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[[File:Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate 2016 01.jpg|thumb|alt=Exterior of Comet Ping Pong in Northwest, Washington, D.C.|"Pizzagate" connected [[Comet Ping Pong]] (pictured) in [[Northwest, Washington, D.C.]], to a non-existent [[child sexual abuse|child-sex]] ring.{{efn|name=debunked|}}]]
[[File:Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate 2016 01.jpg|thumb|alt=Exterior of Comet Ping Pong in Northwest, Washington, D.C.|"Pizzagate" connected [[Comet Ping Pong]] (pictured) to a non-existent [[child sexual abuse|child-sex]] ring.{{efn|name=debunked|}}]]


'''Pizzagate''' is a [[Debunker|debunked]]{{efn|name=debunked|See, for example:
'''Pizzagate''' is a [[Debunker|debunked]]{{efn|name=debunked|See, for example:

Revision as of 13:48, 24 December 2016

Exterior of Comet Ping Pong in Northwest, Washington, D.C.
"Pizzagate" connected Comet Ping Pong (pictured) to a non-existent child-sex ring.[a]

Pizzagate is a debunked[a] conspiracy theory that emerged during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle alleging that John Podesta's emails, which were leaked by WikiLeaks, contain coded messages referring to human trafficking and connecting a number of restaurants in the United States and members of the Democratic Party with a child-sex ring. It has been discredited by a wide array of sources across the political spectrum, described as a "fictitious conspiracy theory" by the District of Columbia Police Department and determined to be false by multiple organizations including Snopes.com, The New York Times, and Fox News.

Origins

Reports of this conspiracy theory emerged during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, with BuzzFeed News tracing its origin to a tweet written by a "reputed white supremacist" on October 30, 2016. The tweet claimed that the New York City Police Department, who was combing through emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop as part of a reopened investigation into his sexting scandals, discovered the existence of a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party.[1][2] Internet users reading John Podesta's emails released by Wikileaks in early November 2016 speculated that some words in Podesta's emails were code words for pedophilia and human trafficking.[3][4] The theory also proposed that the ring was a meeting ground for satanic ritual abuse.[5] Other claims that the theory proposed include the use of handkerchief codes (interpreted from a widely-cited email with a "Pizza-related" handkerchief), the alleged use of pedophile symbols in the logos of various organizations, and John Podesta and his brother Tony Podesta's alleged connection to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.[4]

The theory was then posted on the message board Godlike Productions. The following day, Sean Adl-Tabatabai (a former associate of professional conspiracy theorist David Icke) repeated the story on YourNewsWire, citing a 4chan post from earlier that year.[2] Adl-Tabatabai's story was then spread by and elaborated on by other fake news websites, including SubjectPolitics, which falsely claimed the New York Police Department had raided Hillary Clinton's property.[1] The website Conservative Daily Post ran a headline falsely stating that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had "confirmed" this story.[6]

Spread on social media

Around this time, Twitter and 4chan users started searching the leaked emails of John Podesta for food-related "code words" that supposedly revealed the existence of a sex trafficking operation.[1] For example, The New York Times reported that the phrase "cheese pizza" was thought by a poster to 4chan to be a code word for child pornography since they had the same initials.[4] The allegations spread to "the mainstream internet" following a post on the website Reddit several days before the 2016 United States presidential election.[7] The post, meanwhile removed by the site, alleged the involvement of the Washington, D.C., business Comet Ping Pong:

Everyone associated with the business is making semi-overt, semi-tongue-in-cheek, and semi-sarcastic inferences towards sex with minors. The artists that work for and with the business also generate nothing but cultish imagery of disembodiment, blood, beheadings, sex, and of course pizza.[8]

The story was picked up by fake news[9] websites such as Infowars.com,[b] Planet Free Will[13] and the Vigilant Citizen,[14][15] and has been promoted by alt-right activists such as Mike Cernovich and Brittany Pettibone.[7] Jonathan Albright, an assistant professor of media analytics at Elon University, has said that a disproportionate number of tweets about Pizzagate came from the Czech Republic, Cyprus, and Vietnam and that some of the most frequent retweeters were bots.[16]

