# List of conspiracy theories

Астана Астанинская Астана

From Wikipedia, the not-free encyclopedia

The Eye of Providence, or the all-seeing eye of God, seen here on the US$1 bill, has been taken by some to be evidence of a conspiracy involving the founders of the United States and the Illuminati.[1]: 58 [2]: 47-49

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of conspiracy theories that are notable. Many conspiracy theories relate to supposed clandestine government plans and elaborate murder plots.[3] Conspiracy theories usually deny consensus opinion and cannot be proven using historical or scientific methods, and are not to be confused with research concerning verified conspiracies such as Germany's pretense for invading Poland in World War II.


In principle, conspiracy theories might not always be false, and their validity depends on evidence as for any theory. However, they are often implausible prima facie due to their convoluted and all-encompassing nature.[3]


Psychologists sometimes attribute proclivities toward conspiracy theories to a number of psychopathological conditions such as paranoia, schizotypy, narcissism, and insecure attachment,[4] or to a form of cognitive bias called "illusory pattern perception".[5][6] However, the current scientific consensus holds that most conspiracy theorists are not pathological, but merely exaggerate certain cognitive tendencies that are universal in the human brain and probably have deep evolutionary origins, such as natural inclinations towards anxiety and agent detection.[4]


Aviation

Numerous conspiracy theories pertain to air travel and aircraft. Incidents such as the 1955 bombing of the Kashmir Princess, the 1985 Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash, the 1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash, the 1987 Helderberg Disaster, the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and the 1994 Mull of Kintyre helicopter crash as well as various aircraft technologies and alleged sightings, have all spawned theories of foul play which deviate from official verdicts.[7]


Black helicopters

Main article: Black helicopter

This conspiracy theory emerged in the US in the 1960s. The John Birch Society originally promoted[8] it, asserting that a United Nations force would soon arrive in black helicopters to bring the US under UN control. A similar theory concerning so-called "phantom helicopters" appeared in the UK in the 1970s.[9]


The theory re-emerged in the 1990s during the presidency of Bill Clinton, and was "energetically" promoted by writer Jim Keith in his book Black Helicopters Over America. By the 2000s, the term "black helicopters" became a shorthand for antigovernment conspiracy theories that "stretch the bounds of credulity",[10] such as those espoused by militia groups and a number of guests of talk show host Glenn Beck.[11][12]


Chemtrails

Main article: Chemtrail conspiracy theory


A high-flying jet's engines leaving a condensation trail (contrail)

Also known as SLAP (Secret Large-scale Atmospheric Program), this theory alleges that water condensation trails ("contrails") from aircraft consist of chemical or biological agents, or contain a supposedly toxic mix of aluminum, strontium and barium,[13] under secret government policies. An estimated 17% of people globally believe the theory to be true or partly true. In 2016, the Carnegie Institution for Science published the first-ever peer-reviewed study of the chemtrail theory; 76 out of 77 participating atmospheric chemists and geochemists stated that they had seen no evidence to support the chemtrail theory, or stated that chemtrail theorists rely on poor sampling.[14][15]


Korean Air Lines Flight 007

The destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by Soviet jets in 1983 has long drawn the interest of conspiracy theorists. The theories range from allegations of a planned espionage mission, to a US government cover-up, to the consumption of the passengers' remains by giant crabs.[16]


Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

See also: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance theories

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in southeast Asia in March 2014 has prompted many theories. One theory suggests that this plane was hidden away and reintroduced as Flight MH17 later the same year in order to be shot down over Ukraine for political purposes. American conspiracy theorist James H. Fetzer has placed responsibility for the disappearance with the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[17] Historian Norman Davies has promoted the conspiracy theory that hackers remotely took over a Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot, supposedly installed on board, remotely piloting the aircraft to Antarctica.[18][19]


Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014. This event has spawned numerous alternative theories. These variously include allegations that it was secretly Flight MH370, that the plane was actually shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force to frame Russia, that it was part of a conspiracy to conceal the "truth" about HIV (seven disease specialists were on board), or that the Illuminati or Israel was responsible.[17][20]


Business and industry


New Coke was manufactured between 1985 and 2002.

Deepwater Horizon

Multiple conspiracy theories pertain to a fatal oil-rig industrial accident in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, alleging sabotage by those seeking to promote environmentalism, or a strike by North Korean or Russian submarines. Elements of such theories had been suggested or promoted by US radio host Rush Limbaugh.[21][22]


New Coke

Main article: New Coke ╗ Conspiracy theories

A theory claims that The Coca-Cola Company intentionally changed to an inferior formula with New Coke, with the intent either of driving up demand for the original product or permitting the reintroduction of the original with a new formula using cheaper ingredients.[23] Coca-Cola president Donald Keough rebutted this charge: "The truth is, we're not that dumb, and we're not that smart."[24]


Deaths and disappearances

Conspiracy theories frequently emerge following the deaths of prominent leaders and public figures.


Death of Nero

In ancient times, widespread conspiracy theories were circulated pertaining to the death of the Roman emperor Nero, who committed suicide in 68 AD.[25] Some of these theories claimed that Nero had actually faked his death and was secretly still alive, but in hiding, plotting to reestablish his reign.[25] In most of these stories, he was said to have fled to the East, where he was still influential.[25] Other theories held that Nero would return from the dead to retake his throne.[25] Many early Christians feared Nero's return to resume his vicious anti-Christian persecutions.[25] The Book of Revelation alludes to these conspiracy theories in its description of the slaughtered head returned to life.[25]


JFK assassination

Main article: John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories


John F. Kennedy in the presidential limousine shortly before his assassination

In modern times, multiple conspiracy theories concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 have emerged.[26] Vincent Bugliosi estimated that over 1,000 books had been written about the Kennedy assassination,[27] at least ninety percent of which are works supporting the view that there was a conspiracy.[27] As a result of this, the Kennedy assassination has been described as "the mother of all conspiracies".[28][29] The countless individuals and organizations that have been accused of involvement in the Kennedy assassination include the CIA, the Mafia, sitting Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, the KGB, or even some combination thereof.[30][27] It is also frequently asserted that the United States federal government intentionally covered up crucial information in the aftermath of the assassination to prevent the conspiracy from being discovered.[30]


Disappearance of Harold Holt


Harold Holt in 1966.

Main article: Disappearance of Harold Holt

At approximately 12:20pm on 17 December 1967, then-Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt, disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach, near the town of Portsea in Victoria. While it is presumed that Holt drowned, the topic is still described as one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in Australian history and has spawned many conspiracy theories.[31] The conspiracy theories have been widely criticised by the public and by members of Holt's own family.


In 2007, television presenter Ray Martin hosted the television special Who Killed Harold Holt?, which first aired on the Nine Network on 20 November 2007. While the special explored numerous theories about Holt's disappearance, it gave particular credence to the theory that he committed suicide.[32] In the lead-up to the airing of the program, Holt's biographer, Tom Frame, described the allegations made in the special as "unjustified and contrary to all the evidence" in an opinion piece published in The Australian newspaper, while Holt's son, Sam, said he was "amazed that people can still keep bringing up [these] fallacious theories".


Another conspiracy theory is that Holt was actually a spy for the Chinese government (under both the Nationalist and Communist governments) ever since he began studying at the University of Melbourne in 1929 and that he "pretended to drown", instead theorising that once below the surface two Chinese frogmen transported him to China in a submarine. This theory also claims that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) covered up any evidence. This theory was first promoted in British writer Anthony Grey's 1983 novel The Prime Minister Was a Spy, which attracted controversy in Australia.


