conspiracy theories

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Trump's Link to QAnon Comes Out in the Open

Mike Pence, top GOP figures to attend fundraiser hosted by QAnon backers

(Newser) - Vice President Mike Pence and top officials from President Trump's campaign are slated to attend a Montana fundraiser next week hosted by a couple who have expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to an event invitation obtained by the AP and a review of social media postings....

Tech Giant Cracks Down on QAnon
Tech Giant
Cracks Down
on QAnon
Aug 19, 2020 3:22 PM CDT

Tech Giant Cracks Down on QAnon

Groups and accounts are getting banned

(Newser) - Facebook says it will restrict the right-wing conspiracy movement QAnon and will no longer recommend that users join groups supporting it, although the company isn't banning it outright, the AP reports. Facebook said Wednesday it is banning groups and accounts associated with QAnon and a variety of US-based militia...

Fox Host Walks Back Praise for Fringe Movement

Jesse Watters first said QAnon has 'uncovered a lot of great stuff'

(Newser) - The fringe conspiracy movement QAnon picked up some praise from a Fox News host over the weekend, who then quickly walked it back. During an interview with Eric Trump on Saturday, Fox's Jesse Watters declared that QAnon has done some "crazy stuff," but "they've also...

Twitter Lays the Hammer Down on QAnon

Bans 7K accounts, places restrictions on another 150K

(Newser) - Twitter is banning 7,000 QAnon accounts and limiting another 150,000, the social media service announced Tuesday. "These accounts are engaging in behavior that is designed to further the spread of content that has resulted in clear and well-documented informational, physical, societal and psychological offline harm," a...

Facebook Groups Pivot to Attack 'Thugs' at BLM

Their language directly violates Facebook's hate-speech standards

(Newser) - A loose network of Facebook groups that took root across the country in April to organize protests over coronavirus stay-at-home orders has become a hub of misinformation and conspiracy theories that have pivoted to a variety of new targets. Their latest: Black Lives Matter and the nationwide protests of racial...

Conspiracy Video 'Plandemic' Gets Yanked, but Persists

Judy Mikovits has an ax to grind against Anthony Fauci

(Newser) - If you've seen or heard the word "Plandemic" the last few days, there's good reason. It's the title of a 26-minute video spreading wild conspiracy theories about the coronavirus that has been yanked by YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. But the word keeps trending as believers find...

Alex Jones' Latest 'Rant' Looks Like a Deal-Breaker

The conspiracy theorist is looking at his neighbors and feeling hungry

(Newser) - Alex Jones took his rants to a new level Friday by threatening to chop up and eat his neighbors amid the coronavirus lockdown, Vice reports. "My children aren't going hungry," he said on his live-streamed radio show . "My children aren't going hungry. I'll admit...

Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Made Her Life a 'Nightmare'

US Army reservist Maatje Benassi is falsely accused of being COVID patient zero in China

(Newser) - Maatje Benassi, a US Army reservist who lives in Virginia, is just trying to get through these days of quarantine like everyone else. But as CNN reports, she has a big additional change: She is now the center of a wackadoo conspiracy theory that accuses her of being "patient...

Conspiracy Theorists Hijack Country Singer's Virus Death

Widow of Joe Diffie slams 'false and hurtful' claims on how her husband died

(Newser) - Conspiracy theorists are twisting facts online about country singer Joe Diffie's death from COVID-19 complications in an effort to promote their claims that health officials are exaggerating the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Diffie, who topped the charts in the 1990s with honky-tonk singles including "Home" and "...

Bill Gates Is Now Favorite Target of Conspiracy Theories

Bizarre tales abound on the internet regarding him and the coronavirus

(Newser) - Bill Gates has been warning the world about a pandemic for years, and now that we've got one, Gates himself is getting some unwanted attention. The New York Times reports that he's now the No. 1 topic of wild conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus, as tracked by...

