This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

There are No Girls on the Internet as a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative.

I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.

A pop star accused of being a secret Nazi.

A family restaurant accused of going woke.

Now, at first glance, these may seem like two completely unrelated internet controversies,

but dig a little bit deeper and they share something important in common.

Both controversies were amplified by coordinated bot campaigns that sought to rile up ordinary users and draw them into conversation.

In this episode, we're breaking down two reports on coordinated bot campaigns.

One aimed at Taylor Swift, another aimed at Cracker Barrel, to talk about what

happens when online outrage is manufactured, amplified, and weaponized, as well as what it means

for the authentic human voices trying to be heard against the algorithmic roar.

Because if bots can create the appearance of consensus and generate real backlash or controversy

at scale, how do any of us know when we're reacting to real people, or just reacting exactly the way

somebody wanted us to? This is what Molly Dwyer has spent her career researching. She describes

herself as a kind of professional internet vibe checker, but her real title is Director of Insights

at Peak Metrics. And before the internet was talking about bots manipulating conversations

around Taylor Swift, Marley had been looking into how similar kinds of inauthentic behavior

was driving the discourse around the old-timey country-themed chain restaurant, Cracker Barrel.

Now, I know it may seem wild to think that anybody would care deeply about this,

but Molly says it's yet another instance of how easily the Internet can be manipulated

...