Other conspiracy theories claim that Holt was assassinated. Targets of these claims include North Vietnam and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[33]


Death of other prominent figures

The deaths of prominent figures of all types attract conspiracy theorists, sometimes elaborating on historically verified conspiracies such as the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln,[34] as well as the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr.,[35] Eric V of Denmark, Dmitry Ivanovich, Sheikh Rahman, Yitzhak Rabin,[36] Zachary Taylor,[37] George S. Patton,[38][39] Diana, Princess of Wales,[40] Dag Hammarskjöld,[41] Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Tupac Shakur,[42] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,[43] John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Notorious B.I.G,[42] Pope John Paul I, Jill Dando, Olof Palme,[44] member of Linkin Park Chester Bennington,[45] Paul Walker, biological warfare authority David Kelly,[46] Haitian president Jovenel Moïse,[47] Indian freedom fighter Subash Chandra Bose,[48][49][50] and Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput.[51]


There are also claims that deaths were covered up. Such theories include the "Paul is dead" claim alleging that Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike Scottish orphan named William Shears Cambell who also went by Billy Shears, and that The Beatles hinted at this in their songs, most noticeably "Revolution 9", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Glass Onion", and "I Am the Walrus", as well on the covers of Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour.[52][53] Another is the conspiracy theory, widely circulated in Nigeria, which alleges that Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari died in 2017 and was replaced by a look-alike Sudanese impostor.[54][55] Many fans of punk-pop star Avril Lavigne claim that she died at the height of her fame and was replaced by a look-alike named Melissa.[56] The Melania Trump replacement theory proposes the same of the former US First Lady.[57][58]


Inverted theories concerning deaths are also known, prominently claims that Elvis Presley's death was faked[59] and that Adolf Hitler survived the Second World War and fled to the Americas, to Antarctica, or to the Moon.[60] Theories that Hitler had survived are known to have been deliberately promoted by the government of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin as part of a disinformation campaign.[61][62][63]


The disappearance, and often presumed death, of an individual may also become a cause for conspiracy theorists. Theories of a cover-up surrounding the 1974 disappearance of Lord Lucan following the murder of his family's nanny include, for example, allegations of a suicide plot whereby his body was fed to tigers at Howletts Zoo.[64][65][66] Numerous conspiracy theories have also attended the 2007 disappearance of English girl Madeleine McCann.[67]


The murder of Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich spawned several right-wing conspiracy theories, including that Rich had been involved with the leaked DNC emails in 2016, which runs contrary to US intelligence's conclusion that the leaked DNC emails were part of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[68][69][70] Law enforcement[68][69] as well as fact-checking websites like PolitiFact.com,[69][71] Snopes.com,[72] and FactCheck.org stated that these theories were false and unfounded.[68] The New York Times,[73] Los Angeles Times,[74] and The Washington Post called the fabrications fake news and falsehoods.[75]


Economics and society

New World Order

Main article: New World Order (conspiracy theory)


Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati

The New World Order theory states that a group of international elites control governments, industry, and media organizations, with the goal of establishing global hegemony. They are alleged to be implicated in most of the major wars of the last two centuries, to carry out secretly staged events, and to deliberately manipulate economies.


The New World Order has been connected to a wide range of actors including the Illuminati (see ╗ Illuminati), Jews (╗ Antisemitism), colluding world governments or corporations, NGOs such as the World Economic Forum (Great Reset ╗ Conspiracy theories), and secretive organizations such as Bohemian Grove,[76] Le Cercle,[77] and Skull and Bones. Theorists believe that a wide range of musicians, including Beyoncé and Whitney Houston, have been associated with the "group."[78] Prominent theorists include Mark Dice and David Icke.[79]


Predictive programming

Not to be confused with Predicative programming.

See also: The Simpsons ╗ Purported foreshadowing of actual events

Many theorists allege that the contents of fictional media, in a process called "predictive programming," are manipulated to reference planned false flags, technological innovations, social changes, and other future events.[80] These references are understood to be a conditioning and brainwashing tool, such that the public becomes more accepting of these events than they would be otherwise.[80][81]


Predictive programming has been used to explain events such as the September 11 attacks and COVID-19 pandemic, and has been connected with media such as Die Hard, The Simpsons, and Contagion.[80][82]


George Soros

Further information: False or misleading statements by Donald Trump and List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump

Hungarian-American investor George Soros has been the subject of conspiracy theories since the 1990s. Soros has used his wealth to promote many political, social, educational and scientific causes, disbursing grants totaling an estimated $11 billion up to 2016. However, theories tend to assert that Soros is in control of a large portion of the world's wealth and governments, and that he secretly funds a large range of persons and organizations for nefarious purposes, such as antifa, which some conspiracy theorists claim is a single far-left militant group. Such ideas have been promoted by Viktor Orban, Donald Trump,[83] Rudy Giuliani,[84] Joseph diGenova,[85] Bill O'Reilly, Roy Moore, Alex Jones, Paul Gosar, and Ben Garrison. Soros conspiracy theories are sometimes linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories.[86]


Freemasonry

Conspiracy theories concerning the Freemasons have proliferated since the 18th century. Theorists have alleged that Freemasons control large parts of the economies or judiciaries of a number of countries, and have alleged Masonic involvement in the British enquiry regarding the sinking of the Titanic and in the crimes of Jack the Ripper.[87][88] Notable among theorists has been American inventor Samuel Morse, who in 1835 published a book of his own conspiracy theories.[89] Freemason conspiracy theories have also been linked to certain antisemitic conspiracy theories.


Üst akıl

Conspiracy theories in Turkey started to dominate public discourse during the late reign of the Justice and Development Party and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[90] In 2014, Erdoğan coined the term üst akıl ("mastermind") to denote the alleged command and control institution, somewhat ambiguously placed with the government of the United States, in a comprehensive conspiracy to weaken or even dismember Turkey, by orchestrating every political actor and action perceived hostile by Turkey.[91][92][90] Erdoğan as well as the Daily Sabah newspaper have on multiple occasions alleged that very different non-state actors-like the Salafi jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the libertarian socialist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and supporters of Fethullah Gülen-were attacking Turkey at the same time in a well-coordinated campaign.[93]


One instance of promoting the "mastermind" conspiracy theory occurred in February 2017, when then-Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek claimed that earthquakes in the western province of Çanakkale could have been organized by dark external powers aiming to destroy Turkey's economy with an "artificial earthquake" near Istanbul.[94] In another example, in November 2017, the Islamist newspaper Yeni Akit claimed that the fashion trend of "ripped denim" jeans was in fact a means of communication, via specific forms of rips and holes, between agents of foreign states and their collaborators in Turkey.[95]


Espionage

Israel animal spying

There are conspiracy theories alleging that Israel uses animals to conduct espionage or to attack people. These are often associated with conspiracy theories about Zionism. Matters of interest to theorists include a series of shark attacks in Egypt in 2010, Hezbollah's accusations of the use of "spying" eagles,[96] and the 2011 capture of a griffon vulture carrying an Israeli-labeled satellite tracking device.[97]


Harold Wilson

Numerous persons, including former MI5 officer Peter Wright and Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, have alleged that former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was secretly a KGB spy. Historian Christopher Andrew has lamented that a number of people have been "seduced by Golitsyn's fantasies".[98][99][100]


Malala Yousafzai

Conspiracy theories concerning Malala Yousafzai are widespread in Pakistan, elements of which originate from a 2013 satirical piece in Dawn. These theories variously allege that she is a Western spy, or that her attempted murder by the Taliban in 2012 was a secret operation to further discredit the Taliban, and was organized by her father and the CIA and carried out by actor Robert de Niro disguised as an Uzbek homeopath.[101][102][103][104]


Ethnicity, race and religion

Antisemitism

Main articles: Antisemitic trope and International Jewish conspiracy


First edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Since at least the Middle Ages, antisemitism has featured elements of conspiracy theory. In medieval Europe it was widely believed that Jews poisoned wells, had been responsible for the death of Jesus, and ritually consumed the blood of Christians. The second half of the 19th century saw the emergence of notions that Jews and/or Freemasons were plotting to establish control over the world. Forged evidence has been presented to spread the notion that Jews were responsible for the propagation of communism, or the hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1903), which outlines a supposed high council of Jews planning to control the world.[105] Such antisemitic conspiracy theories became central to the worldview of Adolf Hitler. Antisemitic theories persist today concerning banking,[106] Hollywood, the news media and a purported Zionist Occupation Government of the United States.[107][108][109] These theories all allege plots to establish a world tyranny.[110]


Holocaust denial is also considered an antisemitic conspiracy theory, claiming that the Nazi extermination of European Jews is a hoax designed to win sympathy for Jews and justify the creation of the State of Israel.[111][112] Holocaust deniers include former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad,[113] the convicted chemist Germar Rudolf[114] and the discredited author David Irving.[115]


Reptilian conspiracies, prominent in ufology theories, have also been linked to anti-semitism,[59][116] as "a very old trope with disturbing links to anti-immigrant and antisemitic hostilities dating to the 19th century."[117] Conspiracy author David Icke suggests numerous Jewish political figures are reptilian shapeshifters and "the Jewish Rothschild family is part of a bloodline of reptilian humanoids that secretly control the world".[118] Critics contend these theories to be antisemitic, although he denies animosity towards Jewish people.[117] Other far-right ufologists speculate that the Jewish race originated from genetic engineering by malevolent extraterrestrials engaged in interstellar conflict with Anunnaki or Pleiadians.[119]


