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On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss why a bunch of the big tech platforms—Facebook, YouTube, Apple—are suddenly banning the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media empire Infowars. They also talk about the latest Wells Fargo foreclosure scandal where a computer glitch led to hundreds of wrongful foreclosures. The hosts are then joined by William Sommer, tech reporter with the Daily Beast who follows QAnon and other right-wing conspiracy theories closely. He’ll help us understand how this fringe thinking tumbled into mainstream attention.
Stories discussed on the show:
- Slate: Alex Jones Gets to Declare a Real Info War Now
- Slate: Facebook and Apple Moved the Goal Posts to Ban Alex Jones
- Slate: It’s Not a Crazy Idea for Elon Musk to Take Tesla Private
- Daily Beast: What Is QAnon? The Craziest Theory of the Trump Era, Explained
Don’t Close My Tabs:
- New York Times: Phone Calls From New York City Jails Will Soon Be Free
- New York Times: Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change
Podcast production by Laura Flynn.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
