42 Anita Snow, “Armed Groups Can Monitor Arizona Ballot Drop Boxes, Federal Judge Rules,” PBS NewsHour, October 28, 2022, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/armed-group-can-monitor-arizona-ballot-drop-boxes-federal-judge-rules.
43 Melody Gutierrez, “Anti-vaccine Activists, Mask Opponents Target Public Health Officials—at Their Homes,” Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-18/anti-mask-protesters-target-county-health-officers; Stephanie Lai, “Dozens Protest Outside of Home of L.A. County’s Public Health Director,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-29/dozens-protest-outside-of-la-health-director-barbara-ferrers-echo-park-home.
44 Anna Maria Barry-Jester et al., “Pandemic Backlash Jeopardizes Public Health Powers, Leaders,” KFF Health News, December 15, 2020, https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/pandemic-backlash-jeopardizes-public-health-powers-leaders.
45 Prof. Peter Hotez, MD, PhD (@PeterHotez), “Spotify Has Stopped Even Sort of Trying to Stem Joe Rogan’s Vaccine Misinformation. It’s really true @annamerlan just awful,” Twitter, June 17, 2023, 7:05 a.m., https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1670040001751445504.
46 Peter Hotez, “Vaccine Scientist Speaks Out on Harassment After Joe Rogan Challenged Him,” interview by Erin Burnett posted to YouTube by CNN, June 22, 2023, at 5:49, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGlE4f5P5oI.
47 Joe Rogan (@joerogan), “Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is ‘misinformation’ I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit,” Twitter, June 17, 2023, 3:27 p.m., https://twitter.com/joerogan/status/1670196590928068609.
48 Elon Musk (@elonmusk), “He’s afraid of a public debate, because he knows he’s wrong,” Twitter, June 17, 2023, 4:58 p.m., https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1670219488485154816.
49 Follower counts as of June 18, 2023.
50 Keren Landman, “Joe Rogan Wants a ‘Debate’ on Vaccine Science. Don’t Give It to Him,” Vox, June 22, 2023, vox.com/2023/6/22/23768539/rogan-rfk-hotez-debate-vaccine-deniers-better.
51 Jeremy Littau, “Social Media Has Collapsed Good Debate,” The Atlantic, June 24, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/06/joe-rogan-rfk-jr-interview-debate/674515.
52 Mark Norris, “Vaccine Expert Dr. Peter Hotez Harassed Outside Houston Home After Weekend of Online Attacks,” Texas Public Radio, June 19, 2023, https://www.tpr.org/public-health/2023-06-19/vaccine-expert-dr-peter-hotez-harassed-outside-houston-home-after-weekend-of-online-attacks.
53 For multiple perspectives see Jeremy Littau, “Social Media Has Collapsed Good Debate,” Atlantic, June 24, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/06/joe-rogan-rfk-jr-interview-debate/674515, and Mike Solana, “Debatable Tactics,” Pirate Wires, June 19, 2023, https://www.piratewires.com/p/pirate-wires-rogans-debatable-tactic.
54 Anna Merlan, “Meet the New, Dangerous Fringe of the Anti-vaccination Movement,” Jezebel, June 29, 2015, https://jezebel.com/meet-the-new-dangerous-fringe-of-the-anti-vaccination-171 3438567.
55 This opinion has since become far more visible and even mainstream, with parents advocating for ballot measures to ensure that curriculum choices are restored. Mike Ege, “California Math Wars: San Franciscans Demand Return of 8th Grade Algebra,” San Francisco Standard, November 13, 2023, https://sfstandard.com/2023/11/13/california-math-wars-san-franciscans-demand-8th-grade-algebra.
56 Parker et al., “The Ties That Blind.”
57 Anthony Adragna, Daniella Diaz, and Jennifer Scholtes, “Multiple Members Are Detailing Death Threats and Other Intimidation They’ve Faced for Opposing Jim Jordan’s Speakership Bid,” Politico, October 19, 2023, https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/10/19/congress/speaker-race-threats-house-00122416.
58 Roth would be targeted by a mob himself shortly after, in December 2022, when Elon Musk baselessly made allegations suggesting that he condoned child sexualization online. He wrote about the experience in Yoel Roth, “I Was the Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter. This Is What Could Become of It,” New York Times, November 18, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/opinion/twitter-yoel-roth-elon-musk.html.
59 Renée DiResta et al., “Assessing Inauthentic Networks Commenting on the US Midterms,” Election Integrity Partnership, November 1, 2022, https://www.eipartnership.net/blog/inauthentic-foreign-networks.
60 Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec), profile page, Twitter, November 2, 2022, Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20221102055859/https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec.
61 P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media (Boston: Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 129.