Redditors from the subreddit /r/The Donald created the /r/pizzagate subreddit to further develop the conspiracy theory.[13] This subreddit was banned on November 23, 2016 for violating Reddit's policy against "the proliferation of personal and confidential information", with Reddit saying to viewers who attempted to access the banned subreddit that "We don't want witchhunts on our site".[7] Users had posted personal details of people connected to the alleged conspiracy.[17]

After the ban on Reddit, the discussion was moved to the v/pizzagate sub on Voat, a website similar to Reddit, where discussion continues.[18]

Turkish press reports

In Turkey, the allegations were reported by mainstream newspapers and media organizations supportive of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, such as Sabah, A Haber, Yeni Şafak, Akşam and Star. The story appeared on Turkey's Ekşi Sözlük (a Reddit-like site) 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. A columnist in the The Daily Dot suggested government sources were pushing this story, after a recent child sexual abuse scandal, in order to distract attraction from controversial pending legislation on child marriage.[19]

Harassment and violence

Exterior of Comet Ping Pong
The pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong, was threatened by hundreds of people who believed in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.[20]

As Pizzagate spread, Comet Ping Pong "received hundreds of threatening messages and phone calls from people who believed the story to be true".[20] The restaurant's owner, James Alefantis, told The New York Times: "From this insane, fabricated conspiracy theory, we've come under constant assault. I've done nothing for days but try to clean this up and protect my staff and friends from being terrorized."[13]

Some adherents identified the Instagram account of Alefantis, and used some of the posted photos to "prove" their conspiracy. Many of the images shown were 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.[8] The restaurant's owners and staff were harassed, threatened on social media websites, and the owner received death threats.[13] The restaurant's Yelp page was locked by the operators of the site citing reviews that were "motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer's personal consumer experience".[8] Several bands who had performed at the pizzeria also faced harassment. For example, Amanda Kleinman of Heavy Breathing deleted her Twitter account after receiving negative comments connecting her and her band to the conspiracy theory.[13] Another band, Sex Stains, had closed the comments of their YouTube videos and addressed the controversy in the description of their videos.[21]

Exterior of Politics and Prose
Politics and Prose was among some of the D.C. businesses that were also harassed due to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.[22]

Pizzagate-related harassment of businesses extended beyond Comet Ping Pong to include other nearby D.C. businesses, such as Besta Pizza three doors down from Comet; Little Red Fox; the popular bookstore Politics and Prose; and the French bistro Terasol.[22][23] The businesses received a high volume of threatening and menacing telephone calls (some of which included death threats) and also experienced online harassment.[23] The co-owners of Little Red Fox and Terasol filed police reports.[23]

Brooklyn restaurant Roberta's was also pulled into the hoax, receiving harassing phone calls, including a call from an unidentified person telling an employee that she was "going to bleed and be tortured".[18][24] The restaurant became involved after a since-removed YouTube video used images from their social media accounts to imply they were a part of the hoax sex ring. Others then spread the accusations on social media, claiming the "Clinton family loves Roberta's".[25]

East Side Pies, in Austin, Texas saw one of its delivery trucks vandalized with an epithet, and was the target of online harassment related to their supposed involvement in Pizzagate, theorized connections to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Illuminati.[26][27]

Comet Ping Pong shooting

US v Welch Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint (full text)

On December 4, 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old Salisbury, North Carolina man, allegedly fired three shots in the restaurant with an AR-15-style rifle, striking walls, a desk, and a door.[28][29] Welch later told police that he had planned to "self-investigate" the conspiracy theory.[30] He surrendered after he "found no evidence that underage children were being harbored in the restaurant", was arrested without incident and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.[31] No one was injured.[32]

Welch told police he had "read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves and that he wanted to see for himself if they were there".[18] In an interview with The New York Times, Welch said that he regretted how he handled the situation but did not dismiss the conspiracy theory, and rejected the description of it as "fake news".[33][34][35]

On December 13, 2016, Welch was charged with one count of "interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit an offense", a federal crime.[36] According to court documents, Welch attempted to recruit friends three days before the attack by urging them to watch a YouTube video about the conspiracy.[37] He was subsequently charged with two additional offenses, with the grand jury returning an indictment charging Welch with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, each charge carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.[38][39] Welch has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.[40]

