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BeforePizzagate represented an early example of how conspiracy theories could spread rapidly through social media platforms and motivate real-world actions. ## Movement Evolution **2016: Viral Spread** Conspiracy theory emerged and spread rapidly across social media platforms during the 2016 election cycle. **Platform Amplification** Various social media platforms amplified the conspiracy theory through algorithmic recommendation and user sharing. **Real-World Consequences** The online conspiracy theory led to real-world incidents, including an armed individual investigating the claims in …
AfterPizzagate was a conspiracy theory alleging that a child-abuse ring was operated from a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant by figures connected to the 2016 Democratic presidential campaign. It was false. No part of it was ever substantiated. ## How it was assembled Tuters, Jokubauskaitė and Bach reconstructed its formation from 4chan's archive and found that it was built in about twenty-five hours, on November 2 and 3, 2016, across nineteen sequential threads on the /pol/ board. Participants worked collaboratively: reading the leaked Podesta emails for phrases they could reinterpret, treating …