If the recent firestorm of online outrage directed at Cracker Barrel over a simple logo change felt disproportionate, new data suggests your instincts were correct. According to an analysis by intelligence platform PeakMetrics, the narrative was driven by non-human actors from the very beginning. Of the roughly 1,000 posts calling for a boycott, nearly half (49%) were identified as likely originating from bots. This manufactured outrage was then seeded across alt-tech platforms like Truth Social, Gettr, Gab, and 4chan. The Cracker Barrel incident serves as a stark example of modern news cycle manipulation.