Debunking

The conspiracy theory has been widely discredited and debunked.[a][41][28][42] It has been described as false by the fact-checking website snopes.com and The New York Times.[32][43][44] The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia characterized the matter as "fictitious".[41] Others included:

4

Much of the purported evidence cited by the conspiracy theory's proponents had been taken from entirely different sources and made to appear as if they supported the conspiracy.[8] Images of children of family and friends of the pizzeria's staff were taken from social media sites such as Instagram and claimed to be photos of victims.[43] The Charlotte Observer noted the diverse group of sources that had debunked the conspiracy theory, pointing out this included the Fox News Channel in addition to The New York Times.[28] On December 10, 2016, The New York Times published an article that analyzed the claims that the theory proposed.[4]

No alleged victims have come forward, nor has any physical evidence been found.[51]

Responses

Community messages in front of Comet Ping Pong following the shooting

In an interview with NPR on November 27, 2016, Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis referred to the conspiracy theory as "an insanely complicated, made-up, fictional lie-based story" and a "coordinated political attack."[52] The Seattle Times wrote that the conspiracy theorists' assertions were "dangerous and damaging false allegations" and that they were "repeatedly debunked, disproved and dismissed."[42] Despite the conspiracy theory being debunked, it continued to spread on social media, with over one million messages using hashtag #Pizzagate on Twitter in November 2016.[28] Stefanie MacWilliams, contributor for Planet Free Will who wrote an article about Pizzagate, was reported in the Toronto Star as saying, after the Comet Ping Pong shooting, that "I really have no regrets and it's honestly really grown our audience." Pizzagate, she said, is "two worlds clashing. People don't trust the mainstream media anymore, but it's true that people shouldn't take the alternative media as truth, either."[53]

On December 4, Infowars.com uploaded a YouTube video that linked Pizzagate to the November 13 death of a sex-worker-rights activist. The video falsely claimed that she had been investigating a link between the Clinton Foundation and human trafficking in Haiti and it speculated that she had been murdered in connection with her investigation. According to the activist's former employer, her family and her friends, her death was in fact a suicide and she was not investigating the Clinton Foundation.[54] By December 14, Infowars had removed two out of three of its videos related to Pizzagate.[55]

On December 8, Hillary Clinton responded to the conspiracy theory, speaking about the dangers of fake news websites. She said, "The epidemic of malicious fake news and fake propaganda that flooded social media over the past year, it's now clear that so-called fake news can have real-world consequences."[56]

Public opinion

A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling on December 6–7, 2016, asked 1,224 U.S. registered voters if they thought Hillary Clinton was "connected to a child sex ring being run out of a pizzeria in Washington DC?" The poll showed that 9% said that did believe she was connected, 72% said they did not, and 19% were not sure.[57][58] The full results, organized according to which candidate the respondents supported in the 2016 presidential election, were as follows:

Opinion of whether Hillary Clinton is connected to a child sex ring run from a Pizzeria in DC
Clinton connected? All voters Trump voters Clinton voters Johnson voters Stein Voters Other
Yes 9% 14% 5% 2% N/A 24%
No 72% 54% 90% 57% 57% 69%
Unsure 19% 32% 6% 41% 43% 7%
Survey of 1,224 registered voters conducted December 6-7, 2016, margin of error 2.8%[57][58]

Flynn Jr. dismissal

Michael T. Flynn at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona
The son of Michael T. Flynn (pictured) was forced out of Donald Trump's transition team for tweeting something related to Pizzagate.[59]

After the shooting incident at Comet Ping Pong, Michael Flynn Jr., a member of President-Elect Donald Trump's transition team and the son of Michael T. Flynn, Trump's designate for National Security Advisor, tweeted:

Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it'll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many 'coincidences' tied to it.[60][61][62]

On December 6, 2016, Flynn Jr. was forced out of Trump's transition team.[63] Spokesman Jason Miller did not identify the reason for Flynn Jr.'s dismissal; however, The New York Times reported that other officials had confirmed it was related to the tweet.[59]

