It's All Bots, Girl: Chappell Roan and the Fake Outrage Machine with Matthew Lawson (Eating For Free)

In 2026, dead internet theory—the idea that most of the internet is bots and AI-generated content—is more reality than theory.  Matthew Lawson co-hosts Eating For Free—a podcast critiquing American culture and politics through the lens of pop culture—with Paper Magazine editor Joan Summers. In their series "It's All Bots, Girl," they've been reporting on the corporations and politicians (Benjamin Netanyahu, for example) who are engaged in psychological warfare against the rest of us, using bots that pretend like they're real people on the internet. Topics discussed include industry plants, fake fan accounts, and manufactured hate campaigns devised to control discourse and sell you products. And possibly to punish Chappell Roan for being a gay woman who supports Palestine and Epstein survivors. Eating For Free https://eatingforfree.com/ https://www.instagram.com/eatingforfree/ https://x.com/_matthewlawson Eliza McLamb: Fake Fans https://www.wordsfromeliza.com/p/fake-fans Times of Israel: Netanyahu, allies using armies of bots to influence social media discourse – report https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-allies-using-armies-of-bots-to-influence-social-media-discourse-report/ Madiswan on YouTube: Is Zeus Network a CIA Psyop? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-9wU2sRdpY Buzzfeed: In the Chapell Roan controversy, 23% of posts were bots https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/chappell-roan-controversy-bots Zeteo: The Fake 'Invasion' of Spain: What You Need to Know https://zeteo.com/p/the-fake-invasion-of-spain-what-you What did Epstein have to do with 4Chan, and Ghislane have to do with Reddit? https://www.ms.now/opinion/jeffrey-epstein-4chan-chris-poole Support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco