It began on the evening of Sunday 25 May, when Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vietnam with his wife, Brigitte, at the start of an official tour of Southeast Asia. As the pair disembarked at Hanoi airport, a few press agency cameras caught a fleeting moment: Brigitte Macron’s hand moved toward her husband’s face. He appeared […]
For almost a century, right-wing extremists have been trying to introduce their conspiracist ideas into popular discourse. Through a number of central concepts, they want to dominate and distort political discussion and public opinion. ‘Umvolkung', a term used by the Nazis for the ‘re-Germanization’ of the diverse populations of Eastern Europe, has more recently been […]
It often takes just one offhand remark, misinterpreted picture, or joke that doesn’t land to start a conspiracy theory that subsequently never goes away. We’ve seen it happen time after time – World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein’s comment that the firefighting team working to save WTC 7 should be “pulled” serving as “proof” that […]
Before emerging as a far-right antisemitic conspiracy media figure, Stew Peters chased fame in the rap scene. After failing to break through musically, he pivoted to political provocation, finding in social media the perfect springboard. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he rose to prominence by posting viral videos that fused health misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate […]
Russia’s long-term objective in the global information war has never been to convince the world of its version of events. Instead, it seeks to erode the very idea that objective truth exists. The Kremlin’s goal, as described by British journalist Peter Pomerantsev, is to create a world where “nothing is true and everything is possible.” This strategy […]
Donald Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff has attracted global ridicule for spewing Kremlin conspiracy theories about Ukraine being a “false country” while lauding war criminal and dictator Vladimir Putin as “super smart and gracious”. In an extensive interview with pro-Russia far right broadcaster Tucker Carlson, Witkoff declared that Putin “was not a bad guy” and […]
In the first edition of the DFRLab’s Narrative Warfare series, released on the first anniversary of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we examined narratives that claimed Ukraine had developed biological weapons that were sponsored by the West. Now, on the third anniversary of the war, we reexamined this narrative and found the conspiracies and false […]
Jean-Marie Le Pen's lifelong obsession with Holocaust denial was strictly off the agenda at his carefully staged funeral and burial. A few days after the January 7, 2025 death of France's extreme right patriarch at the age of 96, Le Pen's clan assembled in La Trinité-sur-Mer. It was the village where the Front National founder […]
The newest generation of conspiracy theory influencers are able to move almost effortlessly between far-right and far-left beliefs. Many are openly anti-banking and anti-government, traits of the far-right, while also believing climate change is real and socialism is the key to defeating economic inequality – traits of the far-left. They push a mix of social […]
When French journalist and libertarian activist Thierry Meyssan published his book 9/11: The Big Lie in March 2002, the industry of conspiracy theories about the attacks was still in its infancy. There had been conspiracy theories that the hijackings were planned or carried out by the US government as early as that day. But it […]
