Jesselyn Cook
@JessReports
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journalist, lecturer & author of THE QUIET DAMAGE • priors: investigations @nbcnews , news & features @huffpost • cover art by my grandpa
Joined August 2011
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This is such an incredible honor — thank you
@niemanfdn
&
@columbiajourn
!!
I can't wait to share this book with you all 🙂
Congrats to 2023 Lukas Work-in-Progress Award winner Jesselyn Cook! Photo credit: Kyle Gager
@CrownPublishing
#LukasPrizes
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Ron Watkins pulls the plug. This will be absolutely crushing to QAnon believers:
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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.”
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A bunch of the biggest meme accounts on Instagram just shared posts that claim to be sponsored by
@MikeBloomberg
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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.
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A group of QAnon protesters who declined my request for an interview are now chanting, “WHERE IS THE MEDIA?!”
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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.”
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A frustrating thing I (still!) often hear is that QAnon is just a fringe movement impacting a tiny minority of people, and that it will go away if we ignore it. Here's a look at my inbox today:
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Bloomberg reportedly approached
@FATJEW
, who has 11M followers, but he refused:
“I grew up in New York City so I can tell you firsthand, Bloomberg is a colossal shitbag. From the subjugation of minorities through stop and frisk policies to his hardline anti-marijuana stance...”
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I can only imagine how many sex workers are feeling blindsided and terrified for their incomes right now. This is a slap in the face to those who made OnlyFans what it is today.
SCOOP: OnlyFans will prohibit users from posting any sexually explicit conduct, citing mounting pressure from banking partners and payment providers
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Looks like a frustrated 8kun moderator just nuked the /qresearch/ boards and posted a message trolling Jim Watkins:
"Fuck you, Jim ... I am just performing euthanasia to something I once loved very very much"
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I asked nearly a dozen employees at legitimate anti-trafficking organizations about QAnon's "Save Our Children" campaign, and its impact on their work.
Here's what they told me:
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This is false — the man who told
@IngrahamAngle
that he'd been prescribing hydroxychloroquine to patients at Lenox Hill Hospital doesn't even work there.
Fox issued a correction. Why is this viral tweet still up?
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The replies to James O’Keefe’s CNN “bombshell” are incredible
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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.
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Just got back from maternity leave to find out that I’m among those being laid off from NBC News.
It was a very short run, but I’m grateful for the time I had here. 1/4
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Vox journalist
@gaywonk
has experienced "mind melting" levels of homophobic vitriol on YouTube, a platform that claims to have no tolerance for cyberbullying and hateful content.
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On Facebook-owned Instagram, several of the top-ranked search results for “covid vaccine” beneath the CDC notice are anti-vax accounts.
This one has just 48 followers — and almost exclusively pushes conspiracy theories — but Instagram has placed it near the top of the list.
We're running the largest worldwide campaign to promote authoritative information about COVID-19 vaccines.
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I'm writing a book about the human toll of QAnon and adjacent conspiracy theories: the magnitude of untold trauma they're causing, the psychology behind them, and the cost of recovery.
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Instagram is still literally *recommending* QAnon content.
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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?"
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Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook "does not allow" hate groups. I disagree.
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Been thinking a lot lately about this incredible
@propublica
investigation. It tells the story of a white cop who chose not to shoot a black man — and was fired because of it:
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Cops in online message boards are grappling with how a group that usually proclaims “Blue Lives Matter” could turn its wrath on them.
Instead of facing the grim implications of Trump supporters’ siege, many officers are blaming antifa. w/
@nickrobinsearly
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QAnon protesters now marching down Hollywood Blvd chanting “Defund Hollywood” and “Save Our Children.”
The far-right conspiracy movement has gained massive ground during the pandemic:
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If I’ve been slow to respond to you it’s because I’ve had an unexpected visitor. This guy showed up 2.5 months early at 2lbs 11oz. It’s been a very tough start but he’s doing better every day!
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I’m going to take a little time to wrap up my book, which was delayed due to my baby’s health issues. (He was born extremely prematurely while I was up north, keeping us in a Canadian NICU for months, but he’s home and doing great now.) 2/4
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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
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“Yes I can be tough, and yes I can push people,” Sen.
@amyklobuchar
said following a
@HuffPost
report that she has mistreated her staff for years. "I have high expectations for the people that work for me, but I have high expectations for this country.”
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This kid pretended to be a “Mother Against Vaccines” on Instagram, spent one month reposting crazy anti-vax memes and watched his page blow up, then came out as pro-vax and dipped.
