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Americast

Conspiracies: Inside the Rabbit Hole

Americast

BBC

Government, News, Politics

4.33.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Journalists and podcast hosts Jon Ronson and Gabriel Gatehouse join Marianna for a special episode of Americast delving deep down the rabbit hole of conspiracies.

The trio talk about why America is a breeding ground for conspiracies, how to spot them, and what happens if they’re true.

We also look at whether conspiracies and misinformation might affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential election and what role artificial intelligence could play in their spread.

HOST: • Marianna Spring, disinformation and social media correspondent

GUESTS: • Jon Ronson, host of 'Things Fell Apart' • Gabriel Gatehouse, host of 'The Coming Storm'

GET IN TOUCH: • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast

Find out more about our award-winning “undercover voters” here: bbc.in/3lFddSF.

This episode was made by Daniel Wittenberg with Alix Pickles, Natasha Fernandes and Alex Collins. The technical producer was Ben Andrews and the sound designer was David Crackles. The editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:05.1

Sarah, hello. This is a special episode, an episode out of which we have been expunged.

0:10.1

Marianne is going to be here. She's going to be talking to proper experts,

0:13.1

John Ronson and Gabriel Gatehouse, both joining her to talk about conspiracies.

0:17.5

She, of course, is misinformation. She knows all about them,

0:20.4

particularly they're going to discuss the US, of course,

0:23.3

but also how the next election could be influenced.

0:26.5

So that's what's up coming. It's probably just as well, actually.

0:29.9

I might go and twiddle my thumbs and do other things.

0:32.3

You, Sarah, as ever, are busy. Yes, I'm running around a bit this week.

0:37.6

All the talk of Washington has, of course, been about the debt ceiling.

0:40.8

That has been the drama gripping everybody, but it's a drama, which is coming to its finale, I think.

0:47.7

Yeah, we got a question before we go to Marianne and her guest from Joseph,

0:53.2

from Chebsto in South Wales.

0:55.5

Hi, America. What are the debt ceiling talks about and what are the repercussions?

1:02.3

So I think there's two answers to this question.

1:04.7

On the face of it, the debt ceiling conversations were about the fact that there is a borrowing limit

1:11.0

on the US government. It's a bit like your overdraft limit.

1:13.3

You can't go over it without getting special permission.

1:16.0

The US government needs to get permission from Congress to raise that borrowing limit.

1:20.1

If they don't, they run out of money.

1:22.2

And also they wouldn't be able to pay the interest on their debt.

...

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