If you spent much time on the internet leading up to the release of Taylor Swift ‘s The Life of a Showgirl , you probably came across a strange theory in the comment section: that Swift is a secret Nazi. According to a new white paper from GUDEA , a small number of bots managed to spread the theory across the internet by baiting human users into arguments. By trying to correct the bots, T-Swift defenders inadvertently reinforced the narrative, leading to a feedback loop in social media algorithms that caused the theory to go ever-more viral.

As Rolling Stone reports, the theory of Nazi identification was tied to such flimsy evidence as a lightning-bolt necklace that maybe-kinda-sorta looks like an SS symbol, or fixating on an out-of-context use of the word “savage” in the son

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