I don’t know about you, but ever since mass conspiracy theory and disinformation campaigns led to the attack on the Capitol, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about exactly how we got here.
We’ve been talking and hearing about fake news, misinformation, and the viral online conspiracy theory ecosystem for years now. But it wasn’t until the events of Jan. 6 that I started rabidly consuming everything I could to understand them, almost as if my life depended on it. Because actually, to an extent, our lives — and our relationships to our democracy — do depend on understanding them.
Podcasts are a double-edged sword for tackling the issues at the heart of this web of lies we all find ourselves trapped in.
Podcasts are a double-edged sword for tackling the issues at the heart of this web of lies.
On the one hand, they’re great, accessible sources for spreading well-researched information that counteracts the misinformation swamp. On the other hand, lack of moderation on most podcasting platforms has rendered the medium a loophole that allows bad actors de-platformed elsewhere to continue spreading it. Also, as venerated sources like the New York Times reckon with the false narratives they themselves propagated through podcasts like Caliphate, we all need to remember to think critically of everything we listen to. Even the most seemingly trustworthy sources can unwittingly misinform through the rebirth of audio journalism, which is subject to all the problems print journalism faces when it comes to combatting fake news from the inside. Sourcing information can be hard via audio, and our brains aren’t great at being skeptical of authoritative voices talking directly into our eardrums.
All that being said, it’s often easier to get someone (perhaps a loved one on the precipice of a conspiracy theory rabbit hole) to listen rather than read an investigative debunking. Also, the personal nature of podcasting can help us see our individual duty to combat the problem of viral misinformation with empathy — and to recognize our own vulnerability to becoming a victim of it ourselves. Try and treat consuming these podcasts as an exercise for media literacy and critical thinking skills, questioning and researching to determine how factual their claims really are.
Our list below includes some of the best podcast episodes, mini or limited series podcasts, and full-length podcasts that tackle dangerous conspiracy theories like QAnon, COVID-19 misinformation, political disinformation, Big Tech’s culpability for viral spread, and everything in between. From its history and psychology to more immediate current events and personal tolls, we sought out podcasts that covered these complex, interwoven issues from every possible angle.
This is a gargantuan, Sisyphean, and perpetually distressing battle. The clarifying and informative voices of great podcasters can be a comfort as well as a guide for surviving it.
1. Life Kit: “How To Spot Misinformation”
What it’s about and why it’s great: This Life Kit episode stands out from other guides on misinformation because it’s honest about the reality that we’re all susceptible to it, especially right now. Many of us take crazy internet conspiracies as a reassurance that we’d never fall for that stuff because we’re just way too smart. But actually, this episode goes to show that sometimes it’s the smartest news junkies who need to think as critically as possible about the information they consume and share. Life Kit shares five actionable tips that provide a comforting level of certainty for how to distinguish between legitimate and not-so-legitimate information on the interweb.
2. Reply All: “Country of Liars”
What it’s about and why it’s great: Probably the single most famous podcast episode on QAnon, PJ Vought and the Reply All team layout the story behind 8kun, the forum where the “Q drops” that spread conspiracy theories like wildfire across the internet. By going to the source, they come to the very likely possibility of figuring out who “Q” really is (spoiler alert, it most certainly is not a top-level government official). It’s a stark contrast from their earlier mention of QAnon back in 2018’s “#122: The QAnon Code,” which covered the conspiracy in a Yes-Yes-No segment full of laughs and bemusement. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and we should all remember the cost of not taking the power of these ridiculous lies seriously enough in the digital age.
3. There Are No Girls on the Internet: Disinformed Series
What it’s about and why it’s great: Since launching in 2020, There Are No Girls on the Internet is quickly becoming one of the most essential tech podcasts out there. Case in point: host Bridget Todd’s new disinformation series. Released shortly after the attack on the Capitol, it grapples with every aspect of the disinformation issue by highlighting voices that were often ignored yet prescient in identifying, understanding, and combating it. From all the Black women who tried to warn us about the dire situation, to the centrality of white supremacy, or the TikToker fighting fire with fire with informative anti-disinformation memes, and whether or not de-platforming Trump is censorship — we should all start listening very closely now or risk making the same mistakes all over again.