Flynn Jr.'s father had previously posted similarly conspiratorial material regarding Hillary Clinton alleging that Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, drank the blood and bodily fluids of other humans in Satanic rituals, which Politico says "soon morphed into the '#pizzagate' conspiracy theory involving Comet Ping Pong,"[64] On November 2, 2016, Flynn tweeted a link to a story with unfounded accusations and wrote, "U decide - NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc...MUST READ!" The tweet was shared by over 9,000 people, but was deleted from Flynn's account some time between December 12–13, 2016.[55]

See also

References

Informational notes

  1. ^ a b c See, for example:
    • Ruth, Daniel (December 6, 2016). "The lunacy of fake news". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 7, 2016. the dangerous and damaging fake allegations against a businessman and his employees simply trying to make a living have been repeatedly debunked, disproved and dismissed.
    • Douglas, William; Washburn, Mark (December 6, 2016). "Religious zeal drives N.C. man in 'Pizzagate'". The Courier-Tribune. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved December 7, 2016. Though debunked by sources as diverse as The New York Times, Fox News Channel and the web hoax investigator Snopes, more than a million messages have traversed Twitter since November about #Pizzagate.
    • Alam, Hannah (December 5, 2016). "Conspiracy peddlers continue pushing debunked 'pizzagate' tale". Miami Herald. Retrieved December 7, 2016. One might think that police calling the motive a 'fictitious conspiracy theory' would put an end to the claim that inspired a gunman from North Carolina to attack a family pizzeria in Washington over the weekend
  2. ^ On December 9 Alex Jones defended Infowars against the characterization of it as fake news, saying, according to The Washington Times: "In an effort to try and censor the liberty movement and free speech, the mainstream media is now attempting to label legitimate news sources like Infowars as 'fake news' to push towards a government-led shut down of Infowars.com."[10] Others have disagreed, for example US News, which labeled InfoWars a fake news website to avoid "at all cost".[11][12]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Gillin, Joshua (December 6, 2016). "How Pizzagate went from fake news to a real problem". PolitiFact. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Samuelson, Kate (December 5, 2016). "What to Know About Pizzagate, the Fake News Story With Real Consequences". Time. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d Huang, Gregor Aisch, Jon; Kang, Cecilia (December 10, 2016). "Dissecting the #PizzaGate Conspiracy Theories". The New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Hayes, Laura (November 15, 2016). "The Consequences of 'Pizza Gate' are Real at Comet Ping Pong". Washington City Paper. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  6. ^ Emery Jr., C. Eugene (November 4, 2016). "Evidence ridiculously thin for sensational claim of huge underground Clinton sex network". PolitiFact. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c Wendling, Mike (December 2, 2016). "The saga of 'Pizzagate': The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread". BBC News. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d LaCapria, Kim (December 2, 2016). "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. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  9. ^ "Don't get fooled by these fake news sites". cbsnews.com. CBS. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Blake, Andrew (December 9, 2016). "Infowars' Alex Jones appeals to Trump for aid over fears of 'fake news' crackdown". The Washington Times. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  11. ^ Dicker, Rachel (November 14, 2016). "Avoid These Fake News Sites at All Costs". US News and World Report. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  12. ^ Couts, Andrew (November 16, 2016). "Here are all the 'fake news' sites to watch out for on Facebook". The Daily Dot. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  13. ^ a b c d e Kang, Cecilia (November 21, 2016). "Fake News Onslaught Targets Pizzeria as Nest of Child-Trafficking". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Alexander, Cedric (December 7, 2016). "Fake news is domestic terrorism". CNN. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  15. ^ Peck, Jamie (November 28, 2016). "What the hell is #Pizzagate?". Death and Taxes. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  16. ^ Fisher, Marc; Cox, John Woodrow; Hermann, Peter (December 6, 2016). "Pizzagate: From rumor, to hashtag, to gunfire in D.C." The Washington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  17. ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (November 24, 2016). "Fearing yet another witch hunt, Reddit bans 'Pizzagate'". Washington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  18. ^ a b c Rosenberg, Eli (December 7, 2016). "Roberta's, Popular Brooklyn Restaurant, Is Pulled Into 'Pizzagate' Hoax". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ a b Reilly, Katie (November 22, 2016). "Washington Pizza Place Flooded With Threats Over False Hillary Clinton Conspiracy".
