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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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SEPTEMBER 11. Conspiracy blogger and antisemitic YouTuber Ahmed Sulaiman used the opportunity of the anniversary of September 11, 2001 to propagate fabricated and oft-repeated allegations that the terrorist attacks on the United States were an Israeli plot, not hesitating to quote conspiracy theorist David Icke. In multiple social media posts and an online ‘spaces’ broadcast he hosted on X promising “THE TRUTH ABOUT 9/11 EXPOSED!!!”, featuring fellow conspiracists like the neo-Nazi October 7 denialist Lucas Gage, Ahmed declared the terrorist horrors in New York and Washington DC were committed by people with Hebrew accents. He also returned to the tired, fake claim that Israelis danced at the news of the attacks. The Britain-based creator who has more than 530,000 followers on X, has been repeatedly fact-checked for misinformation. He is among a large number of extremist influencers who are reaping the benefits of X's verification and paid subscriber programs. Since Elon Musk's turbulent 2022 acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, the site has restored thousands of once-banned accounts and introduced a paid verification system that critics say has boosted conspiracy theorists. These influencers on X are monetizing misinformation about conflicts in the Middle East, leveraging the platform's contentious policies that researchers say prioritize engagement over accuracy. (Sources: Ahmed Sulaiman/X, September 11, 2024; AFP, February 21, 2024).
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Source: Ahmed Sulaiman/X, 09/12/2024
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PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. Donald Trump was in full blown crackpot conspiracy theorist mode during his disastrous first televised confrontation with Kamala Harris. The former president, in an often incoherent performance, made false claims about illegal immigrants eating pets. He blamed the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Washington Capitol on “out of control police officers,” and repeated his “stop the steal” lie of having won the 2020 election. “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” he said at one point, repeating the baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have effectively taken over the town, attacking residents and eating their pets. Vice President Harris kept baiting Trump into repeating more misinformation, getting him to explode into a rage and ramble about everything from the danger of windmills to post-birth abortions to forced transgender surgery being performed in prisons. Misinformation and conspiracy theories have been used as a smokescreen by Trump since he first began positioning himself for his successful run for the White House in 2016. Among other conspiracies used to build his far right base, he spread “birtherism” lies about Barack Obama not having been born in the United States But this week, misinformation was, for the first time in almost a decade, a political liability. The media isn’t playing ball anymore, and voters were unimpressed, overwhelmingly awarding the debate to Harris - even on Fox News and among devoted Republicans (Sources: GQ Magazine, September 11, 2024; New York Magazine, September 10, 2024).
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KAMALA HARRIS. The QAnon/conspiracy sphere went all in on a bizarre theory that "Kamala's earrings were actually earphones" following Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Clearly furious that their preferred candidate lost the debate the conspiracists clamored to invent tales, seemingly to make up for the defeat. The false claims that Harris wore clip-on audio headphones disguised as pearl earrings circulated on social media and were promoted by prominent accounts on X and other platforms. Influencers including conspiracy theorist and far right activist Laura Loomer, who accompanied Trump to the Pennsylvania debate, claimed Harris's earrings were Nova H1 audio earphones, which are styled to look like pearl earrings. Loomer's post received more than 1.3 million views by Wednesday morning. However, the earphones do not look the same as Harris's earrings. A photograph from the original product review shows the Nova H1 earphones wrap around the earlobe, whereas Harris's earrings dangle and are for pierced earlobes (Sources: CBS, September 11, 2024; Mike Rothschild/X, September 11, 2024).
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TAYLOR SWIFT. Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president moments after the end of the presidential debate against Donald Trump. The pop star made her announcement in an Instagram post signed as "Childless Cat Lady" - a reference to comments by Trump's running mate JD Vance. In a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, then-Senate-candidate Vance depicted the US as being run by a conspiracy between Democrats, corporate oligarchs and "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. Swift’s post, breaking her silence on the 2024 vote, explained: "I'm voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them." The singer said she was in part motivated to share her voting decision with the public after an AI image of her falsely endorsing Trump was posted on his website. "It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation," she said. "It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter." Trump went on to embrace the fake images in a post that sparked a backlash among Swift's fans - or Swifties - who accused Trump of spreading misinformation. A February poll showed about one-third of Republicans believed Swift was involved in a covert “psy-ops” government effort to help the former candidate for re-election Joe Biden win the 2024 presidential election (Sources: BBC, September 11, 2024; NPR, July 29, 2024; CNN, February 14, 2024).
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BRIGITTE MACRON. Two women who spread the rumor online that Brigitte Macron was a transgender woman - a fake story that went viral and has been seized upon by American far right influencers like Candace Owens - were sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court for defamation. The two women were given a suspended fine of 500 euros, and ordered to pay a total of 8,000 euros in damages to France’s First Lady, and 5,000 euros to her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux, both civil parties to the trial, which took place last June. Brigitte Macron, who was absent from the trial, was also not present for the decision. At the heart of the case is a theory that has resurfaced regularly on social networks since the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, according to which Brigitte Macron, née Trogneux, never existed, but that her brother Jean-Michel took on this identity after undergoing a sex change. The two women played a major role in spreading this conspiracy in 2021 in a long “interview” lasting over four hours in which the first, “medium” Amandine Roy, interviewed the second, Natacha Rey, a “self-taught freelance journalist” on her YouTube channel, about the discovery of this “deception”, “swindle” and “state lie” (Source: Franceinfo, September 12, 2024).
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