Melissa Ryan

I help people, policymakers, and institutions combat online toxicity and extremism.

Public Key

npub1gy0y2gnkp9czq926rur4arx7yv2ms3z96h7rngchenk2zsf4zg4q3ls2dc

NIP-05 Address

melissaryan_at_me.dm@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyz8j9yfmqjupqz4dp7p673n0zx9dcg3zatlpe5vtuem9pgy63y2supwyed

Author Public Key

npub1gy0y2gnkp9czq926rur4arx7yv2ms3z96h7rngchenk2zsf4zg4q3ls2dc

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-03-22 21:04:06

I just finished putting together the next Ctrl Alt-Right Delete, and it's so good! I asked some of my favorite experts and practitioners for advice on how to respond to disinfo and online toxicity, and they delivered. Still time to subscribe if you're not already on the list! https://www.altrightdelete.news/

2024-03-10 22:12:46

The COVID-19 pandemic took a lot from us. Donald Trump and his MAGA coalition drove the wedge and took so much more. Let's talk about what we've lost since the "last normal week of our lives." https://www.altrightdelete.news/p/the-last-normal-week

2024-02-22 21:24:44

Exploiting your wife's abortion story while running for Senate as a Republican should be a new low for these folks. But of course it isn't. And I suspect we'll see other GOP candidates attempt similar deception on the campaign trail. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/sam-amy-brown-abortion-nevada-gop-republican-senate-race-rcna136826

2024-02-22 17:59:00

- reply

You've probably seen Oliver's segment by now but just in case you haven't, it's worth your time to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-VJrdHMug

2024-02-22 17:57:13

Last month, I offered some rare free advice to Democratic outside groups: Treat the current SCOTUS majority like political opponents and run attack ads against them. No takers in politics so far but John Oliver is clearly on the same page.
https://www.altrightdelete.news/p/scotus-six

2024-02-18 23:18:37

New from me: Elected officials in Michigan hold one of their colleagues accountable for amplifying a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory. More of this please. https://open.substack.com/pub/ctrlaltrightdelete/p/actions-have-consequences?r=bin0&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

2024-02-04 23:06:20

This week I wrote about Elmo, Taylor, and MAGA'S weird response to both. https://open.substack.com/pub/ctrlaltrightdelete/p/2024-taylors-version?r=bin0&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

2024-02-01 16:06:14

It's wild to me how open Republican electeds are about what their priorities are. They don't even consider that voters might pay attention before September. Despite all the evidence to the contrary. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-senator-doesnt-want-pass-tax-bill-make-biden-look-good-rcna136649

2024-01-30 16:48:07

It was a brilliant move for George Soros to buy Taylor Swift's masters and demand she date Travix Kelce, rig the Super Bowl, and mastermind a Joe Biden win in order to get them back. Amazing how Swift is powerful enough to do all these things but not powerful enough to buy back her catalog.

2024-01-29 22:26:28

This is even more fun than I originally thought. Is there anything Taylor Swift can't do?
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taylor-swift-targeted-conspiracies-chiefs-super-bowl-1234955940/

2024-01-04 00:40:28

Claudine Gay pens an essay about her resignation. Everyone should read and absorb this paragraph. Because it encapsulates everything that the next year is going to be. From the election to culture, education, culture, you name it. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/opinion/claudine-gay-harvard-president.html
https://media.me.dm/media_attachments/files/111/694/891/982/079/722/original/81de3c5aa894d077.png

2023-11-23 01:34:06

This is the problem all right-wing grifters face. No matter where you start, you have to continually become more and more extreme to hold MAGA's attention. Eventually, you end up at QAnon.
https://media.me.dm/media_attachments/files/111/457/287/797/122/849/original/1f5a6256201d7df2.png

2023-11-19 23:08:42

As Donald Trump posts another message intended to incite violence on TruthSocial, this week's newsletter examines how Trump and the MAGA coalition incite violence and how a second Trump Administration would exploit the government to wield violence against all of us. https://www.altrightdelete.news/p/vermin-and-violence?r=bin0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

2023-11-15 17:15:56

Meta will let political campaigns run ads claiming the 2020 election was rigged on Facebook and Instagram. Let's be honest about why. Meta expects Trump and GOP Super PACs to have huge digital ad budgets, and the company wants that $$$. https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-allows-ads-claiming-rigged-2020-election-on-facebook-instagram-309b678d?mod=Threads

2023-10-20 16:13:25

As self-owns go, Jim Jordan's run for Speaker has to be in the top ten.

