“What you call in global north paranoia, we in the global south call history and trauma….” @mertcanbayar.bsky.social shared such a deep and thoughtful analysis of conspiracies and their political resonance with me @baykurt.bsky.social this week! Episode: itallhappenedbefore.substack.com

"What the global North calls paranoia, the global South calls history." @mertcanbayar.bsky.social on why conspiracy theories hit differently when your country has been carved up & couped, and how the "deep state" travels from Turkey to the US itallhappenedbefore.substack.com/p/episode-7-...

Episode 7: We've Lived With the Deep State -- A Conversation with Mert Can Bayar

Americans have been talking about the "deep state" like it's a new discovery.

itallhappenedbefore.substack.com

This was a delightful conversation with two amazing people and scholars! It all happened before podcast tells the stories of democracies slowly fading into authoritarian capture and this episode is about conspiracy theories leading the way in TR and in the US in a surprisingly similar way!

Burcu Baykurt@baykurt.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"Deep state" is originally a Turkish concept. So is the experience of living with one for decades. This week @ekoshy.bsky.social & I talk to @mertcanbayar.bsky.social about conspiracy theories and what Turkey's history tells us about Trump's America itallhappenedbefore.substack.com/p/episode-7-...

In case you missed this earlier this week, our team put out a report documenting our approach to "rapid research" during elections, crises, & other breaking news events. It demonstrates a role for university researchers — relying on contextual and methodological expertise — to act as "sensemakers".

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Since 2020, our team has iterated on a model for “rapid research” to help surface, analyze, & resolve rumors about election administration. This work demonstrates an innovative role for researchers to support public sensemaking during rapidly unfolding events. uw.pressbooks.pub/rapidresearc...

Prominence brings influence 👇

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Researchers find that influencers influence. New experimental evidence for old theories around opinion leaders, parasocial relationships, and persuasion, with implications for political messaging in our digitally connected era. www.wired.com/story/the-mo...

I'm proud to be a co-author on this new @cip.uw.edu report with my colleagues @danielletomson.bsky.social, @katestarbird.bsky.social @mertcanbayar.bsky.social and @emmaspiro.bsky.social. Check out Kate's 🧵 ...

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Since 2020, our team has iterated on a model for “rapid research” to help surface, analyze, & resolve rumors about election administration. This work demonstrates an innovative role for researchers to support public sensemaking during rapidly unfolding events. uw.pressbooks.pub/rapidresearc...

How did we do what we did in this type of adversarial setting? How can researchers in universities and think tanks replicate CIP model for tracking and making sense of emerging rumors in a given context? We have good starting points lined up for the ones who are courageous enough to "Sapere Aude."

Kate Starbird@katestarbird.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Since 2020, our team has iterated on a model for “rapid research” to help surface, analyze, & resolve rumors about election administration. This work demonstrates an innovative role for researchers to support public sensemaking during rapidly unfolding events. uw.pressbooks.pub/rapidresearc...

Since 2020, our team has iterated on a model for “rapid research” to help surface, analyze, & resolve rumors about election administration. This work demonstrates an innovative role for researchers to support public sensemaking during rapidly unfolding events. uw.pressbooks.pub/rapidresearc...

Being Sensemakers: A Framework for University-Based Rapid Research of Elections, Crisis Events, and Beyond – Simple Book Publishing

A framework for university-based rapid research of elections, crisis events, and beyond

uw.pressbooks.pub

Updates on the 3I/ATLAS convo on X: • Overall volume has stayed low over the past month. • But… 3I/ATLAS's new anti-tail and Avi Loeb’s new post about it have reignited the alien framing. • Mentions of the tail are up nearly 200% in the last 48 hours. Alien frame is up 28% at the same period.

Read Bayar's recent blog post, "Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online," on the @cip.uw.edu website: www.cip.uw.edu/2025/12/03/3...

Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online

When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

cip.uw.edu

“Our information systems reward the production of mystery and speculation,” @cip.uw.edu postdoctoral scholar @mertcanbayar.bsky.social recently wrote in a blog post about online discourse around the 3I/ATLAS interstellar comet. Read more in @geekwire.com: www.geekwire.com/2025/alien-i...

The buzz over an ‘alien’ interstellar comet shows how way-out speculation goes viral

Is an interstellar comet actually an alien spaceship? A researcher traces how influencers spread such speculation via social media.

geekwire.com

Anyone who loves #Luis #Buñuel might notice a tiny wink to Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie hidden in the piece. See if you spot it.

Mert Can Bayar@mertcanbayar.bsky.social · 10mo ago

3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object we’ve seen. Astronomers see an interesting but natural comet. Online, it quickly became an “alien mothership” with a secret mission. I wrote about how that happened and what it tells us about us and our info systems.

3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object we’ve seen. Astronomers see an interesting but natural comet. Online, it quickly became an “alien mothership” with a secret mission. I wrote about how that happened and what it tells us about us and our info systems.

Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online

When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

cip.uw.edu

While the scientific consensus is that #3I/ATLAS is a natural comet, one scientist's claims that the object shows certain anomalies that could indicate alien origins have ricocheted through the online universe, and these claims may be amplified as the comet passes Earth in mid-December. (3/3)

In the latest from @cip.uw.edu, Mert Can Bayar @mertcanbayar.bsky.social analyzes how knowledge gaps can lead to the spread of speculative theories, such as those shared by a Harvard astrophysicist that the comet known as 3l/ATLAS might be an alien "mothership." (1/3) www.cip.uw.edu/2025/12/03/3...

Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online

When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

cip.uw.edu

Analyzing posts on X, @mertcanbayar.bsky.social found that about 40% of the 3I/ATLAS conversations on on that platform invoked an aliens/ET frame. Bayar builds on the work of scholars including @katestarbird.bsky.social, who has written about how rumors travel within recognizable frames. (2/3)

Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online

When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

cip.uw.edu

UW CIP postdoc @mertcanbayar.bsky.social explains how a high-profile scientist's statements about the 3l/ATLAS comet harnessed uncertainty and attention dynamics, and spawned widespread speculation about an alien visitor, an "alien of the gaps" in human knowledge: www.cip.uw.edu/2025/12/03/3...

Alien of the gaps: How 3I/ATLAS was turned into a spaceship online

When we reach the frontier of current knowledge, we’re tempted to insert a higher power into the space where answers aren’t yet satisfying for all.

cip.uw.edu

What if conspiracy theories were taken to their logical endpoint and put into practice as a form of governance? @mertcanbayar.bsky.social and I explore this question in our new article on the conspiracist theory of power in @cogitatiopag.bsky.social. www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

The Conspiracist Theory of Power | Article | Politics and Governance

Mert Can Bayar, Scott Radnitz

cogitatiopress.com

The open-access article, "The end of trust and safety?: Examining the future of content moderation and upheavals in professional online safety efforts," is available in the Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

The End of Trust and Safety?: Examining the Future of Content Moderation and Upheavals in Professional Online Safety Efforts | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Syst...

dl.acm.org

The CIP researchers, Rachel Moran-Prestridge, @schafer.bsky.social, @mertcanbayar.bsky.social and @katestarbird.bsky.social, also examined current perspectives of content moderation and broader strategies for maintaining safe digital environments.

In a newly published research article in the Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, a team of @cip.uw.edu researchers interviewed trust and safety professionals and explored upheavals within the T&S industry.

Thrilled to be at the CHI conference this week where PhD student @schafer.bsky.social will present our paper — co-authored w/ Rachel Moran (1st author) & @mertcanbayar.bsky.social — titled, "The End of Trust and Safety?" dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

The End of Trust and Safety?: Examining the Future of Content Moderation and Upheavals in Professional Online Safety Efforts | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Syst...

dl.acm.org

This is amazing

myrmepropagandist@futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · last yr.

To prevent deer from being hit by cars Finland has tried using reflective paint. (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/avoid-deer-strikes-finland-painting-deer-antlers-reflective-paint-180949792/) File this under "solutions to modern problems that summon the old gods."

There is a right-wing infrastructure online and it got to a point of relevance for policy making and international politics. Nawfal is part of this. Here, you can also find a few quotes from me about our work on “newsbrokers” and how Nawfal is a prime example of a new class of elites around Musk.

NPR@npr.org · last yr.

The Australian crypto entrepreneur now hosts chats with world leaders. "If [he] is sharing a story, there's a good chance that U.S. policymakers are reading it — and acting on it," said one analyst.

More information about suspensions by @bsky.app. 59 accounts are being censored by Turkish authorities due to reasons of “national security” and “public order.” 13 accounts and one post has been censored by @bsky.app. Such accounts cannot be viewed or accessed from Turkey.

EngelliWeb@engelliweb.com · last yr.

Bluesky sansürüne ilişkin olarak tespit ettiğimiz veriler: • 59 hesap, millî güvenlik ve kamu düzeninin korunması gerekçesiyle çeşitli hakimlikler tarafından erişime engellendi. • 13 hesap ve 1 paylaşım, @moderation-tr.bsky.app tarafından Türkiye'den görünmez kılındı. ifade.org.tr/engelliweb/b...

CfP is out for the upcoming conference I co-organise with @bilgeyabanci.bsky.social & Sonia Alonso Sáenz de Oger in Bilbao this coming October. Those working on radical right movements, conspiracy theories, and societal violence, send an abstract here 👇 agenda.deusto.es/en/conferenc...

Well, that's disappointing. @bsky.app started banning accounts complying with Turkish government demands. Not the safe haven those who migrated from X was seeking, it seems.

Ali Safa Korkut@aliskorkut.com · last yr.

"Bluesky merkeziyetsiz bir platform olduğu için erişime engellenemez, erişim engeli kararlarını da uygulamaz" diyenlere kötü haber: Bluesky, Bluesky hesapları hakkında verilen erişim engeli kararlarını uygulamaya başladı. Üstelik ilgili kararları, hesabı engellenen kullanıcılarla da paylaşmıyor.

“If Bluesky is going to cave to ‘local laws’ in authoritarian regimes and suspend accounts for political reasons, then what’s the point of migrating from X? @bsky.app @support.bsky.team @moderation.bsky.app — you have to know BETTER.

Ali Safa Korkut@aliskorkut.com · last yr.

"Bluesky merkeziyetsiz bir platform olduğu için erişime engellenemez, erişim engeli kararlarını da uygulamaz" diyenlere kötü haber: Bluesky, Bluesky hesapları hakkında verilen erişim engeli kararlarını uygulamaya başladı. Üstelik ilgili kararları, hesabı engellenen kullanıcılarla da paylaşmıyor.

Very important study here! Congrats @mertcanbayar.bsky.social

Mert Can Bayar@mertcanbayar.bsky.social · last yr.

I find that conspiracy theories gain mobilization potential when they evolve into elite-driven narratives and become embedded in a partisan platform. In other words, not all conspiracy theories are created equal—those backed by political elites are far more effective in driving participation.