Disinformation researcher Marc Owen Jones knows his way around a rabbit hole. He spends his time investigating fake accounts, exposing disinformation networks, and wading through the murky waters of authoritarian influence campaigns. He creates visualizations of these digital worlds to help his followers understand how many people are involved, how they’re connected, and who the biggest players are. 

In the last week, he’s been in some truly bizarre corners of the internet. He’s unearthed a network of QAnon influencers who believe Trump’s pronunciation of “China” is really a secret message about Ukrainian involvement in the origins of Covid-19. He’s drilled down into a conspiracy theory claiming there are U.S.-run bioweapon labs in Ukraine. He’s exposed fake Twitter accounts, like one purportedly owned by a Brisbane realtor that’s likely been hacked and transformed into a “Crypto QAnon Fascist” account.

In a conversation edited for length and clarity, Owen Jones talks about how exposing disinformation plays into the hands of bad actors — but someone’s got to do it.

You spend your life studying disinformation patterns and going down some pretty bizarre internet wormholes. How did you get into this world?