what does it mean when they use [ ]'s in news articles?

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Chris

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I see a lot of articles where they will be quoting someone, for example, heres an article about the kid that posed for the nirvana Nevermind album cover as a baby: Elden tells MTV: “It's kind of creepy [to think] that that many people have seen me naked — I feel like I'm the world's biggest porn star."

"to think" is in []'s. what does that mean?
 
An inserted phrase, done by an editor (not the author) to clarify meaning. This, to distinguish it from a regular parenthetical expression which is part of the author's own text. In the case you cited, MTV is performing a clarifying edit on the spoken words of Elden.
 
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