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| Newsletter 07/25/2024 |
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Conspiracy Watch diligently curates and produces comprehensive materials and resources for understanding conspiracy theories. If you want to help us bolster our efforts...
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There is Almost Never a Conspiracy to Assassinate a President – Except When There Is
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The Trump assassination attempt was the same as virtually every previous presidential assassination or attempt in US history, with no conspiracy or overarching plot
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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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JOE BIDEN. Elon Musk’s X platform boosted wild conspiracy theories that the United States President had an undisclosed medical emergency and might be dying, despite a lack of evidence to support the claims. Donald Trump set the tone in a social media post hours after Biden said on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race, which came days after he received his Covid diagnosis. “Does anybody really believe that Crooked Joe had Covid? No,” Trump said. The false theories persisted even after Biden walked before news cameras on Tuesday and appeared healthy. Biden addressed the nation in a broadcast from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening. But earlier in the week, X created two special “trending” pages dedicated to what it said were “Biden’s Vegas Health Scare” and “Biden’s Vegas Emergency: Mystery Unfolds.” Biden was in Las Vegas on July 17 when he tested positive for Covid-19 but the trending pages are filled with unrelated speculation, including false assertions by users that he had been murdered or would be murdered soon by unseen forces. Those false assertions built on years of reality-bending messages from Trump and others on the hard right that have helped polarize the electorate and shaken Americans’ belief in a shared set of facts (Sources: NBC News, July 25, 2024; The Washington Post, July 25, 2024).
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KAMALA HARRIS. Within minutes of United States President Joe Biden endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the Democratic Party’s ticket on Sunday, the internet crackled with lies, altered photos and other misleading claims about Harris. Some supporters of former President Donald Trump, Republican nominee in the November election, even suggested Biden was the victim of a coup. On X, owner Elon Musk fanned an antisemitic conspiracy theory by replying to a photo of Harris and Alexander Soros, son of the billionaire mega-donor George Soros, by suggesting that Harris would be a “puppet” of the Soros family. Musk endorsed Trump this month and has been pumping out pro-Trump content to his roughly 190 million followers. Photoshopped images of Harris also circulated. One image of Harris posing with her husband had been edited to make it appear like the vice-president had posed with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and accused sex trafficker. On X, the hashtag “She’s Indian” was trending in the hours after Biden’s announcement, with some users advancing a false smear of Harris that she is “not Black” (Harris’ mother was born in India and her father was born in Jamaica). A review by social media analytics firm PeakMetrics of nearly 175,000 posts on X between 6 and 7 pm ET on Sunday that mentioned Harris in relation to Biden’s announcement found that 8.3% of the posts used “racialized” language in referring to Harris, while 4.5% posts used “sexualized” language (Source: CNN, July 22, 2024).
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PARIS OLYMPICS. Counterterrorism experts believe Vladimir Putin’s Russia is behind a fake Hamas video threatening “rivers of blood” in Paris during the Olympics, with the Opening Ceremony extravaganza on the Seine River scheduled for July 26. Jean-Charles Brisard of the Terrorism Analysis Centre told Le Figaro the video was “mainly spread by Telegram or X accounts known for their pro-Russian orientation, or their participation in destabilization attempts”. Arabic speakers were quick to point out that the man appearing in the video, his face wrapped in a keffiyeh scarf, did not have a Palestinian accent, prompting doubts over authenticity. French disinformation expert David Colon said Moscow-linked online networks were in overdrive for the Olympics, which are being targeted in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s strong support for Ukraine. Colon identified a slew of pro-Kremlin accounts spreading false information that the Australian cycling team had their bikes stolen in Paris (Source: The Times of London, July 25, 2024; David Colon/X, July 25, 2024).
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CANDACE OWENS. An upcoming fundraiser for Donald Trump dropped far right commentator Candace Owens from its guest lineup following a backlash over Owens’ record of embracing antisemitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial. The fundraiser on Friday July 26 is backed by a cryptocurrency called “MAGA Again” founded by Trump supporters with the aim of promoting his policies. It will feature Donald Trump Jr. as a headliner. Promotional materials for the fundraiser listed Owens as a prominent guest until she was abruptly removed from the lineup. The fundraiser is set to take place in Nashville, where neo-Nazis have marched down city streets and disrupted city council meetings in recent weeks, drawing concern from local Jewish communal leaders (Source: The Jerusalem Post, July 25, 2024).
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