My book, THE QUIET DAMAGE, is out next week. (Great timing, I know 🫠)

I wanted to understand why so many Americans were vanishing down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. So I spent 3 years talking to believers & their loved ones all over the country from different walks of life.🧵 From my previous reporting, I’d been blown away by messages from hundreds of readers saying their parents/siblings/friends/kids/etc had seemingly lost their minds.

Polls show many *millions* now believe key QAnon claims, like that the US is run by “Satan-worshiping pedophiles.”

https://twitter.com/jessreports/status/1359872350834073605

My final story for @NBCNews: Men on Pinterest are creating sex-themed image boards of little girls. The platform makes it easy. nbcnews.com/tech/internet/… Grown men on Pinterest are saving individually innocuous photos from underage girls' profiles—by the dozens, hundreds and even thousands—into public collections with titles like “Sexy little girls,” “delicious,” “guilty pleasures,” “young girls,” “wish list” and worse.

New: I spoke to people whose marriages are crumbling under the weight of antivax disinfo. Their stories are gutting—and more common than you think.

"I was sneaking out to get my vaccine and felt like it’d have been better had I been seeing another woman.” huffpost.com/entry/anti-vac… Pressure from loved ones can be a key factor in deterring people from getting vaccinated.

The men and women I wrote about had to choose between risking their health and betraying the trust of their spouses, who've fallen for far-right conspiracy theories. huffpost.com/entry/anti-vac…

New: I talked to young women across the U.S. who obsessively Facetune their photos. For many, looking "perfect" online has become an addiction.

"If I’m not coming to Kylie Jenner-level of perfection on a photo, literally what is the point of posting it?" huffpost.com/entry/facetune… Droves of women are coming to cosmetic surgeons with selfies that are so heavily Facetuned they'd be anatomically impossible to replicate.

"It’s like, ‘Great, let me crack open your head, take out your teeth and reposition your bones,’” one surgeon said. huffpost.com/entry/facetune…

NEW: I talked to nine children of QAnon believers, who described to me the heartbreaking process of trying to deradicalize your own mom & dad.

"I don't know what to do,” one teen said. “I feel like I've lost my parents.” huffpost.com/entry/children… Trying to pry a parent from QAnon can feel maddening, traumatizing and futile. Some people I spoke to have given up hope.

"My dad has to realize it’s either this or us," said Larry, 22. “This is the man I was supposed to look up to my entire life.” huffpost.com/entry/children…

Growing so-called “save our children” rally at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. QAnon signs everywhere. QAnon protesters are carrying signs about pizzagate, adrenochrome & frazzledrip in Hollywood while chanting, “our children are not for sale”

NEW: Twitter says @MikeBloomberg's deceptively edited debate video would likely be labeled as manipulated media under its new rules, which go into effect next month huffp.st/yZyf2gG

https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1230515129877434368

@MikeBloomberg This is notably different from Twitter's response to the edited Pelosi clip that Trump tweeted just two weeks ago. Twitter declined to say if that video it would be labeled or removed under its forthcoming policy.

“I can’t get into hypotheticals,” a spox told CNBC at the time.

A bunch of the biggest meme accounts on Instagram just shared posts that claim to be sponsored by @MikeBloomberg

A few days ago I noticed Nathan Larson’s campaign page shared an IP address with pedophile sites. Today @AndyBCampbell and I called him — it was worse than we thought. huffingtonpost.com/entry/nathan-l… Just a few of his comments that didn't make it into the piece. There were a lot to choose from. @AndyBCampbell