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Birds Aren’t Real, a conspiracy theory with an apparently absurd premise, has become surprisingly popular in the past few years.
But its followers were in on the joke: The movement’s aim was to poke fun at misinformation … by creating misinformation.
Has it been successful?
On today’s episode
Taylor Lorenz, a former technology reporter for The New York Times.
Background reading
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Among the outlandish claims of the Birds Aren’t Real movement: Our feathered friends are really U.S. government drones used to spy on Americans.
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Taylor Lorenz contributed reporting and Caitlin Love contributed fact-checking.
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