How long it is: On-going mini-series, with six 30-minute long episodes (at the time of publication)
4. The Anthill: Expert guide to conspiracy theories
What it’s about and why it’s great: Truly the ultimate guide for online conspiracy theories from a litany of experts and researchers across various areas of academic study, The Anthill‘s 6-part series is your best one-stop-shop. Covering everything from how to identify a legitimate conspiracy versus a baseless conspiracy theory, who believes them and why, their history, how they spread, what risk they pose, and how they impact current events like COVID — this covers all the bases thoroughly, clearly, and responsibly.
How long it is: Six 30-minute episodes
5. Rabbit Hole
What it’s about and why it’s great: [From our Best New Podcasts of 2020 roundup] “I know, I know. The Gray Lady hasn’t been seen as a publication that’s especially hip to internet culture. But with Rabbit Hole, host Kevin Roose, a New York Times reporter, paints an impressively comprehensive, complex, clear, and compelling portrait of how the internet fuels this era of political and cultural chaos. From the alt-right’s rise from the ashes of gamergate, to Pewdiepie finally going on record about his endless controversies, and even interviews with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on the platform’s role in radicalizing users, Roose brings all the big guns you’d expect from the Times into the digital age.” Importantly, it highlights the importance of YouTube in the misinformation infrastructure, which a lot of post-Capitol coverage of Big Tech underestimates.
How long it is: Seven 30-minute long episodes
6. Recode Media: “What the Capitol Riot tells us about online power.”
What it’s about and why it’s great: A good follow up to the above podcast series, Kevin Roose joins host Peter Kafka to debrief on what Big Tech’s response to the Capitol Riot means, what impact it can have, and how we reckon with the frightening power of Silicon Valley over important issues around misinformation, disinformation, and censorship.
7. Eerie Theories: “The psychology behind conspiracy”
What it’s about and why it’s great: One of the biggest questions raised by QAnon and all the disinformation conspiracy theories that led to the Capitol attack is: How do people believe this? While the experts and researchers featured in this podcast episode have an important role in answering that question, there’s no way to get at the heart of the psychology fueling conspiracy theories without talking to the people who believe them. This episode does a fantastic job of interviewing folks who either currently or previously believed in conspiracy theories in a responsible yet still non-judgmental way.
8. America, Interrupted: “Why coronavirus misinformation is so hard to fight”
What it’s about and why it’s great: Featuring interviews with two Snopes fact-checkers, this podcast focuses on the harrowing experiences of a scrappy team truly on the frontlines of battling COVID-19 disinformation online. Going beyond explaining the problem, this America, Interrupted episode doesn’t just cover how it spreads or what you can do to stop it. This is about the necessary discomfort of being the person who must make the impossible call on what is fact and what is not about a new disease even the experts don’t have a lot of certainties about yet. Since it aired in May 2020, though, the scientific community has learned a lot more about COVID. Still, this is a helpful discussion on the humility we all should bring to conversations about misinformation online.
9. How To with Charles Duhigg: “How to rescue someone from a conspiracy theory”
What it’s about and why it’s great: Sometimes, guides for how to help loved ones get out of QAnon or other internet conspiracy rabbit holes can feel empty, repetitive, and impractical. But Slate’s How To with Charles Duhigg knocks it out of the park by going deeper by offering more specific advice than general tips like “be supportive” or “don’t mock them.” This episode provides tips for responding to someone who believes general misinformation as well as more cult-ish conspiracies like QAnon. By interviewing both an expert and also someone who’s losing a loved one to internet conspiracy theories, this episode shows how you can actually put theory into practice.
10. Consider This: “Their family members are QAnon followers”
What it’s about and why it’s great: QAnon isn’t just devastating our democracy or people vulnerable to the conspiracy. It’s leading a lot of loved ones to experience grief for family members who are still alive but ostensibly dead to them. Interviews with those folks bring the human cost of QAnon into sharp relief.