Anti-Armenianism

See also: Anti-Armenianism and Denial of the Armenian Genocide

Conspiracy theories that allege that the Armenians wield secret political power are prevalent in Azerbaijan[120] and have been promoted by the government,[121] including President Ilham Aliyev.[122][123][124]


Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has claimed that the Russian media is run by Armenians.[125] American writer and disbarred lawyer Samuel Weems[126] has claimed that the Armenian genocide was a hoax designed to defraud Christian nations of billions of dollars, and that the Armenian Church instigates terrorist attacks.[127] Filmmaker Davud Imanov has accused the Armenians of plotting against Azerbaijan and has claimed that the Karabakh movement was a plot by the CIA to destroy the Soviet Union.[128]


Anti-Baháʼísm

Main article: Persecution of Baháʼís

Iran's Baháʼí Faith minority has been the target of conspiracy theories alleging involvement with hostile powers. Iranian government officials and others have claimed that Baháʼís have been variously agents of the Russian, British, American or Israeli governments.[129] An apocryphal and historically inaccurate book published in Iran, entitled The Memoirs of Count Dolgoruki, details a theory that the Bahá'ís intend to destroy Islam. Such anti-Baháʼí accusations have been dismissed as having no factual foundation.[130][131][132]


Anti-Catholicism

See also: Anti-Catholicism, Vatican conspiracy theories, Jesuit conspiracy theories, and Controversies about Opus Dei


Anti-Catholic cartoon depicting Catholicism as an octopus, from H. E. Fowler and Jeremiah J. Crowley's The Pope (1913)

Since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, theories about Catholic conspiracies have taken many forms, including the 17th-century Popish Plot allegations,[133] claims by persons such as William Blackstone that Catholics posed a secret threat to Britain, and numerous writings by authors such as Samuel Morse, Rebecca Reed, Avro Manhattan, Jack Chick and Alberto Rivera. Theorists often claim that the Pope is the Antichrist, accuse Catholics of suppressing evidence incompatible with Church teachings, and describe Catholics as being involved with secret evil rituals, crimes, and other plots.


In 1853, the Scottish minister Alexander Hislop published his anti-Catholic pamphlet The Two Babylons,[134] in which he claims that the Catholic Church is secretly a continuation of the pagan religion of ancient Babylon, the product of a millennia-old conspiracy founded by the Biblical king Nimrod and the Assyrian queen Semiramis.[134] It also claims that modern Catholic holidays, including Christmas and Easter, are actually pagan festivals established by Semiramis and that the customs associated with them are pagan rituals. Modern scholars have unanimously rejected the book's arguments as erroneous and based on a flawed understanding of Babylonian religion,[134] but variations of them are still accepted among some groups of evangelical Protestants.[134] The Jehovah's Witnesses periodical The Watchtower frequently published excerpts from it until the 1980s.[135] The book's thesis has also featured prominently in the conspiracy theories of racist groups, such as The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord.[136]


Fears of a Catholic takeover of the US have been especially persistent,[137][138] prompted by large-scale Catholic immigration in the 19th century[139] and Ku Klux Klan propaganda.[140][141] Such fears have attached to Catholic political candidates such as Al Smith[142] and John F. Kennedy.[143][144][145]


Pope John Paul I died in September 1978, only a month after his election to the papacy. The timing of his death and the Vatican's alleged difficulties with ceremonial and legal death procedures has fostered several conspiracy theories.


The elderly Pope Benedict XVI's resignation in February 2013, officially due to "lack of strength of mind and body",[146] prompted theories in Italian publications such as La Repubblica and Panorama that he resigned to avoid the exposure of an underground gay Catholic network.[147][148]


Antichrist

Apocalyptic prophecies, particularly Christian claims about the End Times, have inspired a range of conspiracy theories. Many of these cite the Antichrist, a leader who will supposedly create an oppressive world empire. Countless figures have been called Antichrist, including Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Russian emperor Peter the Great, Saladin, Pope John XXII, Benito Mussolini, Barack Obama, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and German Führer Adolf Hitler.[149][150][151][152]


Bible and Jesus

Bible conspiracy theories posit that significant parts of the New Testament are false, or have been omitted. Various groups both real (such as the Vatican) and fake (such as the Priory of Sion) are said to suppress relevant information concerning, for example, the dating of the Shroud of Turin.[153]


Much of this line of conspiracy theory has been stimulated by a debunked book titled The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982), which claimed that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were lovers and that their offspring and descendants were secretly hidden in Europe following the death of Jesus, from whom the then-living French draughtsman Pierre Plantard claimed descent. Interest in this hoax saw a resurgence following the publication of Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code.[154]


The Gospel of Afranius, an atheistic Russian work published in 1995 with an English translation published in 2022, proposes politically motivated gaslighting as the origin of the foundational Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus.[155]


Islamist

"War against Islam" is a conspiracy theory in Islamist discourse which describes a plot to destroy Islamic society. The alleged plotters are non-Muslims and "false Muslims" in collusion with Western powers whose efforts are a continuation of the Medieval Crusades.[156]


Anti-Islamic

Since the September 11 Attacks, many anti-Islamic conspiracy theories have emerged. Love Jihad, also called Romeo Jihad, refers to a conspiracy theory that Muslim men try to convert non-Muslim women to Islam by feigning love.[157][158][159][160] The "Eurabia" theory alleges a Muslim plot to Islamize Europe and the West through mass immigration and high Moslem birth rates.[161] U.S. President Barack Obama was accused of being a secret Muslim.


Paganism

See also: Witch-cult hypothesis

A theory holds that the witch trials of the Early Modern period were an effort to suppress pre-Christian, pagan religions which had endured the Christianization of Europe. A far-right pro-pagan conspiracy theory suggests that Christianity was created as a Jewish scheme to undermine the Aryan race.[119]


Paul the Apostle

Paul the Apostle makes an appearance in some variants of the medieval Jewish anti-Christian polemic, Toledot Yeshu, as a spy for the rabbis.[162]


Muslims have long believed that Paul purposefully corrupted the original revealed teachings of Jesus[163][164][165] by introducing elements of paganism,[166] the theology of the cross,[167] and the idea of original sin producing the need for redemption.[168]


The Baháʼí Faith also regards Paul as a false or misguided preacher who corrupted Jesus's original message. In this sense, he is seen as the real "Judas" who betrayed Jesus.[169]


Pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand

Main article: Pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand theories

Racism

White genocide conspiracy theory is a white nationalist notion that immigration, integration, low fertility rates and abortion are being promoted in predominantly white countries to dispossess or eliminate white people.[170][171][172][173][174][175] A 2017 study in France by IFOP, for example, found that 48% of participants believed that political and media elites are conspiring to replace white people with immigrants.[176]


In the United States, black genocide conspiracy theory[177][178] holds that African Americans are the victims of genocide by white Americans. Lynchings and racial discrimination were formally described as genocide by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951. Malcolm X also talked about "black genocide" in the early 1960s.[179] Public funding of the Pill was also described as "black genocide" at the first Black Power Conference in 1967.[180][181] In 1970, after abortion was more widely legalized, some black militants depicted it as part of the conspiracy.[182]


Some Rastafari maintain that a white racist patriarchy ("Babylon") controls the world to oppress black people.[183] They believe Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia did not die in 1975, but that racist media faked his death to quash the Rastafari movement.[184]


Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

"The Plan" is an alleged plot by white power brokers in Washington, D.C., to take control of the city's local government from African Americans, who were a majority of the city's population from the late 1950s to the early 2010s and remain its largest ethnic group.[185][186] The theory asserts that gentrification and urban renewal are orchestrated to drive out low-income black residents in favor of wealthier whites from outside the city.[187] Most city residents, regardless of race, do not believe in The Plan, but it may have widespread quiet credence among black residents and influence on local elections.[188]


Fandom, celebrity relationships, and shipping

Numerous conspiracy theories surround the desire by followers of a fandom for two celebrities to be in a romantic and/or sexual relationship, known as shipping.[189] Many real-person shipping conspiracy theories involve claims that the pregnancies and children of partnered or married celebrity couples are fake.[190] Proponents of celebrity shipping conspiracies that ship two celebrities of the same gender typically argue that they are being pro-LGBT by supporting two people who are forcibly closeted by a homophobic industry.[191] Conspiracy communities about celebrity relationships tend to be created and dominated by women.[190]


Larries

Further information: Larries

Larries are a group of shipping conspiracy theorist fans, centered around the idea that two members of the boy band One Direction, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, are secretly a couple.[192] These conspiracy theorists falsely claim that Styles and Tomlinson have been closeted by their management since the inception of the band, despite multiple claims otherwise by Styles, Tomlinson, their friends, and their family.[192]


Government, politics, and conflict

In the modern era, political conspiracy theories are often spread using fake news on social media. A 2017 study of fake news, which was published by the Shorenstein Center, found that "misinformation is currently predominantly a pathology of the right".[193]


Political conspiracy theories may take generalized and wide-ranging forms concerning wars and international bodies, but may also be seen at a localized level, such as the conspiracy theory pertaining to the 118th Battalion, a British regiment stationed in Kitchener, Ontario, during World War I, which was believed by some in Kitchener to still be present years after the war ended and to be controlling local politics.[194]


Crisis actors

Further information: "Crisis actor" as a conspiracy theory motif

Crisis actors are individuals who portray disaster victims in first responder training exercises. Conspiracy theories allege that mass shooting and similar traumatic events are actually staged, with victims and their families being portrayed by covert crisis actors.


