Politics

What’s It Like to Spend Your Life in the Internet’s Craziest Corners? Ask Will Sommer.

He chronicled the last era of internet conspiracy theories. We’re not ready for the next one.

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May 07, 2026 10:00 AM

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, Jason Davis/Getty Images, Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images and Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

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Two weeks ago, when a radicalized schoolteacher rushed through the vestibule of the Washington Hilton and was swiftly neutralized by Secret Service agents, my thoughts quickly turned to the Bulwark’s Will Sommer, one of America’s foremost disinformation…