Birds aren't real: A Gen Z conspiracy theory takes flight

NEW YORK • In Pittsburgh; Memphis, Tennessee; and Los Angeles, massive billboards recently popped up declaring "Birds Aren't Real". On Instagram and TikTok, Birds Aren't Real accounts have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, and YouTube videos about it have gone viral.

The events were all connected by a Gen Z-fuelled conspiracy theory, which posits that birds do not exist and are really drone replicas installed by the US government to spy on Americans.

Hundreds of thousands of young people across the United States have joined the movement, wearing Birds Aren't Real T-shirts, swarming rallies and spreading the slogan.

It might smack of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by an elite cabal of child-trafficking Democrats. Except that the creator of Birds Aren't Real and the movement's followers are in on a joke: They know that birds are, in fact, real and that their theory is made up.

They say Birds Aren't Real is a parody social movement with an aim. In a post-truth world dominated by online conspiracy theories, youth have coalesced around the effort to thumb their nose at, fight and poke fun at misinformation. It is Gen Z's bid to upend the rabbit hole with absurdism.

"It's a way to combat troubles in the world that you don't really have other ways of combating," said Ms Claire Chronis, 22, a Birds Aren't Real organiser in Pittsburgh. "My favourite way to describe the organisation is fighting lunacy with lunacy."

At the centre of the movement is Mr Peter McIndoe, 23, a floppy-haired college dropout in Memphis, who created Birds Aren't Real on a whim in 2017. For years, he stayed in character as the conspiracy theory's chief believer, commanding acolytes to rage against those who challenged his dogma. But now, Mr McIndoe said in an interview, he is ready to reveal the parody, lest people think birds really are drones.

"Dealing in the world of misinformation for the past few years, we've been really conscious of the line we walk," he said. "The idea is meant to be so preposterous, but we make sure nothing we're saying is too realistic."

Most Birds Aren't Real members, many of them part of an activism network called the Bird Brigade, grew up in a world overrun with misinformation. Some have relatives who have fallen victim to conspiracy theories. So for members of Gen Z, the movement has become a way to collectively grapple with those experiences.

In January 2017, Mr McIndoe travelled to Memphis to visit friends. Mr Donald Trump had just been sworn in as president, and there was a women's march downtown. Pro-Trump counterprotesters were also there. When Mr McIndoe saw them, he said, he ripped a poster off a wall, flipped it over and wrote three random words - "Birds Aren't Real".

"It was a spontaneous joke, but it was a reflection of the absurdity everyone was feeling," he said.

Mr McIndoe then walked around and improvised the Birds Aren't Real conspiracy lore. He said he was part of a greater movement that believed birds had been replaced with surveillance drones and that the cover-up began in the 1970s. Unbeknown to him, he was filmed, and the video posted on Facebook. It went viral, especially among teenagers in the South.

In Memphis, "Birds Aren't Real" graffiti soon showed up. Photos of the phrase's being scrawled on chalkboards and the walls of local high schools surfaced. People made "Birds Aren't Real" stickers.

Mr McIndoe decided to lean into Birds Aren't Real. He and his friend Connor Gaydos wrote a false history of the movement, concocted elaborate theories and produced fake documents and evidence to support his wild claims.

"It basically became an experiment in misinformation," Mr McIndoe said.

To adults with concerns about Mr McIndoe's tactics, researchers said any harms were most likely minimal.

"You have to weigh the potential negative effects with any of this stuff, but in this case it is so extremely small," said Mr Joshua Citarella, an independent researcher who studies Internet culture and online radicalisation in youth. "Allowing people to engage in collaborative world building is therapeutic because it lets them disarm conspiracism and engage in a safe way."

Mr McIndoe has big plans for next year. He hopes to collaborate with major content creators and independent media like Channel 5 News, which is aimed at helping people make sense of America's current state and the Internet.

"I have a lot of excitement for what the future of this could be as an actual force for good," he said. "Yes, we have been intentionally spreading misinformation for the past four years, but it's with a purpose. It's about holding up a mirror to America in the Internet age."

NYTIMES