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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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CANDACE OWENS. Brigitte Macron-hating conspiracy theorist and trafficker in antisemitic tropes Owens continued her libels against the wife of the French President as he arrived in Washington for talks with Donald Trump. Although the US head of state made repeated remarks about his French counterpart’s wife being a “wonderful woman” Owens persisted on X: “Macron is a groomed weakling who should not be welcomed anywhere that adult decisions are being made. Better to deal with his perverted husband.” Recently the podcaster interviewed French “Brigitteologist” Xavier Poussard an obscure French extreme right hack notorious for having written more about the fake story of Brigitte Macron having been born a man than any other ‘journalist’ on the globe. Poussard showed his face for the first time during his chat with Owens. This is not the first time our two protagonists have interacted: at the end of August 2024, Owens had already exchanged words with the thirty-something. It was an opportunity for Poussard to explain that Emmanuel Macron's mother "was in charge of a medical program for transgender people" and that Brigitte Macron is "very close to David de Rothschild," which, according to him, would explain why "when someone talks about Brigitte Macron and pedophilia," they are automatically "accused of antisemitism." A line of reasoning that, according to Candace Owens, should have earned him a Pulitzer Prize (Source: Conspiracy Watch, 18 February, 2025).
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CONSPIROCRACY. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is now in the hands of two far-right conspiracy theorists who have spearheaded lies about a so-called “deep state”-FBI plot to overturn the 2020 election and manipulate the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021. Kash Patel, a die-hard Trump loyalist who has falsely claimed the FBI orchestrated the Jan. 6 attack and called for purging its agent enemies, has been confirmed as director. But the real shock came with his deputy announced by Trump on Sunday night: Dan Bongino, a serial liar, superspreader of election fraud myths, and longtime proponent of “deep state” conspiracies and pro-Russian propaganda. The three-time failed congressional candidate turned right-wing media demagogue has spent years weaponizing his massive online following to flood the internet with disinformation. A former deputy head of Alex Jones’ Infowars platform, he has pushed QAnon-adjacent theories, spread COVID-19 lies, and amplified the racist Great Replacement conspiracy. Bongino used his Fox News show Unfiltered to relentlessly undermine the 2020 election, railing against so-called fraud while cheering on Trump’s attempts to overturn the results. Follow the Money: The Shocking Deep State Connections of the Anti-Trump Cabal, is the title of Bongino’s book. Even after YouTube permanently banned him in 2022 for spreading COVID-19 disinformation, Facebook let him continue building an enormous audience. He also had a financial stake in Parler, the far-right platform booted from app stores after Jan. 6, and has since taken his show to Rumble—where he shares ties with none other than Vice President JD Vance, a key investor. Bongino has long attacked critics while posing as a champion of free speech, regularly blocking dissenters and launching tirades against journalists. Now, he’s second-in-command at the FBI, an agency he has spent years vilifying. His elevation, cheered by QAnon channels and pro-Trump extremists, is seen as a victory for those who believe the "deep state" is waging war on Trump.“Trump has assembled the dream team,” one QAnon influencer declared. “Get your popcorn ready.” (Sources: HuffPost, February 24, 2025; Wired, February, 24, 2025).
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ELON MUSK. X proprietor Musk, still smarting from having failed to sway German voters to usher in an extreme right AfD government, is being exposed by his own AI tool. Users of X have asked the Artificial Intelligence service Grok to list the top 15 accounts obsessive poster Musk interacts with. The 15 accounts are all pro-Russian and wildly conspiracist, including Infowars broadcaster Alex Jones, racist and antisemitic podcaster and Brigitte Macron defamer Candace Owens, pro-Kremlin extreme right anti-Jewish figure Jack Posobiec, neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and prolific disinformation spreaders like LibsofTikTok (Source: LinusEkenstam on X, February 24, 2025).
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DISINFORMATION. The new Eurobarometer Youth Survey, published by the European Parliament, found 76 percent of young people in the European Union consider that they have been exposed to fake news "sometimes", "very often" or "often". 42 percent of 16 to 30 year-olds surveyed use social networks as their main source of news, surpassing TV (39%). The most used platforms are Instagram (47%), TikTok (39%) and YouTube (37%). Online news websites are the third preferred option, with only 26 percent using them. A significant majority (76%) of young people believed they had been exposed to disinformation and fake news in the seven days prior to the survey, whereas 70% of the participants in the survey were confident they could recognize disinformation (Source: Eurobarometer, February 2025).
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