What is Pizzagate?
The Pizzagate conspiracy theory emerged during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, a period of heightened political tension and partisanship. A central event that played a significant role in the origins of Pizzagate was the hacking of John Podesta’s personal email account in March 2016. Podesta was the campaign chair for Hillary Clinton, and his emails were subsequently published by WikiLeaks in November 2016. Proponents of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory falsely claimed these emails contained coded messages that linked several high-ranking Democratic Party officials and U.S. restaurants with an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring. One of the establishments falsely implicated was the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C..
The conspiracy theory was initially propagated by members of the alt-right, conservative journalists, and individuals who had urged for Clinton’s prosecution over her use of an unrelated private email server. These groups and individuals played a pivotal role in spreading the conspiracy theory, using social media outlets such as 4chan, 8chan, Reddit, and Twitter as their main platforms for dissemination.
Notable figures involved in promoting the theory included alt-right activists like Mike Cernovich, Brittany Pettibone, and Jack Posobiec, as well as other influencers outside the political sphere, such as basketball player Andrew Bogut and Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson.
The origins and key players of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory highlight the potent combination of political tension, misinformation, and the power of social media platforms in propagating baseless allegations. The misuse of real events, such as the WikiLeaks publication of Podesta’s emails, added a veneer of credibility to the unfounded claims, allowing the conspiracy theory to gain traction despite its lack of grounding in factual evidence.
The Spread of the Conspiracy
The conspiracy theory started to gain traction when a Twitter account posting white supremacist material falsely claimed that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner’s emails on October 30, 2016. The same account falsely stated that Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., was a meeting ground for Satanic ritual abuse. This false information started to circulate more widely on social media platforms and was eventually picked up by fake news websites.
One of the first fake news websites to publish the conspiracy theory was Your News Wire, which cited a 4chan post from earlier that year. The Your News Wire article was subsequently spread by pro-Trump websites, including SubjectPolitics.com, which added the false claim that the NYPD had raided Hillary Clinton’s property. The Conservative Daily Post ran a headline claiming the Federal Bureau of Investigation had confirmed the conspiracy theory, further fueling its spread and acceptance among certain groups.
The allegations reached the “mainstream internet” just a few days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, after a Reddit user posted a Pizzagate “evidence” document. The original Reddit post, removed between November 4 and 21, alleged the involvement of Comet Ping Pong and made a series of baseless allegations against the business and its associates.
The spread of the conspiracy theory was not just limited to the internet. Other promoters, such as CBS46 anchor Ben Swann, helped to push the story into more traditional media outlets. There was also international promotion of the theory, with the German edition of The Epoch Times, a far-right Falun Gong-associated newspaper, publishing the story.
The spread and evolution of the Pizzagate conspiracy highlight the ways in which misinformation can quickly spread across different platforms and media, evolving and growing more complex as new layers of falsehoods are added. Despite the lack of any credible evidence, the conspiracy theory was able to thrive due to a combination of confirmation bias, the speed of information spread on social media, and the exploitation of existing political divisions.
The Attack on Comet Ping Pong by Edgar Welch
The Pizzagate conspiracy theory began to have real-world consequences when it inspired a man named Edgar Maddison Welch to take matters into his own hands. A 28-year-old from Salisbury, North Carolina, Welch was deeply affected by the claims he found online about a supposed child sex trafficking ring operating out of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C. Feeling compelled to “self-investigate” and potentially “rescue” the non-existent victims, he decided to act.
On December 4, 2016, Welch made the journey from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., armed with an AR-15-style rifle, a .38 caliber Colt revolver, and a folding knife. His intention was to liberate the children he believed were being held captive in the basement of Comet Ping Pong, a belief fueled by the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Upon arriving at the pizzeria, Welch immediately began searching the premises.
The scene inside the restaurant was one of fear and confusion. Patrons and staff, completely unaware of the online conspiracy theory, were confronted with an armed man combing through the establishment. During his search, Welch fired three shots inside the pizzeria. One bullet damaged a computer tower, another hit a lock, but thankfully, no one was physically harmed in the incident. His investigation turned up no evidence of human trafficking or any hidden rooms or tunnels, and finding himself in a place far different from what he had envisioned, Welch eventually surrendered to the police.
