A Movement to Fight Misinformation... With Misinformation

Birds Aren’t Real, a conspiracy theory with an apparently absurd premise, has become surprisingly popular in the past few years.But its followers were in on the joke: The movement’s aim was to poke fun at misinformation … by creating misinformation.Has it been successful?Guest: Taylor Lorenz, a former technology reporter for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to the coronavirus. If you would like to share their name on the episode, please RECORD A VOICE MEMO and send it to us at [email protected]. You can find more information and specific instructions here.Background reading: Among the outlandish claims of the Birds Aren’t Real movement: Our feathered friends are really U.S. government drones used to spy on Americans.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.