The Amber Heard stuff I already knew about, not the extent of the bots, but the fact that a lot of the narrative coming out about her around the time was manufactured.
What was most surprising to me was the bit about fMRIs and how, if you’re with a person who displays/not-displays empathy about a specific issue, your brain patterns literally, fucking physically, change to mimic them.
It constantly blows my mind just how high humans are on the “social creature” scale in complete contrast to the myths of “individual” and “independent thinkers” and all the neoliberal and conservative bs.
And I’m sure, as the video also points out, this is 100% what is happening with the dominant narrative surround Palestine. Israel and Western propaganda flooding the traditional news and social media with their version of events and their take on these events - who’s focus is on dehumanising Palestinians - is using this same effect to prevent people from gaining empathy for Palestinians.
Like, obviously this is happening and has been happening for numerous causes and conflicts. But, man, the fMRI showing actual physical change in the brain is just…it’s just scary.
iirc Depp used the same bot army consultancy as the UK Conservative party. Expert gaslighters.
I think people dismiss the significance due to the celebrity angle. We have very good evidence that a misinformation campaign had people caping for an abuser and laughing at rape testimony. That's a much harder task than getting them to vote red or blue in an election.