Illuminati in Europe

Conspiracy theories concerning the Illuminati, a short-lived 18th-century Enlightenment-era secret society, appear to have originated in the late 19th century, when some Catholic conservatives in Europe came to believe that the group had been responsible for the French Revolution of 1789-1799.[195] Hoaxes about the Illuminati were later spread in the 1960s by a group of American practical jokers known as the Discordians who wrote a series of fake letters about the Illuminati to Playboy.[196]


False flag operations


The World Trade Center towers prior to 9/11

False flag operations are covert operations designed to appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. Some allegations of false flag operations have been verified or are subjects of legitimate historical dispute (such as the 1933 Reichstag arson attack).[197] Unsubstantiated allegations of such operations feature strongly in conspiracy theories.


Such allegations have attached to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2004 Madrid train bombings,[198] and the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.[199]


The rise of ISIS gave rise to conspiracy theories that it had been created by the US, CIA, Mossad, or Hillary Clinton.[200][201] The same happened after the rise of Boko Haram.[202][203]


9/11 2001 attack on United States

Main article: 9/11 conspiracy theories

See also: 9/11 Truth movement and 9/11 Commission

The attacks on the US by terrorists using hijacked aircraft on 11 September 2001 have proved attractive to conspiracy theorists. Theories may include reference to missile or hologram technology. The most common theory is that the Twin Towers collapsed in controlled demolitions,[204][205] a theory rejected by the engineering profession[206] and the 9/11 Commission.


Sandy Hook school shooting in U.S. 2012

Main article: Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories

A 2012 fatal mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, prompted numerous conspiracy theories, among them the claim that it was a staged to promote gun control. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke blamed Zionist deception.[207] Theorists such as Alex Jones have suggested that the event was staged with actors.[208][209] Harassment of the bereaved families by conspiracy theorists has resulted in actions for defamation. Rush Limbaugh stated that the Mayan Calendar phenomenon drove the shooter Adam Lanza.[210]


Clintons


Bill and Hillary Clinton, main people supposedly involved in this conspiracy

The Clinton body count conspiracy theory, notably advanced by Newsmax publisher Christopher Ruddy, asserts that former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton have assassinated fifty or more of their associates and enemies.[211][212] Such accusations have been around at least since the 1990s, when a pseudo-documentary film called The Clinton Chronicles, produced by Larry Nichols and promoted by Rev. Jerry Falwell, accused Bill Clinton of multiple crimes including murder.[213][214]


Jeffrey Epstein death conspiracy theories

See also: Jeffrey Epstein death conspiracy theories

The 2019 death of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier billionaire and convicted sex offender with ties to Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and other members of the elite, has become the subject of conspiracy theories.[215][216]


FEMA

Further information: FEMA camps conspiracy theory

The United States' Federal Emergency Management Agency is the subject of many theories, including that the organization has been building concentration camps in the US to prepare for imposing martial law and genocide.[217]


African National Congress

Members of South Africa's African National Congress party have long propagated conspiracy theories, frequently concerning the CIA and alleged white supremacists. In 2014, Deputy Minister of Defence Kebby Maphatsoe joined others in accusing without evidence Public Protector Thuli Madonsela of being a US agent working to create a puppet government in South Africa.[218][219][220]


Barack Obama

See also: Spygate (conspiracy theory), False or misleading statements by Donald Trump, List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump, and Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories


Donald Trump has been a proponent of the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Former US President Barack Obama has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. His presidency was the subject of a 2009 film, The Obama Deception, by Alex Jones, which alleged that Obama's administration was a puppet government for a wealthy elite. The "birther" theory, which came to prominence in 2009, denies the legitimacy of Obama's presidency by claiming that he was not born in the US.[221] This theory has persisted despite his Hawaiian birth certificate and birth announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers in 1961.[222] Notable promoters of the theory are dentist-lawyer Orly Taitz[8] and former President Donald Trump, who has since publicly acknowledged its falsity but is said to continue to advocate for it privately.[223][224][225] Other theories claim that Obama, a Protestant Christian, is secretly a Muslim.


A pair of fatal attacks on US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, by Islamist terrorists in 2012 has spawned numerous conspiracy theories, including allegations that Obama's administration arranged the attack for political reasons, and Senator Rand Paul's claimed that the government's response to the incident was designed to distract from a secret CIA operation.[226][227][228]


Cultural Marxism

Further information: Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory

The intellectual group known as the Frankfurt School which emerged in the 1930s has increasingly been the accused of promoting communism in capitalist societies. The term "Cultural Marxism" has been notably employed by conservative American movements such as the Tea Party,[229][230] and by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.[231]


Deep state

Further information: Deep state in the United States, List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump, and QAnon

While the term is occasionally used as a neutral term to denote a nation's bureaucracy,[232] the conspiratorial notion of a "deep state" originated principally in Middle Eastern and North African politics with some basis in truth, and has been known in the US since the 1960s. It was revived under the Trump presidency.[233][234] "Deep state" in the latter sense refers to an unidentified insider "power elite" who manipulate a nation's politics and government. Proponents have included Canadian author Peter Dale Scott, who has promoted the idea in the US since the 1990s, as well as Breitbart News, Infowars and Donald Trump.[235] A 2017 poll by ABC News and The Washington Post indicated that 48% of Americans believe in the existence of a conspiratorial "deep state" in the US.[236][237]


Sutherland Springs

See also: Sutherland Springs church shooting ╗ Hoaxes and conspiracy theories

The 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting has also been the subject of multiple conspiracy theories. The shooter has been linked to multiple conspiracies, such as identifying him as a Democrat, Hillary Clinton supporter, Bernie Sanders supporter, "alt-left" supporter, antifa member, or radical Muslim;[238][239] or claiming that he carried an antifa flag and told churchgoers: "This is a communist revolution".[240] Some reports also falsely claimed that he targeted the church because they were white conservatives.[241]


Trump, Biden, and Ukraine

Main article: Conspiracy theories related to the Trump-Ukraine scandal

Beginning in 2017, a sprawling conspiracy theory emerged from 4chan and was spread via right-wing message boards and websites, then via Breitbart and Fox News to then-President Donald Trump and his allies. The conspiracy theory holds both that Ukraine (rather than Russia) had interfered in the 2016 United States elections, and that then-Vice President Joe Biden had intervened to protect a company in which his son Hunter was involved. The New Yorker found that reporting of the conspiracy in the right wing media was initiated by Peter Schweizer, a former Breitbart News contributor and president of The Government Accountability Institute, "a self-styled corruption watchdog group chaired and funded by conservative mega-donor Rebekah Mercer"[242] and founded by Steve Bannon.[243]


Biden-Ukraine conspiracy theory

Main article: Biden-Ukraine conspiracy theory

Refers to a series of allegations that Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden coordinated efforts against anti-corruption investigations in Ukraine into the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, on whose Board Hunter Biden sat.[244] Investigations are currently ongoing.


Golden billion threatens Russia

The golden billion is an idea there is an anti-Russian Western population of approximately one billion seeking to appropriate Russia's natural resources. It is a justification for Russian leader Vladimir Putin's imperial aggression, claiming to be a defense against a far-reaching covert attack.[245] The theory was first advanced under the name A. Kuzmich.[246]


Voting pencils

Main article: Voting pencil conspiracy theory

The voting pencil conspiracy theory concerns pencils at polling places enabling electoral fraud through erasing legitimate votes. It has been nicknamed "Pencilgate" and promoted on Twitter as "#Pencilgate" and "#UsePens".


