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| Newsletter 08/08/2024 |
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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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Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG)
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'ZOG' has been given fresh impetus by far right antisemites since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacres in Israel
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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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QANON. What do you do when a family member falls for QAnon? In her new book about the movement, Jesselyn Cook explores the harrowing experience of loving someone who’s embraced a conspiracy theory—and the impossible question of how long to stand by them. As the tech reporter Cook describes in The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family, Emily (a pseudonym, like all the names Cook uses) tumbled deep into QAnon, a sprawling set of far-right conspiracy theories embraced by around 20 per cent of Americans. At the center of this dark universe is “Q,” a mysterious online-forum poster claiming to be a government official in cahoots with Donald Trump; together, Q suggests, they’re working to defeat a diabolical echelon of global elites (Source: The Atlantic, July 30, 2024).
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ELON MUSK. The Billionaire Tesla CEO has directly attacked United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer in multiple posts on X, amid race riots initially encouraged by extreme right disinformation spread on the social network he owns. The US businessman, who bought the social media platform in 2022, launched a tirade of posts in which he mocked and criticized Starmer. He quote-tweeted the co-leader of far right party Britain First, after it shared a fake headline from the Telegraph newspaper claiming the Starmer government would be sending right-wing prisoners arrested during the riots to “detainment camps” in the Falkland Islands. The post was seen by almost 1 million people in 15 minutes. After the Labour prime minister criticized the attacks on Muslim communities, Musk questioned why “all communities” should not be protected. He later reposted this comment, alongside several memes which depict the UK’s criminal justice system as racially biased, as well as calling the Labour leader “#twotierkeir.” Earlier Musk darkly predicted that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain (Sources: The New York Times, August 7, 2024; The Independent, August 8, 2024; The Telegraph/X, August 8, 2024).
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UK RIOTS. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has condemned the “alarming scale of misinformation online,” after Russian Telegram channels circulated a fake BBC screenshot falsely claiming the Rabbi had called for all mosques in the UK to be closed in the wake of far right riots. Mirvis called the fake story a “pernicious lie” and implored “all users of social media to think critically and act responsibly”. Imam Qari Asim, a trustee of Peace Matters and Hope Note Hate, came to Mirvis’ defense. “The Chief Rabbi has not called for any Mosques to be closed,” he shared in a post on social media (Source: The Jewish Chronicle, August 8, 2024).
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ANTISEMITISM. The new British Labour Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green in London, with a high Jewish population, has complained over an anti-fascist group equating ‘Zionists’ with the far right. It’s ‘clearly anti-Semitic’, said Sarah Sackman citing concerns from Finchley residents about the slogan on leaflets used by self-described anti-fascist and anti-racists protesters. On Wednesday evening around 1,000 activists and dozens of police officers had gathered along North Finchley High Road over concerns far right agitators were planning to target an immigration office. A poster from the group Finchley Against Fascism advertising the event read “Get Fascists, Racists, Nazis, Zionists and Islamophobes out of Finchley.” A small number of demonstrators were reported to have later chanted “Free Palestine” outside a local synagogue (Source: The Telegraph, August 8, 2024).
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OLYMPICS. Fake news stories have proliferated spreading unfounded claims a series of Olympians fell ill and were hospitalized as a result of contaminated water after their triathlon swims in the Seine River. A French Member of Parliament Ersilia Soudais, from the extreme left La France Insoumise - France Unbowed - party posted on X using a doctored front page purporting to show Triathlon competitors vomiting next to the Seine after the event. Soudais was forced to apologize for spreading conspiracy theories. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who swam in the Seine in June, condemned the fake news. World Triathlon released data Tuesday showing that when the triathletes swam Monday, the levels of fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci were within acceptable levels for the length of the triathlon relay course. However, a test run meant to allow Olympic athletes to familiarize themselves with the marathon swimming course in the Seine River was canceled Tuesday over concerns about water quality in the Paris waterway (Source: AP, August 7, 2024).
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