Please join us for a talk and book signing by Renée DiResta, author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality.
About the book
Anyone who wishes to destroy legitimate political and social power has a new weapon. It is the anarchist's dream, a force so shockingly effective that its destructive power seems limitless. Scientific proof is powerless in front of it; democratic validity is bulldozed by it; leaders are humiliated by it.
What we used to call influence has become something violently toxic. Renée DiResta gives us a powerful original framing to explain how it now shapes public opinion through a virtual rumor mill of niche propagandists. While they position themselves as trustworthy “Davids”, their reach, influence, and economics make them classic Goliaths, invisible rulers who create bespoke realities that control the destinies of millions of people, their work driven by a simple “if you make it trend, you make it true.”
By revealing the machinery and the dynamics of the interplay between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds, DiResta vividly illustrates the way belief in the fundamental legitimacy of institutions that make society work is deliberately undermined. This alternate system for shaping public opinion, unexamined until now, is rewriting the relationship between the people and their government in profoundly disturbing ways.
About the author
Renée DiResta is an Associate Research Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where she investigates the spread of malign narratives across social and media networks. Her work has informed U.S. Congressional inquiries into Russian interference in American elections, uncovered coordinated disinformation campaigns, and shaped global understanding of how hidden actors manipulate perception and power. She is the author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality (2025). Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Wired, and The New York Times.
She will be interviewed by Sean Cotter-Lem, the Program & Community Coordinator at the John Adams Institute. He has previously led conversations focused on threats to democratic societies with among others, Kajsa Ollongren, Ruben Brekelmans and Marietje Schaake.
This event is hosted in cooperation with the John Adams Institute.