“I could make the most outlandish & factually incorrect post possible and people would eat it up”
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Growing so-called “save our children” rally at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. QAnon signs everywhere.
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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.”
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Tonight, after the third mass shooting by alleged 8chan radicals in five months,
@Cloudflare
is terminating service for the extremist website.
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Today's protests hint at just how big QAnon has grown—and the threat it poses ahead of the election—especially following praise from Trump.
They also show how QAnon co-opted the anti-child trafficking movement. Here's a great explainer from
@eddiekimx
:
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NEW: Facebook says this post from The Federalist — which suggests people deliberately contract COVID-19 — *does not* violate its policies.
The platform bans coronavirus-related misinformation “that could contribute to imminent physical harm.” 🤔
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A couple of the *many* wild nuggets:
-A kid who learned—to his dad's delight—he'd delivered pizza to a suspect in the plot to kidnap
@GovWhitmer
-A Covid-truther mom who attended her own mom's funeral (she died of Covid) in a fishnet mask as a statement
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QAnon influencer claims the protesters are actually Antifa in disguise lol
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Behind the scenes of QAnon's stunning rise, countless shattered families are fighting to pull their loved ones back to reality. It's particularly painful for Q-believers' kids, who sometimes feel forgotten amid the media craze.
Here are their stories:
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The response to this piece has been overwhelming and heartbreaking. QAnon has so done much damage to so many families.
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A look inside QAnon's virtual inauguration watch parties, which went horribly wrong:
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"Certainly misogyny played a role,"
@HillaryClinton
says of her election defeat. "That just has to be admitted."
#WITW
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Kristen, a QAnon protester who says she’s an L.A.-based therapist and Christian, believes the COVID-19 pandemic is a distraction from child trafficking. Hardly any mask wearers here today.
For more context on QAnon:
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Just a few of his comments that didn't make it into the piece. There were a lot to choose from.
@AndyBCampbell
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In recent months, Instagram has been purging
@Amouranth
's content and threatening to delete her account. Multiple bathing suit photos have been flagged as 'nudity/porn' and removed.
"It didn't make sense," she said.
Then came the demands for money.
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QAnon protesters are carrying signs about pizzagate, adrenochrome & frazzledrip in Hollywood while chanting, “our children are not for sale”
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Easily hundreds of people here. Despite claims that this protest is all about kids — and has nothing to do with Q — marchers are now chanting the QAnon slogan, “Where We Go One, We Go All”
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Many antivax conspiracy theories have roots in QAnon. As wild as they are, the fear behind them is real.
“He thinks I’m murdering our kids,” said a mom who got her teens vaccinated behind her husband’s back. “I don’t know how he makes it through the day.”
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It’s not an entirely new approach for the Bloomberg campaign. Reminder that this tweet still exists:
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My final story for
@NBCNews
: Men on Pinterest are creating sex-themed image boards of little girls. The platform makes it easy.
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Millions fell prey to the "infodemic" of Covid conspiracy theories. Some people told me they did their best to tolerate their spouses’ delusions—until it came to the vaccines, when those views suddenly threatened their wellbeing or that of their children.
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This is
@OnlyFans
' first-ever tweet mentioning sex workers or acknowledging their presence on its platform.
Dear Sex Workers,
The OnlyFans community would not be what it is today without you.
The policy change was necessary to secure banking and payment services to support you.
We are working around the clock to come up with solutions.
#SexWorkIsWork
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After a brief suspension, the troll returned to
@Twitter
and continued doxxing Christine Blasey Ford. Her family has gone into hiding.
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Actually, Facebook-owned Instagram is (still!) *promoting* anti-vax content.
These two accounts only have a couple hundred followers each, yet they’re ranked among the top search results for “vaccines.”
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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.
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To wrap things up, the QAnon crowd just gathered on Sunset Blvd across from an In-N-Out Burger to sing “Amazing Grace,” apparently to honor all the world’s trafficked children..
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I wrote about the scammer sites that rip stories from news outlets, run them thru an automated synonym generator, then repost without credit for easy clicks.
The results are often very bizarre:
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In response to our article about his admitted pedophilia and rape, Nathan Larson is being celebrated on incel networks
@AndyBCampbell
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The COVID-19 vaccines have become a symbol of America’s culture wars. Hyper-partisan antivax disinformation isn't just endangering countless lives—it's dividing families and even driving couples to divorce.
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Memers are already using the DM format to troll
@MikeBloomberg
. (The “parkour” one is also—thankfully—parody.)
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Trump is paying Facebook big money to spread demonstrably fake news to millions of people. It's helping him bring in a flood of "impeachment defense" donations — and Facebook is fine with it.
