Editorial Director of Conspiracy Watch, Rudy Reichstadt has published widely on conspiracy theories and online hate speech, including “Extending the domain of denial: conspiracism and negationism”. He is the author of two non-fiction books (in French), “L’Opium des imbéciles” (2019) and “Au cœur du complot” (2023). A regular contributor to the French newspaper Franc-Tireur, Rudy also co-hosts “Complorama”, a bi-monthly podcast on public radio France Info. He founded Conspiracy Watch (see the French edition here) in 2007.
Roger Avary made his name as co-writer, alongside Quentin Tarantino, of the cult film Pulp Fiction. Now he has resurfaced as the apostle of a fictional belief system that, in the hierarchy of conspiracy theories, ranks alongside Flat Earthism. Appearing a few weeks ago on Joe Rogan's podcast—one of the most listened-to shows in the […]
“LOL, what a plot twist that SPLC was funding the KKK… as Democrats always have. Another “conspiracy theory” coming true in real time.” It was with this gleeful message, posted on X, that Donald Trump Jr. reacted to the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the leading American organizations monitoring the […]
In later life Jean-Jacques Rousseau became convinced that former friends, including Diderot and Voltaire were plotting against him. He accused David Hume, who’d brought him to London to escape persecution in France, of much the same. Rousseau had many real enemies, including both Catholics and the Calvinists, and his books had been burnt in public. […]
The DOJ's release of three million documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation has touched off what could charitably labeled a feeding frenzy. Every journalist, Epstein watcher, conspiracy theorist, and researcher has gobbled them up like koi rising to the surface of a pond, mouths agape as they suck in food pellets. Some of the […]
Thousands of demonstrators shot behind closed doors − with multiple reports that more than 16,500 people have been killed — hundreds of thousands injured, hundreds of executions scheduled. The repression unleashed against the Iranian people by the regime of the Mullahs has reached terrifying proportions. Faced with this methodical state violence, Ayatollah Khamenei and his […]
Rejected by historians, scientists and archaeologists but embraced by millions of readers, Erich von Däniken has died at 90. He became one of the most commercially successful purveyors of pseudo-archaeology and paranormal speculation of the late 20th century, reaching the height of his influence in the late 1960s and 1970s. At the peak of his […]
The verdict comes from the most powerful figure in the White House after Donald Trump. In Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles — the president’s chief of staff — described Vice President JD Vance as a “conspiracy theorist for a decade.” In the same profile, she labelled White House Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought […]
On November 13, 2015, France was struck by the deadliest terrorist attack in its history. In the heart of Paris, Islamist suicide attackers affiliated with the Islamic State massacred 90 people at the Bataclan concert hall and killed 130 in total during a rampage across the capital’s cafés and streets. The facts of the attacks […]
This week in Paris, ten people went on trial for cyber-bullying Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, by spreading a conspiracy theory as grotesque as it was absurd. For the most serious offenses, prosecutors sought suspended sentences ranging from three to twelve months. Yet Brigitte Macron herself has, in a sense, been […]
The invention of imaginary plots on the one hand and the denial of reality on the other are two sides of the same coin. That is why historical negationism, insofar as it stems from a fundamentally conspiracist approach, has always been at the heart of our editorial concerns. Over more than fifteen years of research […]
