In his current position, O’Sullivan reports on the real-world effects of misinformation and the role it plays in American politics.
We caught up with him recently from his home in New York City. The following is an edited version of our conversation.
How did you get started covering misinformation?
I found a lot of stories of people who had been duped by Russian trolls online in 2016. We traveled and talked to the real people involved, so I got to witness firsthand. That was my way into all of this. Eventually I started writing full-time about social media and misinformation and big tech stories like Cambridge Analytica (the data analytics firm hired by Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016). During the 2020 election, we talked so much about people believing conspiracy theories and lies, and particularly Trump supporters. I wanted to get out from behind the computer screen and talk to people directly, and that was pretty eye-opening.
One of the first big stories you worked on involved Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Tell us about that.
The Russians were using huge Facebook pages to sow divisions and exacerbate existing fissures in American life. Just kind of poking things. They did that really effectively and were able to get Americans to show up to protests and different events. Is it still happening? Yeah. Foreign intelligence agencies wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they weren’t trying to do this kind of thing. It’s like something out of the pages of a spy book. And now there are more than enough domestic actors — American citizens — who produce and spread and consume misinformation.
Looking ahead to the 2024 election, what areas are you focused on covering?
Trump is probably going to be back on the main social media platforms, and he’ll probably start posting there again. There will still be fundamental attacks on democracy and people saying things are rigged and stolen — without evidence. We’ll be reporting on how that narrative continues to spread and evolve and sometimes contradict itself. With Elon Musk now in charge of Twitter, there’s going to be a big conversation about speech online. We have these platforms that have kicked Trump off before, and it’s very possible he is going to break their rules in the future, so I think that’s going to be a common thread throughout the 2024 campaign.
What are some of the most impactful stories you have worked on?
Nobody could ever figure out who was behind the biggest Black Lives Matter page on Facebook. I was able to find that it was being run by a White guy in Australia who was using it to post fundraisers, and it seemed as though he was pocketing some of the money himself. So that was a big story because I got to use a lot of my social media sleuthing skills. And then last year, before the war in Ukraine began, I did a story about some Irish fishermen who stood up to the Russian navy when they were trying to do military drills off the coast of Ireland. I also got to do a story from my hometown of Cahersiveen. Ireland has taken in a lot of Ukrainian refugees, and it was about my hometown welcoming them.
I’ve done a lot of stories over the years speaking to the real-life victims of misinformation. People who have gone down rabbit holes and found themselves isolated from their families, or people who have lost family members to things like QAnon. Those stories have been the most impactful and the most important to me.
What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
After the January 6 attack, I did an interview with The Irish Times and spoke about my struggles with depression and anxiety and mental health. It’s something I still deal with. That’s probably something a lot of people don’t know. CNN has been very good to me through the years with support for things like that. There are ups and downs, but as cheesy as it sounds it very often feels like a family. My favorite part of working here is getting out on the road and sometimes to far-flung parts of the country. That’s always a lot of fun, and I don’t take it for granted.