In a subsequent interview with The New York Times, Welch expressed some regret over his actions. “I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way,” he admitted. The image painted by the conspiracy theory had been so vivid and so horrifying that Welch recalled his “heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering.” Even after his fruitless search of Comet Ping Pong, he could not completely dismiss the possibility of the Clinton-connected child sex ring. His belief had been so firmly entrenched that he was only able to say there were no children “inside that dwelling.”
Welch’s actions marked a significant escalation in the Pizzagate saga, demonstrating the dangerous real-world implications of such unfounded theories. His attack brought the conspiracy theory into the mainstream spotlight and highlighted the risks of misinformation and false claims on the internet. For his actions, Welch faced legal repercussions and was later sentenced to four years in federal prison.
From Alex Jones’ Apology to Public Reactions
Following the attack on Comet Ping Pong, public response to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory became more serious, with many recognizing the real-world dangers that such unfounded stories could provoke. One significant event in the aftermath of the incident was the apology issued by Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, a far-right media outlet that had helped to spread the Pizzagate theory.
Jones, who had been a vocal proponent of the theory, was forced to retract his statements due to a legal threat from James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong. On March 24, 2017, Jones issued a public apology to Alefantis for his role in spreading the theory, stating, “I made comments about Mr. Alefantis that in hindsight I regret, and for which I apologize to him.” This marked a rare instance of Jones walking back previous statements and was seen as an acknowledgment of the potential harm caused by the propagation of unfounded conspiracy theories.
The legal threat and Jones’ subsequent apology underscored the serious implications of promoting such baseless theories. Not only did they highlight the potential for violence, as evidenced by Welch’s actions, but they also brought attention to the reputational damage suffered by those implicated in these unfounded narratives. For Alefantis and Comet Ping Pong, the Pizzagate theory had led to significant distress and danger, transforming their lives and business.
In addition to Jones’ apology, the incident also prompted broader conversations about the role of social media platforms in spreading conspiracy theories. Reddit, one of the primary platforms where the Pizzagate theory had been discussed, banned the r/Pizzagate subreddit shortly after the incident at Comet Ping Pong due to violations of its policy against doxxing, or the sharing of private or identifying information without consent. This raised questions about the responsibility of social media platforms to monitor and control the content shared on their sites, a debate that continues to this day.
Despite these responses, however, the Pizzagate theory did not entirely disappear. In fact, it served as a precursor to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which began gaining traction in 2017. While less focused on the Clintons, QAnon maintains the central premise of a global elite involved in child sex trafficking, showing the persistence and evolution of these unfounded narratives even in the face of substantial debunking and public condemnations.
Legacy and Influence of Pizzagate: From Conspiracy Theory to Cultural Phenomenon
Despite the widespread debunking of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and the public apology of one of its main promoters, the theory has had a lasting impact on American society and politics and has even resurged at various times. Notably, Pizzagate has served as a precursor to and part of the broader QAnon conspiracy theory, which alleges that a global cabal of elite pedophiles is being secretly fought by former President Donald Trump.
The spread of Pizzagate and its influence on QAnon have highlighted several important societal trends and issues. First, they demonstrate the power of the internet and social media in spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories. Despite the lack of any credible evidence to support the claims of Pizzagate, the theory was able to gain a substantial following and even inspire real-world actions due to its dissemination on platforms like 4chan, Reddit, and Twitter.
Second, the persistence of Pizzagate and its transformation into QAnon reveal the deep-seated mistrust that some segments of the population have towards mainstream institutions, including the media and government. This mistrust has fueled the belief in conspiracy theories that propose alternative narratives to those provided by traditional sources of information.
Lastlly, the enduring belief in Pizzagate and QAnon despite their debunking has raised serious concerns about the potential for such conspiracy theories to incite violence and harassment. The attack on Comet Ping Pong was a stark demonstration of these dangers, and subsequent events, including the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, have further highlighted the potential for conspiracy theories to inspire violent actions.
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