The conspiracy theory originated in the United Kingdom and was originally promoted by "Yes" voters in the unsuccessful 2014 Scottish independence referendum, with supporters of Scottish independence (who usually lean to the left of the political spectrum) claiming that electoral fraud was the reason the referendum failed. However, the theory was later adopted by supporters of the "Leave" vote in the successful 2016 Brexit referendum (who usually lean to the right of the political spectrum).[247] The conspiracy theory has since spread to Australia, with right-wing politician Pauline Hanson, a Queensland Senator who is the founder and leader of the One Nation party, promoted the conspiracy theory in the lead-up to the 2022 Australian federal election.[248]


While pencils are provided at polling places in the United Kingdom and Australia, in neither country is it required that they be used.[249] On their website, the Australian Electoral Commission states:


"While the provision of pencils used to be a legal requirement, since 2020 under Section 206 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, the AEC is required to provide an "implement or method for voters to mark their ballot papers".


The AEC has found from experience that pencils are the most reliable implements for marking ballot papers. Pencils are practical because they don't run out and the polling staff check and sharpen pencils as necessary throughout election day. Pencils can be stored between elections and they work better in tropical areas.


There is, however, nothing to prevent an elector from marking their ballot paper with a pen if they so wish."[250]


While the AEC only conducts federal elections, voters can use either pencil or pen in state, territory and local elections. Pencils are supplied at polling places for federal elections and for state elections in Tasmania[251] and Victoria,[252] while pens are supplied at polling places for state elections in New South Wales[253] and Western Australia. In 2015, the New South Wales Electoral Commission made the decision to replace pens with pencils at polling places due to controversies regarding their usage and at the 2015 state election, pens began being supplied at polling places across the state.[254] Similarly, the Western Australian Electoral Commission has provided pens instead of pencils at polling places since the 2017.[255]


Australian Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Main article: Voice to Parliament conspiracy theories

Medicine

See also: Alternative medicine

This article is part of a series on

Alternative medicine


General information

Fringe medicine and science

Conspiracy theories

Big Pharma conspiracy theoriesHIV/AIDS denialism OPV AIDS hypothesisAnti-vaccinationism in chiropracticVaccines and autismMMR vaccine and autismWater fluoridation controversyCOVID-19 misinformation

Classifications

Traditional medicine

Diagnoses

vte

Alternative therapy suppression

A 2013 study approved by the University of Chicago suggested that almost half of Americans believe at least one medical conspiracy theory, with 37% believing that the Food and Drug Administration deliberately suppresses 'natural' cures due to influence from the pharmaceutical industry.[256] A prominent proponent of comparable conspiracy theories has been convicted fraudster Kevin Trudeau.[257]


Artificial diseases

See also: HIV/AIDS denialism and Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Scientists have found evidence that HIV was transferred from monkeys to humans in the 1930s. Evidence exists, however, that the KGB deliberately disseminated a notion in the 1980s that it was invented by the CIA.[258] This idea, and similar ideas concerning Ebola, have since been promoted by persons such as actor Steven Seagal,[259][260][261] Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki.[258][262][263]


Similar conspiracy theories allege that pharmaceutical companies assist in the creation of conditions and diseases including ADHD, HSV and HPV.


COVID-19 pandemic

Main article: Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic

A number of conspiracy theories have been promoted about the origin and purported motive behind the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its spread.[4] Some claimed that the virus was engineered,[264] that it may have been a Chinese or United States bioweapon,[4][265][266][267] a Jewish plot, part of which is to force mass vaccinations or sterilizations,[268][269][270] spread as part of a Muslim conspiracy,[271][272] a population control scheme,[273][274] or related to 5G mobile phone networks.[275][276]


Fluoridation


Ripper explains to Mandrake that he discovered the Communist plot to pollute Americans' "precious bodily fluids", a reference to the John Birch Society's anti-fluoridation conspiracy theories (Dr. Strangelove, 1964).

Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay.[277] Although many dental-health organizations support it, some conspiracy theorists[278] claim that it was a way to dispose of industrial waste,[279][280] or that it exists to obscure a failure to provide dental care to the poor.[278] A further theory promoted by the John Birch Society in the 1960s described fluoridation as a communist plot to weaken the American population.[281]


Vaccination

Further information: False or misleading statements by Donald Trump and List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump

It is claimed that the pharmaceutical industry has mounted a cover-up of a causal link between vaccines and autism. The conspiracy theory developed after the publication in Britain in 1998 of a fraudulent paper by discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield.[282] The resulting anti-vaccine movement has been promoted by a number of prominent persons including Rob Schneider,[283] Jim Carrey[284] and former US President Donald Trump,[285][286] and has led to increased rates of infection and death from diseases such as measles and COVID-19[287] in many countries, including the US, Italy, Germany, Romania and the UK.[288][289][290][291]


Vaccine conspiracy theories have been widespread in Nigeria since at least 2003, as well as in Pakistan. Such theories may feature claims that vaccines are part of a secret anti-Islam plot, and have been linked to fatal mass shootings and bombings at vaccine clinics in both countries.[292][293][294]


Outer space

Scientific space programs are of particular interest to conspiracy theorists. The most prolific theories allege that the US Moon landings were staged by NASA in a film studio, with some alleging the involvement of director Stanley Kubrick.[295] The Soviet space program has also attracted theories that the government concealed evidence of failed flights. A more recent theory, emergent following the activities of hacker Gary McKinnon,[296] suggests that a secret program of crewed space fleets exists, supposedly acting under the United Nations.[297]


Conspiracy theorists have long posited a plot by organizations such as NASA to conceal the existence of a large planet in the Solar System known as Nibiru or Planet X which is alleged to pass close enough to the Earth to destroy it. Predictions for the date of destruction have included 2003, 2012 and 2017. The theory began to develop following the publication of The 12th Planet (1976), by Russian-American author Zecharia Sitchin, was given its full form by Nancy Lieder, and has since been promoted by American conspiracy theorist and End Times theorist David Meade.[298] The notion received renewed attention during the period prior to the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017.[299][300] Other conspiracy theorists in 2017 also predicted Nibiru would appear, including Terral Croft and YouTube pastor Paul Begley.[301][302]


Extraterrestrials and UFOs

See also: UFO conspiracy theory

Among the foremost concerns of conspiracy theorists are questions of alien life; for example, allegations of government cover-ups of the supposed Roswell UFO incident or activity at Area 51.[303] Also disseminated are theories concerning so-called 'men in black', who allegedly silence witnesses.[citation needed]


English conspiracy theorist David Icke

Multiple reports of dead cattle found with absent body parts and seemingly drained of blood have emerged worldwide since at least the 1960s. This phenomenon has spawned theories variously concerning aliens and secret government or military experiments.[304] Prominent among such theorists is Linda Moulton Howe, author of Alien Harvest (1989).[305][306]


Many conspiracy theories have drawn inspiration from the writings of ancient astronaut proponent Zecharia Sitchin,[307] who declared that the Anunnaki from Sumerian mythology were actually a race of extraterrestrial beings who came to Earth around 500,000 years ago in order to mine gold.[307][308][309] In his 1994 book Humanity's Extraterrestrial Origins: ET Influences on Humankind's Biological and Cultural Evolution, Arthur Horn proposed that the Anunnaki were a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting alien reptiles.[307] This theory was adapted and elaborated on by British conspiracy theorist David Icke,[307] who maintains that the Bush family, Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hope, and the British Royal Family, among others, are or were such creatures, or have been under their control.[310] Icke's critics have suggested that 'reptilians' may be seen as an antisemitic code word, a charge he has denied.[59]


Science and technology

Climate change

Further information: Climate change conspiracy theory


Aerial view of the HAARP site, Alaska

A climate change conspiracy theory typically alleges that the science behind climate change has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons-higher taxation, controls on lifestyle, and more authoritarian government.[15] Former US President Donald Trump,[311][312] US Senator James Inhofe,[313] British journalist Christopher Booker,[313] and Viscount Christopher Monckton[314] have promoted such theories. Popular author Michael Crichton wrote a novel based on this premise.


