Twenty-three years after the day Enron filed for bankruptcy after committing one of the largest accounting frauds in corporate history, the company announced on X that it had returned. Perhaps.

Kenneth Lay’s ghost, is that you? Probably not. The inspiration video released by Enron, showing a rocket in flight and a caterpillar in a chrysalis, is so generic it’s hard to believe – the first hint that it may be a big joke could. For more information, visit Enron’s new website. Take the “Our Values” section, which makes Enron an acronym for “Energy, Nurture, Repentant, Opportunity, Nice.” A press release contains even more nonsense and mentions “decentralized technology”, which means that a (real) crypto system or the introduction of a new token could soon be launched.

But a look at the ownership of Enron’s iconic logo suggests this may be more of a farce than a cash grab. Patent filings from May – the same month the new Enron launched its page on The Conceit (the title pretty much explains it) was invented in 2017 by Peter McIndoe, a college dropout who was so committed to the cause that he once worked at Fox News appeared and explained why he believed birds were part of a government conspiracy to spy on Americans. (This segment was hosted by Pete Hegseth, the embattled candidate for Secretary of Defense.) McIndoe spoke out in 2021 and admitted that “Birds Aren’t Real” was a joke to highlight the absurdity of conspiracies and online movements .

Since then, McIndoe has announced a left-leaning podcast network to compete with the conservative Man-o-Sphere, which has been widely discussed in the 2024 election. To do this, he teamed up with an influencer and producer who invented the popular online show boys room, in which a presenter reviews the disgusting spaces of Generation Z and millennial urban slackers. “The right has a very strong motor ecosystem,” McIndoe told Slate. “The left has nothing like it.” (It seems he was ahead of the current Rogan-for-Libs strategy that has become commonplace in Democratic circles after Donald Trump’s victory.)

McIndoe and his “Birds Aren’t Real” partner, Connor Gaydos, did not respond to a request for comment, while the public relations firm hired by the new Enron said via email that the company had no further comment beyond its press release have. But a clock on Enron’s website promises further updates in seven days. Whatever comes – energy trading, a fraudulent LayCoin – at least we know the guys at Birds Aren’t Real haven’t lost their ability to attract online attention. And that Enron is not named the “most innovative company”. Assets again and again.