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Abstract

Many magicians consider secrets a vital part of doing magic. In fact, one of the most well-known rules in magic is to never reveal how a trick is done to anyone who is not a magician. However, in our increasingly online world this has become more and more difficult to accomplish. This has been especially the case as the magic community has moved onto social media more, as many accounts on both Instagram and TikTok have appeared with the sole purpose of exposing magic tricks. In this thesis, through looking at the four different ways in which magic secrets are disclosed on social media— tutorials, reveals, exposures, and debunks—I examine the consequences that occur when an art form that seems to require secrets exists on a platform that actively discourages secrets from existing.