Answered from #2569 - Bill Thompson · The Joe Rogan Experience · 2026-10-21
Bill Thompson told Joe Rogan he has personally traced how bot operations are funded, where they run from and who is behind them, and called it an enormous market worth billions, funded in ways that would surprise people. He credits data leaks and campaign finance rules for exposing some of it. Thompson also says algorithms can show a voter only the 10% of a candidate's views they agree with. Rogan argued that organised campaigns paid for by foreign countries, intelligence agencies or corporations should be illegal, and Thompson suggested posters should have to authenticate.
“It's an enormous market, billions.” Bill Thompson · at 2:42:43 — open in the transcript →
“I think you should have to be a person, post for yourself.” Joe Rogan · at 2:44:18 — open in the transcript →
Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Joe Rogan Experience (2026-10-21). Read the whole episode summary →