Everything You Need To Know About Pizzagate
Yesterday, a North Carolina man walked into the DC pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong and fired an assault rifle. Thankfully there were no casualties. The man would later tell the police he was there to "self-investigate" the election-related "Pizzagate" conspiracy. What is Pizzagate and how did it gain traction? Here's what you need to know.
It Revolves Around The Theory That Comet Ping Pong Is A Front For A Child Sex Ring Run By Hillary Clinton
You can't make this stuff up…
The restaurant's owner and employees were threatened on social media in the days before the election after fake news stories circulated claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the restaurant's backrooms.
It All Started When Comet Ping Pong's Owner Appeared In The Podesta Emails As A Major Democrat Backer
The owner, James Alefantis, has raised money for Democratic politicians before and is connected to progressive leaders.
James Alefantis is the owner of Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington. He's also a big Democratic Party supporter and raised money for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He was once in a relationship with David Brock, an influential liberal operative. Alefantis — who's never met Clinton — appeared in the Podesta emails in connection with the fundraisers.
[BBC]
Far-Right 4chan And Reddit Users Saw This And Then Concocted Pizzagate, Spreading It Fast And Far
The 4Chan users immediately speculated about the links between Comet Ping Pong and the Democratic Party. Some posited the restaurant was part of a larger Democratic child trafficking ring, which was a theory long held by some conservative blogs. That idea jumped to other social media services such as Twitter and Reddit, where it gained momentum on the page "The_Donald." A new Reddit discussion thread called "Pizzagate" quickly attracted 20,000 subscribers.
Fake News And Conspiracy Theory Sites Gave The 4chan And Reddit Posts A Veneer Of Credibility
[T]hanks to just a few tweets, a couple of message board posts, and the help of some pro-Trump sites eager for traffic, this conspiracy theory generated hundreds of thousands of engagements on Facebook, reaching potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of people.
[BuzzFeed]
Support Of The Theory By Turkish Conservatives Brought It To New Levels Of Prominence Online
After Turkey's own government child abuse scandal, Turkish conservatives and supporters of the Erdoğan administration took hold of the Pizzagate theory as a form of political obfuscation.
Timing of PizzaGate was significant in that it initially blurred the public debate abound the actual child abuse problem in Turkey. Back in March, when a real child abuse scandal was revealed at the government-linked Ensar Foundation, the perpetrator received a heavy jail sentence, but the government was spared from an investigation by a diluting the issue in the Parliament.
Soon, protesters began to gather outside of Comet Ping Pong, shooting video encounters with Alefantis.
The Story Gained Enough Traction In Conservative Circles To Get Support From Trump's National Security Advisor
General Mike Flynn tweeted out a link to an article spreading the conspiracy theory.
A fake news story was even tweeted by General Mike Flynn, Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser. In the 3 November tweet he linked to a discredited story that suggested Hillary Clinton and her "crew" were involved in child abuse and added the comment "U decide."
Which Then Led To Threats Against The Restaurant
Last month, D.C. police told Fox 5 that they were not investigating Comet and were keeping an eye on those who were threatening the restaurant and its employees. Restaurant general manager Bryce Reh told the station that some conspiracy theorists were using photos of actual children from the establishment's website to push the false stories.
[Fox News]
Reddit Eventually Banned The Popular Pizzagate Subreddit
The company noted the disclosure of personal information as the reason for its decision:
We wanted to let you know that after several long discussions on our end we are unable to keep your community open after today. This is because we're still seeing PII of private individuals continually posted on your subreddit and it's not being removed by moderators after multiple warnings and discussions with your team.
Can't get enough Digg explainers? Check them all out here.