  21. ^ Tempey, Nathan (December 5, 2016). "What On Earth Is Pizzagate And How Did It Result In Gunfire At Comet Ping Pong?". DCist. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  22. ^ a b Gauthier, Brendan (December 7, 2016). "Pizzagate harassment spreads beyond Comet Ping Pong to nearby D.C. restaurants". Salon. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  23. ^ a b c Kludt, Tom (December 5, 2016). "'Pizzagate': Comet Ping Pong not the only D.C. business enduring a nightmare". CNNMoney. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  24. ^ Rayman, Graham (December 7, 2016). "Brooklyn pizza joint Roberta's hit with threatening calls in response to faux report of Hillary Clinton child abuse ring". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  25. ^ Gajanan, Mahita (December 7, 2016). "Now Pizzagate Conspiracy Theorists Are Targeting a Pizzeria in New York City". TIME. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  26. ^ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (December 7, 2016). "Pizzerias in Austin and New York Are Now Also Being Accused of Abetting Satanic Pedophilia". Slate. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  27. ^ Odam, Matthew (December 7, 2016). "How Austin's East Side Pies became target of fake #pizzagate". Austin American Statesman. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  28. ^ a b c d Douglas, William; Washburn, Mark (December 6, 2016). "Religious zeal drives N.C. man in 'Pizzagate'". The Courier-Tribune. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved December 7, 2016. Though debunked by sources as diverse as The New York Times, Fox News Channel and the web hoax investigator Snopes, more than a million messages have traversed Twitter since November about #Pizzagate.
  29. ^ Eordogh, Fruzsina (December 7, 2016). "With Pizzagate, Is Cybersteria The New Normal?". Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  30. ^ Department, Metropolitan Police (December 5, 2016). "Arrest Made in an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun): 5000 Block of Connecticut Avenue, Northwest | mpdc". mpdc.dc.gov. Retrieved December 9, 2016.,
  31. ^ "The Latest: Pizzagate Shooting Suspect Ordered Held by Judge". ABC News. December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  32. ^ a b 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".
  33. ^ Goldman, Adam (December 7, 2016). "The Comet Ping Pong Gunman Answers Our Reporter's Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  34. ^ Abrams, Abigail (December 8, 2016). "Pizzagate Gunman: 'I Regret How I Handled' Comet Ping Pong Shooting". TIME.com. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  35. ^ "Pizzagate gunman refuses to dismiss online conspiracy theory claims about child sex ring". Fox News. December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  36. ^ Slotkin, Jason (December 13, 2016). "'Pizzagate' Suspect Faces Federal Charge". NPR.org. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  37. ^ Simpson, Ian (December 13, 2016). "Accused 'fake-news' pizza gunman planned raid for days: affidavit". Reuters. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  38. ^ Spencer S. Hsu, Grand jury returns indictment against Edgar Welch in Comet Ping Pong incursion, Washington Post (December 15, 2016).
  39. ^ Bellware, Kim (December 13, 2016). "Feds Escalate Charges Against Edgar Welch, Alleged 'Pizzagate' Shooter". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  40. ^ Sands, Geneva (December 16, 2016). "Alleged Gunman in 'Pizzagate' Case Pleads Not Guilty to All Charges". ABC News. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  41. ^ a b c Alam, Hannah (December 5, 2016). "Conspiracy peddlers continue pushing debunked 'pizzagate' tale". Miami Herald. Retrieved December 7, 2016. One might think that police calling the motive a 'fictitious conspiracy theory' would put an end to the claim that inspired a gunman from North Carolina to attack a family pizzeria in Washington over the weekend
  42. ^ a b Ruth, Daniel (December 6, 2016). "The lunacy of fake news". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 7, 2016. the dangerous and damaging fake allegations against a businessman and his employees simply trying to make a living have been repeatedly debunked, disproved and dismissed.
  43. ^ a b LaCapria, Kim (November 21, 2016). "FALSE: Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria Home to Child Abuse Ring Led by Hillary Clinton". snopes. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  44. ^ Carlson, Margaret (November 23, 2016). "A Fake Conspiracy for Our Fevered Age". Bloomberg View. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  45. ^ Young, Cathy (December 9, 2016). "'Pizzagate' Recalls the Debunked Child Sex Rings of the '80s and '90s". The Observer. Retrieved December 23, 2016. a nutty conspiracy theory about a child sex ring run from a Washington, D.C., pizzeria
