Caroline Orr Bueno writes:

A sophisticated strategy is playing out in plain sight that few outside of digital war rooms truly understand or even notice.

It doesn’t require hacking servers or bribing tech executives. It doesn’t even break any rules.

It simply requires understanding exactly how algorithms work — and turning them into accomplices.

I call this tactic the Feedback Loop Coup.

Last week, I introduced the concept of Reverse Algorithmic Capture — a tactic used to force platforms to rewrite their rules through political and legal pressure. The Feedback Loop Coup is similar, except it exploits existing rules to flood the zone, seize the narrative, and bend algorithms to work in particular ways — even against the platform’s wishes.

No one has mastered this technique like Donald Trump’s allies and the right-wing media ecosystem that amplifies them. I’ve studied their tactics for almost a decade and I know their playbook almost as well as they do. Now, I’m sharing some of that with you.

The Secret Weapon Hiding in Plain Sight

Every major platform operates on a fundamental principle: the more engagement a post receives—likes, shares, comments, views—the more the algorithm pushes it into other people’s feeds. The faster this engagement occurs, the more “urgent” the algorithm considers it, and the wider it spreads.

This is how a funny cat video can reach millions overnight. But in political hands, this same mechanism becomes a weapon. You can deliberately trigger the algorithm by manufacturing outrage so intense that it convinces the system that people — a lot of people — actually care about the non-event and want to see more content about it.

A Feedback Loop Coup occurs when an outrage event is staged so precisely and amplified so aggressively that the algorithm has no choice but to promote it to the top of feeds — where people who never sought it out will inevitably encounter it.

How It Works in Practice

The clearest example of this phenomenon emerged after the 2020 election. While Trump’s loss was evident to anyone examining the numbers, his digital operation wasn’t ready to give up yet. Instead, they immediately pivoted from winning votes to winning the narrative.

Enter “Stop the Steal.”

This phrase was short, punchy, and emotionally charged. It required no explanation; it conveyed both the alleged crime and verdict in just three words. On November 4, a coordinated network of Trump loyalists — from fringe activists to high-profile influencers — began pushing this slogan across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and a flurry of fringe pro-Trump platforms. They didn’t wait for organic discovery.

Instead, they launched a synchronized barrage: identical graphics posted across dozens of pages, influencers with millions of followers tweeting the same phrase within minutes of each other, and carbon-copy Facebook groups suddenly appearing in every swing state.

The effect was immediate. [Continue reading…]