FDA Has a Coronavirus Warning for Alex Jones

Tells Infowars host to stop hawking fake treatments for the virus

(Newser) - Count Alex Jones among the people hawking fake coronavirus treatments . The FDA and the FTC warned the right-wing conspiracy theorist in a letter to stop promoting and selling silver-infused products including toothpaste and mouthwash that "are intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19." Those products are...

Shocked Voice at Trump Rally: 'Was That a Q?'

How the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory entered the political mainstream

(Newser) - President Donald Trump was more than halfway through his speech at a rally in Milwaukee when one of his hand gestures caught the eye of a supporter standing in the packed arena. The 51-year-old woman believed the president had traced the shape of the letter "Q" with his fingers...

Alex Jones, Infowars Hit for $100K Over Sandy Hook

Judge orders conspiracy theorist to pay court costs, legal fees to family of slain Newtown boy Jesse Lewis

(Newser) - Alex Jones and his Infowars website haven't even gone to trial yet regarding a lawsuit brought against him by a Sandy Hook family, but the case has already put him nearly $130,000 in the hole, not counting his own expenses. Per the Daily Beast , in addition to an...

Giuliani to Reporter: 'I'm More of a Jew' Than George Soros

President's lawyer also calls Hungarian-born philanthropist 'a horrible human being'

(Newser) - Landing an interview with the president's lawyer over drinks results in quite the chat as Olivia Nuzzi can now attest, as her conversation with Rudy Giuliani for New York magazine got controversial even before they got to their destination. During the car ride to NYC's Mark Hotel, Giuliani...

Sacha Baron Cohen Unloads on Zuckerberg

He says Facebook would have catered to Hitler if it were around in the 1930s

(Newser) - Sacha Baron Cohen has a plan to "save democracy"—one that involves putting an end to "the greatest propaganda machine in history." Honored Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League for his efforts to expose hate through comedy, Baron Cohen blamed tech giants Google, Twitter, and Facebook for...

In Lawmaker's Impeachment Tweets, a 'Morbid Acrostic'

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar spelled out 'EPSTEIN DIDN'T KILL HIMSELF'

(Newser) - Politicians and lawmakers use social media for all kinds of reasons: to inform their constituents, educate the general public, air grievances , and ... post "morbid acrostics"? That's what Politico says GOP Rep. Paul Gosar's Twitter account did Wednesday as it live-tweeted the first public Trump impeachment hearing...

Mulvaney: OK, There Was a Quid Pro Quo

The acting White House chief of staff gives a new answer about Ukraine policy

(Newser) - "I have news for everybody: Get over it." Mick Mulvaney said so Thursday while acknowledging a quid pro quo regarding US aid to Ukraine—the first such admission by a White House official, the New York Times reports. The acting White House chief of staff said the administration...

City Will Give You $1.1M to Prove It Doesn't Exist

There are 'no limits to creativity,' German city says

(Newser) - A German city that's been the subject of a long-running online light-hearted conspiracy theory claiming it doesn't really exist is offering big bucks to whoever proves that's true. Officials in Bielefeld said Wednesday they'll give 1 million euros—$1.1 million—to the person who delivers...

Experts Have Different Take on Epstein's Broken Neck Bones

'Actually suggests much more strongly that it was hanging'

(Newser) - Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy appears to have created more questions than answers , but one reporter says the conspiracy theories may be unnecessary. Writing for CNN Business , Oliver Darcy notes the Washington Post story that set the internet abuzz reported on Epstein's post-mortem, which found "multiple breaks in his...

Investigation Traces Seth Rich Conspiracy Back to Russia

Yahoo reports that Russian organizations concocted tale about Democratic staffer

(Newser) - Remember the Seth Rich conspiracy stories ? Back in the summer of 2016, the 27-year-old staffer for the Democratic National Committee was killed in his DC neighborhood in what police say was a botched robbery. But a wild theory quickly emerged on the right, alleging that assassins working on behalf...

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