2023-10-03 22:18:00

Crazy idea for America. It's gonna sound wild and out of the box, but that's just the kind of visionary thinker I am.
What if we just elected more representatives who wanted to serve their country, make people's lives better, and actually govern? Imagine what that could be like?

2023-10-03 20:56:03

So weird that the party whose entire rhetoric for 30+ years was all about starving and choking and breaking the Federal Government is just sitting in Congress breaking the Federal Government.

2023-09-10 16:45:16

The rot is just sitting there. In plain sight. Ginni and Clarence Thomas didn't even bother to cover their tracks all that much. And had SCOTUS not taken away half the country's right to autonomy, reporters might have never started digging. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/ginni-thomas-leonard-leo-citizens-united-00108082

2023-08-29 17:25:47

The problem with this is that anyone, both credible and qualified to do this work isn't going to work for Elon Musk. Why would anyone voluntarily sign up to become the next Yoel Roth? https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/29/tech/x-twitter-2024-election-ads/index.html

2023-08-01 13:31:42

I’m thrilled to share that I have been selected to participate in this year’s Leaders USA program at the Obama Foundation. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m excited to apply everything I learn in my own work. #ObamaLeaders https://www.obama.org/programs/leaders

2023-07-02 15:35:33

Oh look, the same gatekeepers who tried to convince us last year that voters wouldn't care about Dobbs or rights being stripped away are at it again.
https://media.me.dm/media_attachments/files/110/645/223/739/827/546/original/834ca910d520c5fe.png

2023-06-08 23:36:26

So we're doing this.
https://media.me.dm/media_attachments/files/110/511/219/275/568/236/original/88cf4a009cad08e7.png

2023-06-06 17:43:36

Targeted harassment disguised as the people's business. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/06/disinformation-researchers-congress-jim-jordan/

2023-06-04 23:44:41

New from me: If the concern about AI and propaganda feels familiar that's because we've heard it all before. (Piece includes some concerns I do have about AI.) https://medium.com/ctrlaltrightdelete/ai-is-the-new-deepfake-4cd60bdd50ee

2023-06-04 02:02:38

Two universal truths about the Right:
-It's always projection
-It's always a grift.
The Duggar doc reminded me of this initially but it applies to basically every political bees story right now. Because it applies always.

2023-05-30 19:43:56

I had a wonderful conversation with @DoBigThings CEO (and longtime friend) Henri Makembe about my work. Check it out! https://dobigthings.today/combatting-online-toxicity/

2023-05-24 16:59:20

Matt Walsh out here giving the game away. I do appreciate how these assholes are more than happy to say the quiet part out loud, unprompted.
Corporate America should be aware that Walsh and his ilk are a small minority. They have a lot less buying power than they claim.

2023-05-23 20:09:09

The entire GOP presidential primary is gonna be one big shitpost. Most of it won't make any sense to Americans who aren't extremely online. Candidates either don't care what voters think, or they hope voters will tune out the idiocy until the general. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-presidential-bid-campaign-elon-musk-rcna85288

2023-05-21 14:51:03

There's another word for Trump's "vision." Authoritarianism. Media outlets need to get comfortable using it when covering Trump and the GOP. https://www.axios.com/2023/05/21/trump-2025-vision

2023-04-25 21:47:24

If you're following all the Fox News/Murdoch drama in the US, don't sleep on what's happening in the UK. It's easy for Americans to dismiss news about the Royal Family as celebrity gossip, but the monarch is a head of state, so it's ultimately a story about media and government. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/25/was-there-a-secret-deal-between-royal-family-and-murdochs-media-empire

2023-04-25 14:00:55

I was on NPR's morning edition talking about how Tucker Carlson used his show to mainstream hate and conspiracies. https://wamu.org/story/23/04/25/how-tucker-carlson-took-fringe-conspiracy-theories-to-a-mass-audience/

2023-04-02 22:10:30

New from me: "Donald Trump and his supporters fervently believe they should have the right to do whatever they like and harm whomever they please without consequence. It doesn’t matter to them if Trump committed a crime or he didn’t" https://medium.com/ctrlaltrightdelete/trump-indicted-3835984aee25

2023-03-18 17:08:11

Less than 24 hours after YouTube allowed Trump back on the platform he called on his base, who’ve already attempted one coup, to "take our nation back."
Starting to wonder if the platforms want another coup...