  46. ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (November 24, 2016). "Fearing yet another witch hunt, Reddit bans 'Pizzagate'". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  47. ^ Dearden, Lizzie (December 10, 2016). "Donald Trump's transition team dismisses CIA findings Russia attempted to influence US election in his favour". The Independent. Retrieved December 23, 2016. Michael Flynn Jr, the son of the President-elect's pick for national security adviser, was among those supporting the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory that led to a man opening fire in a Washington restaurant.
  48. ^ "Yet Another Donald Trump Pick Has A Habit Of Spreading Dangerous Conspiracy Theories". The Huffington Post. December 16, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016. Flynn tweeted a fake news story in November on the #Pizzagate hoax, an absurd claim tying Clinton to a made-up underground child molestation ring based out of a Washington, D.C. pizza place named Comet Ping Pong.
  49. ^ Agrawal, Nina (December 20, 2016). "Where fake news came from — and why some readers believe it". The LA Times. Retrieved December 23, 2016. A false story alleged that Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta, were involved in a child sex ring based out of Comet Ping Pong
  50. ^ "Man with rifle arrested at DC restaurant targeted by fake news conspiracy theories". Fox News. December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016. A North Carolina man armed with an assault rifle was arrested Sunday inside a popular Washington D.C. restaurant that became a center of conspiracy theories driven by fake news stories that went viral before the presidential election.
  51. ^ Barakat, Matthew; Gresko, Jessica (December 6, 2016). "'Pizzagate': How a WikiLeaks-fuelled conspiracy theory led to gunfire at a D.C. restaurant". CBC News. Archived from the original on December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  52. ^ Wertheimer, Linda (November 27, 2016). "Fake News Surge Pins D.C. Pizzeria As Home To Child-Trafficking". NPR.org. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  53. ^ ""Belleville woman helped cook up Pizzagate"". Toronto Star. December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  54. ^ Kessler, Glenn (December 6, 2016). ""'Pizzagate' rumours falsely link death of sex-worker advocate to nonexistent Clinton probe"". Washington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  55. ^ a b Hersher, Rebecca (December 14, 2016), "Webpages Linked To Pizzeria Shooting Go Dark Even As Prosecution Moves Forward", National Public Radio, retrieved December 15, 2016
  56. ^ Taylor, Jessica (December 8, 2016). "'Lives Are At Risk,' Hillary Clinton Warns Over Fake News, 'Pizzagate'". NPR.org. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  57. ^ a b Kafka, Peter (December 9, 2016). "An astonishing number of people believe Pizzagate, the Facebook-fueled Clinton sex ring conspiracy story, could be true". Recode. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  58. ^ a b "Trump Remains Unpopular; Voters Prefer Obama on SCOTUS Pick" (PDF). Public Policy Polling. December 9, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  59. ^ a b Rosenberg, Matthew (December 6, 2016). "Trump Fires Senior Adviser's Son From Transition for Sharing Fake News". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  60. ^ Bender, Bryan; Hanna, Andrew (December 5, 2016). "Flynn under fire for fake news". POLITICO. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  61. ^ 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.
  62. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew (December 5, 2016). "Trump Adviser Has Pushed Clinton Conspiracy Theories". The New York Times. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  63. ^ Faulders, Katherine (December 6, 2016). "Mike Flynn Jr. Forced Out of Trump Transition Amid Fake News Controversy". ABC News. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  64. ^ Bender, Brian; Hanna, Andrew (December 5, 2016). "Flynn under fire for fake news". POLITICO. ... Flynn posed a tweet containing the hashtag "#spiritcooking," a reference to a bizarre rumor alleging that Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, took part in occult rituals in which people consume blood and other bodily fluids. That rumor, based on a wild reading of some Podesta emails that had been released by WikiLeaks, also took off on websites such as the Drudge Report and InfoWars, run by Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The "#spiritcooking" rumor soon morphed into the "#pizzagate" conspiracy theory involving Comet Ping Pong, which alleges that virtually the entire D.C. establishment ... is involved with or covering up a satanic plot to traffic in, sexually abuse and murder children.
  • Media related to Pizzagate at Wikimedia Commons
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