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Pizzagate conspiracy theory

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Pizzagate is a debunked conspiracy theory started by an alt-right Twitter account and spread by 4chan users, which claimed that the John Podesta emails leaked by Wikileaks supposedly tied a number of pizzerias (notably Comet Ping Pong in Washington, D.C.) and members of the Democratic party to an imaginary child-sex ring.

Origins

BuzzFeed traced the start of the conspiracy theory to a tweet written by an alt-right account which claimed that emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop purportedly revealed the existence of a pedophilia ring. An initially unrelated forum post on a conspiracy theorist website, both of which were imagined to be related by Sean Adl-Tabatabai (a former associate of professional conspiracy theorist David Icke), citing a 4chan post. Adl-Tabatabai's story was then spread by and elaborated on by other fake news websites, one going so far as to claim that the NYPD had raided Hillary Clinton's property. PolitiFact investigated these claims and found no evidence for them.

Spread on social media

Around this time, some Twitter and 4chan users started searching the Podesta emails for food-related "code words" that supposedly revealed the existence of a sex trafficking operation. For example, the word "pizza" was thought to be a code word for pedophilia.

The allegation spread to "the mainstream internet" following a Reddit user's list of alleged evidence several days before the 2016 US presidential election. The story was picked up by websites such as Infowars and the Vigilant Citizen, which traffic in conspiracy theories, and has been promoted by "alt-right activists" such as Mike Cernovich and Brittany Pettibone.

Redditors from /r/The_Donald created the "Pizzagate" subreddit to further develop the conspiracy theory. This subreddit was banned on November 23, 2016 for violating Reddit's policy against doxing, as users would post the personal details of people connected to this conspiracy.

Comet Ping Pong

As the conspiracy theory developed, the Washington, DC restaurant Comet Ping Pong attracted attention from believers as it was mentioned in the Podesta emails. These conspiracy theorists tracked down the Instagram account of James Alefantis, the restaurant's owner, and used some of the posted photos to "prove" their conspiracy. Many of the images shown, were often friends and family who had liked Comet Ping Pong's page on Facebook. In some cases, imagery was taken from random, unrelated websites and claimed to be Alefantis' own. The restaurant's owners and staff were harassed, threatened on social media websites, and given negative Yelp reviews, and some Pizzagate believers sent death threats to the owner of Comet Ping Pong.

On December 4, 2016, a man walked into the restaurant with an assault rifle, pointed at an employee, fired one or more shots, and was subsequently arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. The man subsequently told police that he planned to "self-investigate" the conspiracy theory. No injuries were reported. After the incident, future National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn and his son Michael G. Flynn were criticized by many reporters for spreading the rumors.

Turkish press reports

In Turkey, mainstream newspapers and media organizations supportive of President Erdoğan, such as Sabah, A Haber, Yeni Şafak, Akşam and Star. The story appeared on Turkey's Ekşi Sözlük (which shares similarities to Reddit) and on the viral news network HaberSelf, where anyone can post content. These forums reposted images and allegations directly from the since-deleted subreddit, which were reprinted in full on the state-controlled press. These media accounts accuse the west of being hypocritical in criticizing Erdoğan or discussing child sexual abuse in the Ensar Foundation (which has links with the Turkish government), while alleged child sex abuse occurs within the United States. Thus, The Daily Dot concluded that this was likely an attempt to draw attention away from child sexual abuse problems within Turkey. Additionally, the AKP (Erdoğan's party) also recently proposed a draft bill that would have given amnesty to child abusers if they married their victims, and BBC News Online says that PizzaGate provided a "distraction" from the negative coverage the Turkish government was receiving over this.

References

  1. ^ Silverman, Craig (November 4, 2016). "How A Completely False Claim About Hillary Clinton Went From A Conspiracy Message Board To Big Right Wing Blogs". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  2. ^ Gillin, Joshua (December 6, 2016). "How Pizzagate went from fake news to a real problem". PolitiFact. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  3. Emery Jr., C. Eugene (November 4, 2016). "Evidence ridiculously thin for sensational claim of huge underground Clinton sex network". PolitiFact. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  4. ^ Wendling, Mike (2016-12-02). "The saga of 'Pizzagate': The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  5. Peck, Jamie (November 28, 2016). "What the hell is #Pizzagate?". Death and Taxes. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  6. ^ Kang, Cecilia (November 21, 2016). "This Pizzeria Is Not a Child-Trafficking Site". The New York Times.
  7. Ohlheiser, Abby (November 24, 2016). "Fearing yet another witch hunt, Reddit bans 'Pizzagate'". Washington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  8. Sommer, Will (November 7, 2016). "Alt Right Conspiracy Theorists Obsess Over Comet Ping Pong". Washington City Paper. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  9. "A detailed conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate" holds that a pedophile ring is operating out of a Clinton-linked pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong". Snopes. December 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  10. Svrluga, Susan; Siddiqui, Faiz (December 4, 2016). "N.C. man told police he went to D.C. pizzeria with assault rifle to 'self-investigate' election-related conspiracy theory".
  11. Bender, Bryan; Hanna, Andrew (December 5, 2016). "Flynn under fire for fake news". POLITICO. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  12. Smith, Allan (December 5, 2016). "Michael Flynn's son spars with Jake Tapper over fake 'pizzagate' story that led armed man to go to restaurant". Business Insider. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  13. Rosenberg, Matthew (December 5, 2016). "Trump Adviser Has Pushed Clinton Conspiracy Theories". The New York Times. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  14. Sozeri, Efe Karem (November 23, 2016). "How the alt-right's PizzaGate conspiracy hid real scandal in Turkey". The Daily Dot. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
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