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Six women bravely told me what it's like to discover that you've been deepfaked into porn:
"These things are so horribly believable," one said. “It’s grotesque to know it lives out there and there’s nothing I can do.”
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So
@WashTimes
quietly changed the headline of its false & viral story (with no correction) after XRVision, the facial recognition firm, said it had actually identified neo-nazis — not antifa — storming the Capitol.
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The anti-vaxxers have gone full QAnon
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If you know of any coming opportunities in enterprise/investigative reporting or feature writing, please let me know at jesselyn
@protonmail
.com. And keep an eye out for my book! More info below, pub date tbd.
Thank you. 4/4
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Here's a fun email I received about an article I wrote with my wonderful male colleague
@ryanjreilly
— who, despite having the lead byline on the piece, received no such email! Wonder why.
Anyway read our story:
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Here are the top search results for “vaccines” on Facebook vs. Facebook-owned Instagram. Crazy.
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The extreme lengths young women are taking to look flawless are indicative of a mental health crisis—one fueled in no small part by Facetune.
"When I go back to my un-Facetuned photos I feel bad, I feel shame... No one can know I actually look like that.”
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"With a man, the more successful he is, the more likeable he becomes," says
@HillaryClinton
. "With a woman, it's the exact opposite."
#WITW
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Thinking today of
@donie
's important interview with a former QAnon believer, who stressed that helping people out of the Q rabbit hole requires empathy rather than ridicule.
"Allow them to keep their dignity. Otherwise, what's their incentive?"
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Here's
@SebastianMurdoc
's story on the protests today, with important context about QAnon's methods & motivations:
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More signs from today’s QAnon rally, where hundreds of protesters marched down the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 93° heat chanting things like “kill all pedophiles”
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Debunking viral disinfo, mining through unhinged tips and warding off mob harassment is now part of the job — taking time and resources away from helping kids in need.
"It’s exhausting work. It’s traumatic work ... this just makes it all so much harder."
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Six young women Facetuned a photo of me, to showcase their personal perceptions of "perfect" on the same face/body. Here are the results:
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In case you were wondering how pro-police media is covering the Capitol siege...
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“I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh well, at least [QAnon] is raising awareness" about child sex trafficking, said survivor and advocate
@imrebeccabender
.
"But you know, we don’t go telling everyone cancer is contagious in the name of awareness.”
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Pro-Trump caravans across the country have been coordinated by “MAGA Drag The Interstate,” a self-described “grassroots assemblage of patriots.”
Nearly 20 organizers, including the founder, are open QAnon supporters.
w/
@jessicaschulb
&
@nickrobinsearly
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Despite repeated promises to prioritize children's safety, YouTube is still actively catering to pedophiles. Our latest:
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Last summer, I wrote about a network of teen Instagram memers who pumped out rightwing disinfo & scored ad deals from obscure MAGA brands ().
Little did they know, members of Trump's inner circle would soon come knocking. My latest:
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Two weeks ago,
@ryanjreilly
and I identified Robert Scott Palmer as the star-spangled Capitol insurrectionist who attacked cops with a fire extinguisher. Online sleuths including
@CountryOvParty
had been tracking him for weeks.
Today, Palmer was arrested.
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Pizza, mostly. Thanks for reading, but you missed the point. Here's the link & context:
ps
@twitter
, still nothing?
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2022 was weird for me professionally (and otherwise). I started the year on book leave from HuffPost, went back to work for a couple months, then moved to NBC, only to end up going on an unexpectedly early mat leave weeks later until the end of the year. 3/4
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“We don’t let a little snow stop us.”
Sen.
@amyklobuchar
announces her 2020 presidential run
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Facebook repeatedly declined to ban a group called “If she puts you in the friend zone, you put her in the RAPE zone!”
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Smaller outlets are writing this up, citing Ingraham’s tweet. This is how misinfo spreads!
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Facetune is more popular than you think. It's been downloaded 160+ million times — with up to 1.5 million photos exported daily — and surged in use over the pandemic.
As one woman put it: “At this point it’s almost like, who *doesn’t* use Facetune?”
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I’m back from my book leave with a story about a wild, multimillion-dollar Google ads scheme promoting completely made-up government handouts to tens of millions of Americans.
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Facetune execs present the app as a tool to subtly enhance your natural beauty and boost your confidence.
But its features invite far more granular editing. (How many of us have ever felt the need to tilt the angle of our eye sockets by a few degrees?)
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Fun fact about Jim Watkins: he once threatened to sue us in a bizarre handwritten letter complaining about my reporting on 8chan & QAnon
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