Abbie Richards (born 1996) is a misinformation educator and environmental activist whose

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

charts went viral on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in 2020 and 2021.

Early life and education

Richards was born in 1996 and grew up in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. She graduated from

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

with a degree in environmental science, and in 2022 she graduated with a masters in climate studies from

Wageningen University & Research Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

in the Netherlands.

Comedy career

After graduating from Colorado College, Richards moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to work in standup comedy.

Social media career

Richards has written articles for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology,

Media Matters for America Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Res ...

, and

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

. Her written work often focuses on correcting online misinformation or discussing TikTok culture or trends. On May 30, 2020, she posted a video showing a protester at a racial justice march during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

talking to an emotional police officer, which received 6 million views. By July 2020, views of her TikTok posts had dropped to under 9000 each in what

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

called an apparent case of

shadow banning Shadow banning, also called stealth banning, hellbanning, ghost banning and comment ghosting, is the practice of blocking or partially blocking a user or the user's content from some areas of an online community in such a way that the ban is not ...

, either intentional or due to a faulty algorithm. She also was restricted from live streaming on TikTok without explanation.

Environmental activism

Richards began posting criticism of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

after running past a golf course in the spring of 2020 and noticing the course's " no trespassing" signs. She told ''The Daily Dot'' that "the privatization of green spaces, especially during a pandemic when people need to maximize their distance from one another, made me furious." She posted to TikTok a video "about running for president to make golf illegal" which went viral. Her posts focus on concerns about environmental impact and social inequality, but she also includes among her criticisms that the game is boring and "the clothes are ugly". According to Richards her posts "started as a joke, and 100 percent is not a joke anymore" as her concerns became more serious as she did more research. ESPN commenter Kenny Mayne referenced the anti-golf content in a tweet, saying "The producers think the TikTok Golf hater girl @abbieasr is too avant-garde for a full ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

'' segment''".'' In January 2021, Richards published an op-ed about golf on Euronews Living entitled "Golf is a giant board game damaging the planet: Time for it to go." Richards is a member of EcoTok, a TikTok collective which focuses on creating environmentalist content.

Misinformation education

In 2020, Richards created "The Conspiracy Chart", an inverted pyramid assessing various conspiracy theories on a spectrum from "Grounded in Reality" to "Detached from Reality", which according to New Zealand journalist

David Farrier David Farrier (born 25 December 1982) is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and documentary, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film '' Tickled'' (201 ...

"went bonkers on

". In 2021, Richards created an updated version of the chart that went viral. Richards has created TikToks on and spoken to news outlets about misinformation and conspiracy theories on the app, such as videos promoting

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

and other antisemitic conspiracy theories, or misleading videos of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

TikTok research

Richards has conducted research on TikTok and its algorithm. One of her reports describes pervasive

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

content on the app.

Recognition

Richards was included on

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

in 2023, in the category of Consumer Technology.

Personal life

, Richards resides in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Abbie 1996 births Year of birth uncertain Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women educators 21st-century American educators American women comedians American TikTokers Colorado College alumni People from Newton, Massachusetts Entertainers from Boston Twitter accounts Wageningen University and Research alumni