11. What Next: “Making a vaccine go viral”
What it’s about and why it’s great: The challenge social media poses to the vaccine rollout can’t be overstated. At the same time, there might be ways we could hone online platforms as a force for good in spreading vaccine trust. We recommend a lot of Mary Harris’ work on this daily news podcast, especially the recent episodes on Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Green, how the media failed in covering Trump, and extremism’s role in Capitol Riots. For more on this specific topic, though, check out Recode‘s episode on whether social media is ready for the vaccine.
12. You’re Wrong About: Multiple episodes
What it’s about and why it’s great: The perfect podcast for clarity at a time when both the public and the media are getting so many things wrong, You’re Wrong About is like a public service, thoroughly debunking a lot of myths from modern history. In this episode above, hosts Michael Hobbs and Sarah Marshall are joined by Eric Michael Garcia to tackle the origins, evolution, and the micro and macro toll of the anti-vaccine movement. Aside from his thorough journalistic expertise on the topic, Garcia’s personal experiences as someone on the autism spectrum add a vital perspective that too often gets left out of discussions around this particular conspiracy theory and its consequences.
What it’s about and why it’s great: Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Why are boomers… like this?” Well, Hobbes is here to be your “Trumpism epidemiologist,” contact tracing how your parents start spouting online misinformation without ever even needing to be on any social media platforms.
What it’s about and why it’s great: Understanding the difference between baseless conspiracy theories and the legitimate conspiracies that really happened is crucial to the battle against misinformation. In this two-part dive into the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the hosts layout all the grueling facts of this medical experiment that claimed to treat Black male Syphilis patients while in fact using them like lab rats, all resulting in untold harm and deaths. Understanding the history of medical racism is essential to understanding the rational reasons why certain minority groups are more prone to believe in conspiratorial abuses of power and mistrust in institutions. We need to reckon with that history now, if we are to wrestle with the higher rates of vaccine hesitancy among various ethnic and racial groups (which you can learn more about in this episode from the Guardian’s Today in Focus).
How long it is: Two hour-long episodes
What it’s about and why it’s great: Once again acting as a beacon of clarity in our swamp of wrongheaded thinking, Hobbes and Marshall tackle the Wayfair conspiracy theory and how it fed off the larger QAnon #SavetheChildren “movement.” Using cold hard facts, they relate it back to the widespread misinformation about human trafficking, which many well-meaning activists propagate as facts. But the road to QAnon can be paved with good intentions. Be sure to check out their other full episode on human trafficking for more context, too.
13. Hidden Brain: “Fake News: An Origin Story”
What it’s about and why it’s great: It’s important to remember that the problem of “fake news” (or misinformation) is a centuries-old problem — and it’s deeply grounded in the history of American journalism. This Hidden Brain episode from all the way back in 2018 addresses age-old questions at the center of an institution that both propagates and protects against illegitimate information — and how social media has evolved it.
14. QAnon Anonymous
What it’s about and why it’s great: Do you want to keep up-to-date with all the developments of QAnon, without needing to actually wade through the dark underworld of those parts of the internet? QAnon Anonymous is your answer. Giving the most in-depth, wide-sweeping view of every individual facet of this conspiratorial beast, hosts Julian Feeld, Travis View, and Jake Rockatansky also balance out the harsh coverage with a mixture of humor and empathy.
15. Q Clearance
What it’s about: A more in-depth look into the source or force behind Q than that one Reply All episode, this investigative limited series dives into every possible avenue for who Q could possibly be. Aside from being fascinating, it’s an essential resource for debunking many of the popular theories that don’t hold up water under scrutiny. Host Jake Hanrahan can honestly be a bit smarmy at times but — as a journalist known for reporting on militias — he brings a level-headed expertise that bucks the tendency to sensationalize Qanon.
How long it is: Eight 30-minute episodes
16. All Things Considered: “Why QAnon Survives after Trump”
What it’s about and why it’s great: If you don’t have time to listen to the two in-depth podcasts above, this quick NPR episode will get you caught up on what happens to QAnon now that its god-king is out of office.
