Invisible Rulers - by Renée DiResta (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An eye-opening look at the small communities of propagandists revolutionizing politics, culture, and society.

"Essential and riveting reading." --Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation

Invisible Rulers is about a profound transformation in power and influence that is altering our politics, our government, and even our relationships with friends and neighbors. Today, online propagandists increasingly shape public opinion and even control our relationship to the truth. Our shared reality has splintered into discrete bespoke realities driven by algorithms, influencers, and curated content. Very little can bridge the divide, making democratic consensus nearly impossible to achieve.

Renée DiResta exposes how these propagandists and their followers undermine the institutions that make society work, from anti-vaccine zealots who flood social media with fringe viewpoints to political influencers who use AI-generated images to manipulate our perception of reality. She also provides readers with a new conception of civics that helps us understand and fight back against these new invisible rulers.

Review Quotes

"Invisible Rulers is an indispensable guide for navigating the complex future of information warfare. DiResta masterfully unveils the unseen forces shaping our perceptions and beliefs, illustrating the profound shift in the dynamics of power and influence. An interesting, if unnerving, must-read for anyone concerned about the future of technology, truth, governance, and societal cohesion in the digital age." --Amy Webb, author of The Big Nine

"Invisible Rulers provides a superb analysis of how social media has fostered a world of 'bespoke realities' in which truth is shaped by online influencers rather than empirical facts, thereby fostering the extreme polarization in which we now find ourselves." --Francis Fukuyama, New York Times bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order

"Anyone trying to create change in the world needs to understand the field they're playing on, and Invisible Rulers will open your eyes to the nature of a game most of us don't even realize we're playing. DiResta provides a roadmap not only for concerned individuals, but also for our institutions, who need to step up. Invisible Rulers is required reading." --Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America

"I am in awe of DiResta's ability to see through the digital haze and identify many of the most important threats coming at the United States and humanity more broadly. As AI supercharges social media and the power of conspiracy theorists, foreign intelligence agencies, and all who would turn lies into reality, we are so fortunate that DiResta shares her hard-won knowledge with us--and her battle scars. Invisible Rulers is essential and riveting reading." --Jonathan Haidt, New York Times bestselling author of The Anxious Generation

"In this compelling and beautifully written book, DiResta sheds fresh light and understanding on the greatest threat to social cohesion. If you care about securing a better future for generations to come, read this book, and work with others to implement DiResta's thoughtful recommendations." --General H. R. McMaster, New York Times bestselling author of Dereliction of Duty

"No analyst of the online world exposes its lies and perversities with greater courage, insight, and devotion to democratic values than DiResta. This gripping and trenchant work shows how the toxic interplay of social media influencers, algorithms, and viral crowds is shredding truth and trust and threatening the future of democracy. Spanning disciplines from history and politics to communications theory and social psychology, DiResta documents the descent of the 'public square' into a 'fantasy industrial complex' and offers a path forward to a more transparent and civil online world." --Larry Diamond, author of Squandered Victory

"No one understands this new world of information warfare, a world where the rumor mill and the propaganda machine work in tandem to distort reality, better than DiResta. She is the go-to person for everyone who wants to understand influence operations, from technologists to government officials. She sees things before others do. And more important, she knows what it takes to fight back." --Bruce Schneier, New York Times bestselling author of Data and Goliath

"Once you have seen what Renee DiResta has seen--how the trainwreck that is now public discourse is so rapidly undermining our politics and society--you can't unsee it." --Tim O'Reilly, author of The Twitter Book

"Who decides what we pay attention to, whom we trust, and how we engage with each other? In Invisible Rulers, a unique and unusual work of observation and scholarship, DiResta provides the answer--and it is not reassuring. Among them are people who know how to game algorithms, people who want to sell advertising, or people who want to alter our politics, foreign authoritarians among them. DiResta shows how domestic trolls and foreign oligarchs now wield influence on a global scale, turning online trends into truth, and shaping our understanding of reality itself." --Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Autocracy, Inc.

"An insightful account of how, over the past two decades, social-media influencers, algorithms, and crowds have hijacked the public debate on consequential topics... DiResta offers a nuanced discussion on the role of free speech, content moderation and education in our fractured media landscape." --Nature

"A fiery debut... a well-informed take on what ails social media, and a vigorous riposte to conservative narratives of persecution by Big Tech." --Publishers Weekly

"A fluid and deeply informed work on social media influencers: their rise, their methods, their targets." --The Bulwark

"Renée DiResta is a superhero protecting reality from insanity. Her work and voice are indispensable. If humanity doesn't ruin its future through idiocy, DiResta will be one of the reasons why." --Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

About the Author

Renée DiResta is an associate research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and a contributing editor at Lawfare. Her work examines rumors and propaganda in the digital age. DiResta's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Yale Review, The Guardian, POLITICO, Slate, and Noema.