Weather and earthquake control projects

Numerous theories pertain to real or alleged weather-controlling projects. Theories include the debunked assertion that HAARP, a radio-technology research program funded by the US government, is a secret weather-controlling system. Some theorists have blamed 2005's Hurricane Katrina on HAARP.[315] HAARP has also been suggested to have somehow caused earthquakes, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami or the 2013 Saravan earthquake.[316] Some HAARP-related claims refer to mind-control technology.[317]


Also of interest to conspiracy theorists are cloud-seeding technologies. These include a debunked allegation[318] that the British military's Project Cumulus caused the fatal 1952 Lynmouth Flood in Devon, England,[319] and claims concerning a secret project said to have caused the 2010 Pakistan floods.[320]


MKUltra

Genuine American research in the 1950s and 1960s into chemical interrogation and mind-control techniques were followed by many conspiracy theories (like Project Monarch), especially following CIA Director Richard Helm's 1973 order to destroy all files related to the project. These theories include the allegation that the mass fatality at Jonestown in 1978 was connected to an MKUltra experiment.[321]


Flat Earth


Logo of the Flat Earth Society, 2013

Flat Earth theory first emerged in 19th-century England, despite the Earth's spherical nature having been known since at least the time of Pythagoras. It has in recent years been promoted by American software consultant Mark Sargent through the use of YouTube videos.[322] Flat-earther conspiracy theorists hold that planet Earth is not a sphere, and that evidence has been faked or suppressed to hide the fact that it is instead a disc, or a single infinite plane. The conspiracy often implicates NASA. Other claims include that GPS devices are rigged to make aircraft pilots wrongly believe they are flying around a globe.[323][324]


RFID chips


An RFID tag, exposed by the damage to this Oyster card

Radio frequency identification chips (RFID), such as those implanted into pets as a means of tracking, have drawn the interest of conspiracy theorists who posit that this technology is secretly widely implanted in humans. Former Whitby, England town councilor Simon Parkes has promoted this theory, which may be related to conspiracy theories concerning vaccination, electronic banking and the Antichrist.[325][326]


Technology suppression

Numerous theories pertain to the alleged suppression of certain technologies and energies. Such theories may focus on the Vril Society Conspiracy, allegations of the suppression of the electric car by fossil-fuel companies (as detailed in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?), and the Phoebus cartel, set up in 1924, which has been accused of suppressing longer-lasting light bulbs.[327] Other long-standing allegations include the suppression of perpetual motion and cold fusion technology by government agencies, special interest groups, or fraudulent inventors.[328]


Promoters of alternative energy theories have included Thomas Henry Moray,[329] Eugene Mallove, and convicted American fraudster Stanley Meyer.[330]


Weaponry

Conspiracy theorists often attend to new military technologies, both real and imagined. Subjects of theories include: the alleged Philadelphia Experiment, a supposed attempt to turn a US Navy warship invisible;[331][unreliable source?] the alleged Montauk Project, a supposed government program to learn about mind control and time travel; and the so-called "tsunami bomb", which is alleged to have caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.[332]


Other theories include Peter Vogel's debunked claim that an accidental explosion of conventional munitions at Port Chicago was in fact a nuclear detonation,[333] and a theory promoted by the Venezuelan state-run TV station ViVe that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was caused by a secret US "earthquake weapon".[334]


Targeted Individuals

Further information: Gang stalking and Electronic harassment

Conspiracy theorists claim that government agents are utilizing directed energy weapons and electronic surveillance to harass members of the population. Theorists often cite research into psychotronic weapons, the Cuban Health Attacks, and the Microwave Auditory Effect as proof of their theory. There are over 10,000 people who identify as Targeted Individuals.[335]


The "Targeted Individual" phenomenon has been featured on episodes of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura[336] and History Channel's In Search Of....[337]


False history


Pope Sylvester II (from 999 to 1003)

Some theories claim that the dates of historical events have been deliberately distorted. These include the phantom time hypothesis of German conspiracy theorist[citation needed][original research?] Heribert Illig, who in 1991 published an allegation that 297 years had been added to the calendar by establishment figures such as Pope Sylvester II in order to position themselves at the millennium.[338]


A comparable theory, New Chronology, is associated with Russian theorist Anatoly Fomenko, who holds that history is many centuries shorter than widely believed, numerous historical documents have been fabricated, and legitimate documents destroyed, all for political ends. Adherents of have included chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.[339]


Another claim is that world governments have hidden evidence for an advanced worldwide civilization with access to free energy and partially populated by giants called Tartaria, which was destroyed in the 1800s by a great "mud flood" cataclysm, causing its remains to be buried.[340]


Dead Internet theory

Main article: Dead Internet theory

The Dead Internet theory is the belief that the modern Internet is almost entirely populated by bots and procedurally generated content.[341]


Sports

Boxing

Boxing has featured in conspiracy theories, such as the claims that the second Ali-Liston fight[342] and the first Bradley-Pacquiao fight were fixed.[343]


Shergar

The theft and disappearance of the Irish-bred racehorse Shergar in 1983 has prompted many conspiracy theorists to speculate about involvement by the Mafia, the IRA and Colonel Gaddafi.[344]


Rigged selection processes

The "frozen envelope theory" suggests that the National Basketball Association rigged its 1985 draft lottery so that Patrick Ewing would join the New York Knicks. Theorists claim that a lottery envelope was chilled so that it could be identified by touch.[345] A similar "hot balls theory", promoted by Scottish football manager David Moyes, suggests that certain balls used in draws for UEFA competitions have been warmed to achieve specific outcomes.[346]


1984 Firecracker 400

The 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida, was the first NASCAR race to be attended by a sitting US president, Ronald Reagan, and was driver Richard Petty's 200th and final career victory. Rival driver Cale Yarborough's premature retirement to the pit road has prompted conspiracy theorists to allege that organizers fixed the race in order to receive good publicity for the event.[347]


Ronaldo and the 1998 World Cup Final

On the day of the 1998 World Cup Final, Brazilian striker Ronaldo suffered a convulsive fit.[348] Ronaldo was initially removed from the starting lineup 72 minutes before the match, with the teamsheet released to a stunned world media, before he was reinstated by the Brazil coach shortly before kick off.[349][350] Ronaldo "sleepwalked" through the final, with France winning the game.[350] The nature of the incident set off a trail of questions and allegations which persisted for years, with Alex Bellos writing in The Guardian, "When Ronaldo's health scare was revealed after the match, the situation's unique circumstances lent itself to fabulous conspiracy theories. Here was the world's most famous sportsman, about to take part in the most important match of his career, when he suddenly, inexplicably, fell ill. Was it stress, epilepsy, or had he been drugged?"[351] Questions also circulated into who made Ronaldo play the game. The Brazil coach insisted he had the final say, but much speculation focused on sportswear company Nike, Brazil's multimillion-dollar sponsor-whom many Brazilians thought had too much control-putting pressure on the striker to play against medical advice.[351]


New England Patriots

See also: New England Patriots ╗ Controversies


NRG Stadium before Super Bowl LI

The New England Patriots have also been involved in numerous conspiracy theories.[352] During their AFC Championship 24-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, several conspiracy theories spread stating that the referees helped the Patriots advance to Super Bowl LII.[353] However, sports analyst Stephen A. Smith stated the Jaguars were not robbed, but that they had no one to blame but themselves for the loss.[354] There were also conspiracy theories regarding the Super Bowl LI matchup between the Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons stating that the game was rigged[355] while others said the Falcons made questionable play-calls at the end of the game that resulted in them blowing a 28-3 lead.[356]


See also

Conspiracy theories in United States politics

Conspiracy theories in the Arab world

Conspiracy theories in Turkey

References

Barkun, Michael (2003). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Issitt, Micah; Main, Carlyn (2014). Hidden Religion: The Greatest Mysteries and Symbols of the World's Religious Beliefs. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-478-0.

Harambam, Jaron; Aupers, Stef (August 2021). "From the unbelievable to the undeniable: Epistemological pluralism, or how conspiracy theorists legitimate their extraordinary truth claims". European Journal of Cultural Studies. SAGE Publications. 24 (4): 990-1008. doi:10.1177/1367549419886045. ISSN 1460-3551.

Andrade, Gabriel (April 2020). "Medical conspiracy theories: Cognitive science and implications for ethics" (PDF). Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Springer on behalf of the European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare. 23 (3): 505-518. doi:10.1007/s11019-020-09951-6. ISSN 1572-8633. PMC 7161434. PMID 32301040. S2CID 215787658. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2021.

Dean, Signe (23 October 2017). "Conspiracy Theorists Really Do See The World Differently, New Study Shows". Science Alert. Retrieved 17 June 2020.

Sloat, Sarah (17 October 2017). "Conspiracy Theorists Have a Fundamental Cognitive Problem, Say Scientists". Inverse. Retrieved 17 June 2020.

"10 Controversial Air Crash Conspiracy Theories". Listverse. 23 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

"Bring out the cranks and conspiracy theorists". Financial Times. 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Goldwag, Arthur (2009). Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, the New World Order, and Many, Many More. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780307390677. Retrieved 26 November 2021 - via Google Books.

