Social anthropologist with a focus on digital anthropology, the internet and research on online identities and communities. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, where she is working on a project focused on gender identities among social media influencers.
She is also a member of Anthropictures, an applied anthropological research studio, and has conducted a number of studies on the spread of misinformation in the online space, particularly focusing on the topic of migration and refugees. She regularly publishes journalistic texts in various Czech media.
What she is most interested in about conspiracy theories is why they thrive so well on social media, how they function in online space, who meets them there, how this affects online communities, and what role the algorithms of digital communication platforms play in the spread of conspiracy theories. She is also interested in what connection can be found between conspiracy theories and the socio-economic conditions of those who spread them, and what role digital inequalities play in this.
Personal info: https://www.soc.cas.cz/lide/marie-hermanova