When reporter Elle Reeve is recognized at the airport, it's often by members of the alt-right: the online white-nationalists who organized the violent Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017, and who originated much of today's political rhetoric. How did a bunch of 4chan users feeding Microsoft's Tay chatbot hateful language become such a potent political force?

Elle Reeve joins Endless Thread to discuss her book Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics.

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics. (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Pill-Witnessed-Internet-American/dp/1982198885">Amazon</a>)</li>
 	<li>Charlottesville: Race and Terror (<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror/">Vice</a>)</li>
</ul>
Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson. Our managing producer is Samata Joshi.

Armed and Socialist

Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.