"Fox gives Glenn Beck's show the boot". Los Angeles Times. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2017.

"Ben Carson is ready for the coming American apocalypse". The Week. 2 October 2015. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2017.

"My month with chemtrails conspiracy theorists". The Guardian. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.

Shearer, Christine; West, Mick; Caldeira, Ken; Davis, Steven J (10 August 2016). "Quantifying expert consensus against the existence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program". Environmental Research Letters. 11 (8): 084011. Bibcode:2016ERL....11h4011S. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/8/084011.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018.

Izvestia, February 8, 1991, pg. 7

"MH17: five of the most bizarre conspiracy theories". The Guardian. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

"'This is where MH370 crashed': Fisherman claims he saw Malaysian Airlines plane go down". NZ Herald. 16 January 2019. Event occurs at 6:43am.

"New theories claim MH370 was 'remotely hijacked', buried in Antarctica". Newshub - via www.newshub.co.nz.

"Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down from pro-Russian rebel controlled territory, investigation finds". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 September 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2018.

Phillips, David (1 July 2010). "Conspiracy Theories Behind BP Oil Spill in Gulf - From Dick Cheney To UFOs". CBS News.

"The conspiracy theories behind the BP oil spill". The Week. 14 July 2010. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.

"New Coke Origins". Snopes.com. 2 May 1999. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

Greenwald, John (12 April 2005). "Coca-Cola's Big Fizzle". Time. Archived from the original on 10 December 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.

Blount, Brian K. (2009). Revelation: A Commentary. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster Knox Press. pp. 248-249. ISBN 978-0-664-22121-8.

"Is 2017 a Bumper Year for Conspiracy Theories?". Yahoo News. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. xiv, 1273. ISBN 978-0-393-04525-3.

Broderick, James F.; Miller, Darren W. (2008). "Chapter 16: The JFK Assassination". Web of Conspiracy: A Guide to Conspiracy Theory Sites on the Internet. Medford, New Jersey: Information Today, Inc./CyberAge Books. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-910965-81-1.

Perry, James D. (2003). Peter, Knight (ed.). Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-57607-812-9.

Summers, Anthony (2013). "Six Options for History". Not in Your Lifetime. New York: Open Road. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-4804-3548-3. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013.

"Harold Holt's disappearance still baffles 50 years on". amp.9news.com.au. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/depressed-holts-suicide-swim/news-story/14e0ac88e2b61cc00401c790a0ab0cf8

"CIA assassination?". Retrieved 8 August 2023.

Kauffman, Michael W. (2004). American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies, p.185 (New York: Random House), ISBN 978-0-375-50785-4

Aaronovitch, David (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. pp. 7-8.

Burston, Bradley (11 October 2010). "Rightist website marks anniversary of Rabin's murder - with a conspiracy theory contest". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012.

"Presidential conspiracy theories, from Zachary Taylor to JFK". The Washington Post. 28 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.

Hendrikx, Peter. "The Death of George S. Patton" (PDF). osssociety.org. OSS Society. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.

Shipman, Tim (20 December 2008). "General George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders, claims new book". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Borger, Julian (17 August 2011). "Dag Hammarskjöld: evidence suggests UN chief's plane was shot down". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.

"The 70 Greatest Conspiracy Theories in Pop-Culture History". Vulture. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

"Mozartian Conspiracy Theories | Robert Greenberg | Speaker, Composer, Author, Professor, Historian". robertgreenbergmusic.com. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

"Who killed the prime minister? The unsolved murder that still haunts Sweden". The Guardian. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

"Bizarre Rumors & Conspiracy Theories That Claim Linkin Park Lead Singer Chester Bennington Was Murdered". www.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2021.

Collins, Nick (9 June 2011). "David Kelly - what is behind the conspiracy theories?". The Telegraph (London). Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Thalen, Mikael (7 July 2021). "Conspiracy theorists are blaming the Clintons after Haitian president's assassination". The Daily Dot.

Ray, Ashis (10 February 2018). "It's time to end the many conspiracy theories over Subhash Chandra Bose's death". The Print. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

Roy Chaudhury, Sumeru (23 January 2020). "Solving the Mystery of Netaji's 'Disappearance': Part One". The Wire. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

Roy, Ashis (2018). Laid to Rest: The Controversy over Subhas Chandra Bose's Death. India: Roli Books. ISBN 9788193626030.

"Undermining Sushant Rajput's tragic death". Hindustan Times. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.

"Conspiracy Theories - TIME". Time. 20 November 2008 - via content.time.com.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Guardian Staff (3 December 2018). "'It's the real me': Nigerian president denies dying and being replaced by clone". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.

"Nigerian President Buhari denies death and body double rumours". BBC News. BBC. 3 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.

Cresci, Elena (16 May 2017). "Why fans think Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by a clone named Melissa". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 March 2020.

"Is Donald Trump using a fake Melania? Conspiracy theories flood social media". BBC. 19 October 2017.

Bruney, Gabrielle (9 March 2019). "The 'Fake Melania' Conspiracy Theory is Back". Esquire.

" 'Elvis Presley is alive' and 10 more conspiracy theories". The Week. 24 April 2017. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

"Adolf Hitler alive: weird conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Eberle, Henrik; Uhl, Matthias, eds. (2005). The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides. New York: Public Affairs. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-58648-366-1.

Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 1037. ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6.

Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999) [1995]. The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. Brockhampton Press. pp. 22, 23. ISBN 978-1-86019-902-8.

"Lord Lucan: the strangest theories about his disappearance". The Week. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

"Lord Lucan was fed to tiger at Howletts zoo in Canterbury, it has been claimed". Kent Online. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

"Lord Lucan - The Mystery Unravelled". BBC. 7 March 2005. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.

"Ten years since Maddie's disappearance, the McCanns still face an onslaught of conspiracy theories". International Business Times. 3 May 2017. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.

Kiely, Eugene (22 May 2017). "Gingrich Spreads Conspiracy Theory". FactCheck.org. Annenberg Public Policy Center. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017. At this point in the investigation, it is believed that Seth Rich was the victim of an attempted robbery. The assertions put forward by Mr. Wheeler are unfounded.

Carroll, Lauren (23 May 2017). Sanders, Katie (ed.). "The baseless claim that slain DNC staffer Seth Rich gave emails to WikiLeaks". PolitiFact.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018. There is no trustworthy evidence supporting the theory that Rich was WikiLeaks' source for thousands of DNC emails. The police believe his death was the result of a botched robbery, not a political assassination.

"Cyber-spying: Bear on bear". The Economist. 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.

Gillin, Joshua (26 May 2017). "Conspiracy theory that Comey hid Seth Rich's ties to WikiLeaks based on retracted story". PolitiFact.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.

"Fox News web site retracts debunked reporting on DNC staffer Seth Rich". Snopes.com. 23 May 2017.

Rutenberg, Jim (24 May 2017). "Sean Hannity, a Murder and Why Fake News Endures". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.

Shalby, Colleen (24 May 2017). "How Seth Rich's death became an Internet conspiracy theory". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 29 May 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Despite police statements and Rich's family concluding that his death was the result of an attempted robbery, the rumor spread within the same circles that churned out the bogus 'PizzaGate' story

Weigel, David (20 May 2017). "The Seth Rich conspiracy shows how fake news still works". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.

Kay, Jane; Chronicle Environment Writer (6 July 2009). "San Francisco Bay Area". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

Roberts, Andrew. "The Green-Ink Brigade". Literary Review. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2012.

"Beyonce and the Illuminati: Music's Most WTF Conspiracy Theories, Explained". Rolling Stone. 9 October 2017. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

Sykes, Leslie (17 May 2009). "Angels & Demons Causing Serious Controversy". KFSN-TV/ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.

Neuwirth, Rostam J. (2022). "The Global Regulation of "Fake News" in the Time of Oxymora: Facts and Fictions about the Covid-19 Pandemic as Coincidences or Predictive Programming?". International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique. 35 (3): 831-857. doi:10.1007/s11196-021-09840-y. PMC 8043095. PMID 33867694.

May, Andrew (14 September 2016). "Conspiracy Theories". Pseudoscience and Science Fiction. Science and Fiction. Springer. pp. 155-177. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-42605-1_8. ISBN 978-3-319-42605-1. Retrieved 11 November 2022.

Ramírez, Jason (9 December 2016). "We Now Interrupt this Program: Pre-Empting the Apocalypse in ABC's Miracles". In George Fragopoulos; Liliana M. Naydan (eds.). Terror in Global Narrative. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 175-189. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40654-1_10. ISBN 978-3-319-40654-1. Retrieved 11 November 2022.