17. Conspirituality
What it’s about: Liberals, before you start reassuring yourself that misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories are a right-wing problem, take a long look in the mirror. The Conspirituality podcast is described as a “weekly study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism.” New Age-y folks have more than enough blood on their hands from profiting off monetized disinformation. Everyone is susceptible to these cultish tactics and cognitive dissonances, and couching disinformation in the language of spirituality can be especially predatory and effective. So each episode starts with a segment called the “Conspirituality Ticker,” where illuminating hosts Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker keep listeners up to date on known bad actors or problems circling the wellness and counterculture spaces. From there, they focus on a specific influencer or phenomenon, with a particular eye toward holistic COVID-19 misinformation and mommy blogger child trafficking moral panics.
18. Fresh Air: “Without their ‘Messiah,’ QAnon believers confront a post-Trump world”
What it’s about and why it’s great: While this doesn’t go in-depth on any of the intricacies of QAnon, this episode from an NPR classic is a great primer to send to friends and family who just need a crash course to get caught up.
19. Behind the Bastards: Alex Jones series
What it’s about and why it’s great: Although Alex Jones recently disavowed QAnon after the Capitol Riots (likely for self-serving reasons, to be clear), it’s no exaggeration to call him a father of viral conspiracy theory. This thorough three-part series tracks Jones as not only a true entrepreneur of the disinformation ecosystem, but also as one of the forces increasingly anchored in conservative media and politics that yanked the whole Republican party into these kinds of ludicrous disinformation campaigns.
How long it is: Three 1.5-hour long episodes
20. The Frontline Dispatch
What it’s about and why it’s great: If you don’t have time for a three-part series to understand the throughline between Alex Jones and the conspiracy theories now embedded into American politics, this is a good and more concise 30-minute primer.
21. The New Yorker Radio Hour: “QAnon is an alternate reality”
What it’s about: Just when you thought you’d heard every possible angle for analyzing the QAnon phenomenon, The New Yorker Radio Hour presents a completely different and fascinating perspective. What if we should be thinking about the power of this conspiracy theory as a game — as addicting, engaging, and designed for fun as the latest Call of Duty. Alternate-reality games aren’t video games, but they do use a lot of the same narrative tactics to compel players to suspend disbelief and hunt for hidden messages and secret ploys through crowd-sourced community sleuthing. Reed Berkowitz, a designer of such games, reveals all the undeniable commonalities between them to help explain one more piece of the puzzle behind Q’s power.
23. Raw Data: a few episodes and mini-series
What it’s about: Like a lot of Raw Data, a podcast colaboration between Stanford and PRX, it’s a shock to realize this came out years ago. But their 2018 episode on whether or not democracy can survive the digital age is as prescient and relevant as ever. While it looks beyond just the threat of misinformation, it captures all the critical questions we’re asking again now — with a foreboding prediction for a future that has yet to pass.
What it’s about: Not much of the recent analysis around disinformation and fake news frames it as a dangerously effective tool for propaganda the likes of which we’ve never seen before. But in this (once again older) episode from a Raw Data series makes a very compelling case for why we should. From BuzzFeed’s Craig Silverman (known for popularizing “fake news” as a term in an explosive investigative article) to Stanford Professor Jennifer Pan (who studied online censorship in China), it looks at how these virtual disinformation armies are formed and what we can learn about the governments who exploit online information ecosystems.
What it’s about: This three-part series might seem out of date, as it focuses on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 elections. But it’s more than worth listening to ensure we haven’t forgotten this recent history, and how quickly we failed to remember the lessons it should’ve taught us about the dangers of how authoritarian governments weaponize disinformation campaigns on social media. This second episode in the series is a particularly chilling look at how Russia and other regimes use it to create an environment where citizens feel like they can’t trust reality. It’s hard not to see the glaring parallels with what America just went through in the 2020 election.
How long it is: Three 20-minute episodes