.instagram.com/renee.diresta (https://www.instagram.com/renee.diresta)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneediresta/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneediresta/)
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noupside.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/noupside.bsky.social)
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nodice.app (https://www.tiktok.com/@nodice.app)
Twitter: https://x.com/noUpside (https://x.com/noUpside)
Substack: https://reneediresta.substack.com/ (https://reneediresta.substack.com/)
Website: https://www.reneediresta.com/ (https://www.reneediresta.com/)
Book: https://www.reneediresta.com/books/ (https://www.reneediresta.com/books/)
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