Thread by @abbieasr

As the Wayfair conspiracy goes viral again on TikTok, I want to examine the culture of conspiracy theories on the platform.

Conspiracy theories aren’t just occasional, random videos on TikTok, there is an entire creative economy which supports them.

Thread⬇️

The creator in this case is “tythecrazyguy” who has 3.7 million people who follow him for his “conspiraTEA” content which has racked up nearly 100 million likes.
You’ll notice he has management as well as sponsorships.

Ty turns dangerous and often hateful conspiracy theories like flat earth, hollow earth, Illuminati, satanic sacrifice, etc. into catchy, palatable content for a younger, more progressive audience.

I also want to highlight that Ty isn’t a ring wing account. He’s openly gay, celebrated Biden’s victory, and follows leftist creators. However, he (seemingly unknowingly) takes far right jargon and conspiracies and repackages them for young progressives.

When I say conspiracy theories are popular on TikTok, that’s an understatement. The major hashtags alone have more total views than there are humans on the planet.

Ty is profiting from sponsorships and likely TikTok’s creator fund so he’s financially incentivized to keep digging deeper and deeper, finding more conspiracies, so he can make more content.

Behavior reinforced by the people in management who are also invested in his success.

Ty is just one example of a TikToker who has been rewarded for promoting conspiracy theories and incentivized to continue.

His success isn’t exceptional, it’s a symptom of an economy that rewards clickbait content which attracts attention. Regardless of the harm it causes.

Ugh *right* wing. There’s always one typo.