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Seen, Heard, Read...
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Stay informed with our curated collection of noteworthy updates and insights from the world of conspiracy theories. Uncover the latest trends, explore intriguing perspectives, and broaden your understanding. Delve into our recommended content that keeps you in the know.
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GEORGE SOROS. The bete-noire of antisemitic ‘Deep State’ conspiracy mongers George Soros and his Open Society Foundations is back in their line of fire. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, shared a link to a report carrying overtly antisemitic tropes about billionaire philanthropist Soros and his foundations as an octopus, published in the far right Daily Signal. Cruz was interviewed for the article fueling the Soros-hating, USAID conspiracist online lynch mob, fixated about what the author labeled "Woketopus; The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government" (Source: Emma-Kate Symons on X; Daily Signal, February 5, 2025).
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KANYE WEST. Proudly Nazi rapper West paid an estimated 7 million dollars to screen a Superbowl ad selling only one item on his website: swastika t-shirts. Before his bizarre iPhone-shot publicity spot filmed from his dentist’s chair, and broadcast locally including to Los Angeles viewers, West had once again unleashed a torrent of grotesque, Hitler-inspired antisemitic conspiracy theories. His diatribes were broadcast with impunity on X, the platform owned by Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump aide and backer of Germany’s neo-Nazi AfD Party. The rapper, who has repeatedly embraced hate speech, has since deleted his X account after facing widespread condemnation—but not before reveling in his ability to spread unfiltered Jew-hate to his almost 33 million followers and beyond. West, 47, has been an unapologetic mouthpiece for antisemites since 2022, when his comments first cost him lucrative brand deals. In 2023 he apologized for his outbursts but took back the mea culpa in his most recent spree including statements such as: “I love Hitler,” “I’m a Nazi,” and “I’m never apologizing for my Jewish comments.”
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Despite this open embrace of Nazism, his account remained active for many days, shielded by Musk’s so-called “free speech absolutism,” which has transformed X into a haven for far-right extremism, racism and antisemitism. A weak “sensitive content warning” was the only consequence he initially faced. Before deleting his account, West wrote: “I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board. It was like an Ayahuasca trip.” He then added: “Love all of you who gave me your energy and attention. To we connect again [sic]. Good afternoon and goodnight.”
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Before his self-imposed retreat from X, West’s posts grew increasingly deranged and self-congratulatory. He explicitly attacked Jewish people with statements like: “THE JEWS CLAIM TO BE SO OPPRESSED THEN TRY TO OPPRESS ME AND ELON’S FREEDOM OF SPEECH.” In another, he wrote: “ID LIKE TO THANK THE JEWS FOR PORN AND IM NOT BEING SARCASTIC I LOVE PORN A LOT.”
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Targeting advertisers who have fled X due to its toxicity, West also ranted: “ELON WAS LEGALLY FORCED TO BUY TWITTER FOR 44 BILLION AND IT WAS TAKEN TO 9 BILLION BECAUSE THE JEWISH MOB FORCED VARIOUS ADVERTISERS TO PULL OUT. DAMN THOSE ADVERTISERS PULL OUT GAME WAS STRONGER THAN MINE ON TOUR.”
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After his hours-long tirade, West bizarrely claimed it was all part of a “social experiment” and that he had “won.” He wrote: “I tweeted pretty much everything I felt like for 12 hours and I still have my Twitter. And most importantly my billions.”
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Friends actor David Schwimmer took to Instagram to directly call out Musk, condemning him for continuing to provide West with a megaphone for hate. “This is so 2022,” Schwimmer wrote. “We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk.” He highlighted that West’s 32.7 million followers vastly outnumber the global Jewish population, making his platforming even more dangerous. “His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews,” Schwimmer added (Sources: Variety, February 9, 2025; Sky News, February 9, 2025; The New York Times, February 7, 2025)
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DEEPFAKES. French President Emmanuel Macron has used AI-generated deepfake videos to promote the AI Action Summit in Paris, a move that has reignited discussions about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and its ability to legitimize conspiratorial narratives. In a video posted on his social media accounts, Macron reacted to a montage of deepfaked clips portraying him in various films and TV series, playfully acknowledging their quality by stating, "It's pretty well done, it made me laugh." While the video was intended to generate excitement for the summit, experts voiced concerns about the risks of normalizing deepfake technology. Paul McKay, a principal analyst at technology consultancy Forrester, told the BBC that promoting deepfakes in this manner "continues the difficulty with telling what is real and what isn't." Macron himself has previously expressed reservations about deepfakes, calling them a potential tool for disinformation that could undermine democracies. In an interview with Variety last October, he suggested that regulation should place responsibility on those who disseminate manipulated content. The summit underscores the growing competition between three major AI powerhouses: Europe, which is focusing on regulation and investment; China, which is expanding state-backed AI initiatives; and the U.S., which under Trump is prioritizing a hands-off approach to AI oversight. The summit comes as an online video claiming the US Agency for International Development (USAID), paid Hollywood stars including Angelina Jolie, Sean Pean, Jean-Claude Van Dam, Orlando Bloom and Ben Stiller to visit Ukraine, was exposed as a fake. The videos were shared with tens of millions of views including via notorious QAnon accounts, yet prompted no community notes. As revealed by the BBC the posts were copied from a “fake E! News video created by a Russian influence operation that imitates major news outlets to disparage Ukraine”. The Kremlin disinformation campaign went viral after it was retweeted on X by Elon Musk (Sources: AP, February 10, 2025; France 24, February 10, 2025; BBC, February 7, 2025).
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DARK ENLIGHTENMENT. Conspiratorial attacks on the US federal government and accusations of departments and agencies being ‘evil’ have ignited discussions about the “neo-reactionary movement” (NRx) that has inspired figures like Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance and their cronies railing against the so-called “Deep State”. Writing in the Financial Times, in a column entitled “The strange philosophy motivating Elon Musk”, associate editor Rana Foroohar noted that: “the name alone is spooky and intriguing”. “NRx is an ideology founded by the British philosopher Nick Land and the American software developer Curtis Yarvin (who was recently interviewed in the New York Times). The philosophy argues that democracy inherently leads to social decline, because of the development of deep state bureaucracies that are unable to control oligarchic forces, and that societies should be run like corporations, with a kind of CEO Monarch in charge. As Yarvin has said, “If Americans want to change their government, they need to get rid of dictator phobia . . . One way of dealing with that is . . . hire two executives and make sure they work together and there is really no other solution...” (Source: The Guardian, December 2024).
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VOICE OF AMERICA. Extreme right conspiracists on social media spread narratives popularized by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban demonizing US government-funded media outlets Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Elon Musk joined in the calls for the shut down of the broadcasts and reports, which are seen, heard and read in authoritarian regimes including Iran, with its Persian service, and in former Soviet states suffering under Kremlin propaganda. The X owner and head of Donald Trump’s state-destroying Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took his cue from Trump special envoy Richard Grenell who has regularly regurgitated Moscow talking points on Ukraine. Grenell has pushed for Kiev to accept “autonomous zones” and denied its legitimacy to enjoy Nato membership. Grenell, like Musk, also reposts Wikileaks disinformation narratives on USAID (Source: Kyiv Independent, February 10, 2025).
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