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Remember when the internet was fun? Cat memes. Flash games. "All Your Base Are Belong to Us."

Now it's AI slop, rage bait, troll farms, and foreign influence campaigns studying your uncle's Facebook habits like it's a military operation.

Because… sometimes it is.

In this episode, we talk with Darren Linvill Johnson — international lawyer, Howard University professor, and former Pentagon, White House, and State Department national security official — about how social media became a battlefield for democracy itself.

We get into Russia's long game, the rise of disinformation economies, AI-generated propaganda, influencer manipulation, troll farms, algorithmic warfare, and why America's openness may also be its biggest vulnerability.

We also talk about:
• why authoritarian governments study America's social fractures like a playbook
• how digital psyops exploit race, fear, identity, and outrage
• the terrifying rise of "bots pretending to be people pretending to care"
• why diversity and media literacy may actually be national security tools
• the future of AI-generated influence campaigns
• what ordinary people can realistically do right now

If you've ever wondered why the internet suddenly feels like a casino designed by Machiavelli, this one's for you.

Darin Johnson website:

https://www.darin-johnson.com/

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Timestamps (approx)
• 00:00 Remember when the internet was fun?
• 01:00 Meet Darren Johnson + what "digital coup" actually means
• 04:30 Russia's long-term strategy to divide democracies
• 08:30 The shock of realizing fake accounts felt real
• 11:00 Why social media is now a battlespace
• 16:00 Diversity, democracy, and national security
• 20:00 Why suppressing hard conversations makes democracies weaker
• 27:00 The rise of the digital coup gig economy
• 29:00 AI propaganda, fake humans, and synthetic influence
• 33:00 Why people are shocked by how widespread this has become
• 38:00 "Freedom of speech for who?" — bots, AI, and authenticity
• 44:00 Should the internet require identity verification?
• 47:00 Practical things people can do right now
• 49:00 Where Darren finds hope

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Mentioned Topics / Concepts
• Digital Coup
• Russian disinformation campaigns
• Troll farms and influence operations
• Generative AI propaganda
• Deepfakes and synthetic identities
• Media literacy
• Cognitive warfare
• Psychological operations (PSYOPs)
• EU Digital Services Act
• Arab Spring and anonymous organizing
• Ukraine and Taiwan's anti-disinformation ecosystems

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MAD Warfare™ is hosted by narrative strategist Jocelyn Brady and cognitive neuroscientist Sean Anthony Guillory.
Edited and produced by Amine el Filali.

Visit madwarfare.com for extra giggles.
Send dream guests, weird ideas, wishes, and sponsorship inquiries (yes, again) to madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com.

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