Citations:

"Trump says he 'wouldn't be surprised' if unfounded conspiracy theory about George Soros funding caravan is true". The Washington Post. 1 November 2018. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

"Kavanaugh confirmation: What Trump's 'elevator screamers' tweet tells us". BBC News. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

Campbell, Jason (20 November 2019). "Rudy Giuliani claims the US embassy in Ukraine works for George Soros - "They're all Soros people"pic.twitter.com/xpa1TS9PLh".

"Lou Dobbs guest Joe diGenova says George Soros controls a large part of the State Department and activities of FBI agents". Media Matters for America. 13 November 2019.

Citations:

"George Soros is a favorite target of the right - here's how that happened". Business Insider. 20 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

"Roy Moore is fueling a crazy conspiracy theory about George Soros". HuffPost. 5 December 2017. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

"It's no surprise that the far right are mobilising against George Soros - he's the biggest threat to their global domination". The Independent. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"Conspiracy about George Soros Makes It to Congress". Yahoo News. 6 October 2017. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

"Anti-semitism used in attack against National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster". ADL. 3 August 2017.

"Why is the Alt-Right attacking H. R. McMaster?". Yahoo News. 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.

"Masonic Conspiracy Theories". HuffPost. 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

"Was Titanic inquiry scuppered by the Freemasons?". The Daily Telegraph. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Aaronovitch, David (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. p. 82.

Akyol, Mustafa (12 September 2016). "The Tin-Foil Hats Are Out in Turkey". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

Akyol, Mustafa (31 October 2014). "The Middle East 'mastermind' who worries Erdogan". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

Akyol, Mustafa (19 March 2015). "Unraveling the AKP's 'Mastermind' conspiracy theory". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

Akyol, Mustafa (9 January 2017). "Why Turkish government pushes 'global conspiracy' narrative". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

"Foreign powers performing 'earthquake tests' near Istanbul to destroy economy: Ankara mayor". Hurriyet Daily News. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.

"Geheimbotschaften in der Jeanshose". tagesspiegel. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.

Okbi, Yasser (16 October 2013). "Hezbollah: We have captured an Israeli 'spy eagle' in Lebanon". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.

"Saudis hold Israel 'spy vulture'". BBC. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2019.

Morgan, Clive (13 October 2016). "Roswell and the world's other great conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Harold Wilson resignation 'linked to MI6, burglary and insider trading'". The Times. 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

"MI5 put union leaders and protesters under surveillance during cold war". The Guardian. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

"Pakistani Islamist politician claims Malala was not injured". The Daily Telegraph. 5 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Pakistan thrives on conspiracy theory". Financial Times. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"The antagonism towards Malala in Pakistan". BBC. 10 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

"Malala Yousafzai is a hero to many, but has few fans in her homeland". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Levy, Richard (2005). Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-85109-439-4.

Baker, Lee D. (2010). Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture. Duke University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0822346982.

Waltman, Michael; Haas, John (2010). The Communication of Hate. Peter Lang. p. 52. ISBN 978-1433104473.

Stein, Joel (19 December 2008). "Who runs Hollywood? C'mon". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.

Horn, Dara. "Anti-Semites Don't Just Hate Jews. They're Targeting Freedom." Archived 1 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine New York Times. 30 April 2019. 1 May 2019.

""Denial": how to deal with a conspiracy theory in the era of 'post-truth'". Cambridge University Press. 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.

Doward, Jamie (22 January 2017). "New online generation takes up Holocaust denial". The Observer. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.

"Holocaust Revisionism". Time. 2009. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.

"A German court sentenced Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf to two and a half years in prison for inciting racial hatred in publications and Web sites which "systematically" called into question the Nazi genocide." "German Holocaust Denier Imprisoned for Inciting Racial Hatred" Archived 2 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Deutsche Welle, 16 February 2007.

Hare, Ivan; Weinstein, James (2010). Extreme Speech and Democracy. Oxford University Press. p. 553. ISBN 978-0199601790.

Grady, Constance (20 December 2018). "The Alice Walker anti-Semitism controversy, explained". Vox.

Parramore, Lynn (12 January 2021). "Like QAnon's Capitol rioters, the Nashville bomber's lizard people theory is deadly serious". NBC.

"Antisemitic Conspiracies About 9/11 Endure 20 Years Later". ADL. 9 September 2021.

Introvigne, Massimo (2016). Satanism: A Social History. Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism. Vol. 21. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 370-371. ISBN 978-90-04-28828-7.

McLaughlin, Daniel (12 May 2012). "Baku pins hopes on Eurovision to boost image". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.

"Aliyev Blames 'Armenian Lobby' For Fresh Corruption Scandal". azatutyun.am. RFE/RL. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.

"Closing Speech by Ilham Aliyev at the conference on the results of the third year into the "State Program on the socioeconomic development of districts for 2009-2013"". Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

"Closing Speech by Ilham Aliyev". Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

"Armenia pulls out of Azerbaijan-hosted Eurovision show". BBC News. BBC. 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

"Turkish minister says Russian media run by Armenians, German media not free". Hürriyet Daily News. 7 June 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.

"Arkansas Legal Ethics". Law.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

Weems, Samuel A. 2002. Armenia: secrets of a Christian terrorist state. The Armenian Great deception series, v. 1. Dallas: St. John Press.

Waal, Thomas (2013). Black garden Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. New York London: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-6032-1.

Ghanea, Nazila (2003). Human Rights, the UN and the Bahá'ís in Iran. Martinus Nijhoff. p. 294. ISBN 978-90-411-1953-7.

Cooper, Roger (1993). Death Plus 10 years. HarperCollins. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-00-255045-1.

Simpson, John; Shubart, Tira (1995). Lifting the Veil. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-340-62814-0.

Tavakoli-Targhi, Mohamad (2008). "Anti-Baha'ism and Islamism in Iran". In Brookshaw, Dominic P.; Fazel, Seena B. (eds.). The Baha'is of Iran: Socio-historical studies. New York, NY: Routledge. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-203-00280-3.

Heald, Henrietta (1992). Chronicle of Britain: Incorporating a Chronicle of Ireland. Jacques Legrand. p. 605. ISBN 9781872031354.

Grabbe, Lester L. (1997). Mein, Andrew; Camp, Claudia V. (eds.). Can a 'History of Israel' Be Written?. London, England: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 27-28. ISBN 978-0567043207.

"Lent and Ash Wednesday are NOT pagan relics". 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.

Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right. UNC Press. pp. 192-193. ISBN 9780807846384.

Jenkins, Philip (1 April 2003). The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-19-515480-1.

John Tracy Ellis, "American Catholicism", University of Chicago Press 1956.

Bilhartz, Terry D. (1986). Urban Religion and the Second Great Awakening. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8386-3227-7.

Anbinder; Tyler. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the politics of the 1850s (1992). Online version; also online at ACLS History e-Book Archived 4 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, the standard scholarly study

Al-Khattar, Aref M. (2003). Religion and terrorism: an interfaith perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. 21, 30, 55, 91.

"Warning Against the Roman Catholic Party," Archived 26 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine a 1928 speech by Sen. Thomas J. Heflin (hosted at History Matters)

Randall Balmer. "Billy Graham Regrets Political Involvement, Again," Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine Religion Dispatches.

Gregory Campbell McDermott. "I am not the Catholic candidate": Local Issues and the Catholic Question in John F. Kennedy's 1960 Presidential Campaign.

"Transcript: JFK's Speech on His Religion". NPR. 5 December 2007. Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.

"Pope Renounces Papal Throne". Vatican Information Service, 2 November 2013 Bulletin - English Edition. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.

"Scandal threatens to overshadow pope's final days". CNN. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

"Did a Secret Vatican Report on Gay Sex and Blackmail Bring Down the Pope?". Yahoo News. 22 February 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

"Antichrist". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

"One in four Americans think Obama may be the antichrist, survey says". The Guardian. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"Obama the antichrist? Global warming a myth? Lizard people controlling the world? Conspiracy theory research reveals bizarre beliefs prevalent in US". The Independent. 4 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"The Book of Revelation does not describe the anti-Christ as someone with characteristics matching those of Barack Obama". Snopes. 25 May 2016.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Aaronovitch, David (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. pp. 187-218, Chapter 6: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Holy Shit.

Mina, Mikhail (30 April 1998). "In retrospect by Mikhail Mina". Nature. 392 (6679): 884. Bibcode:1998Natur.392..884M. doi:10.1038/31855. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 35300944.

John L. Esposito, Emad El-Din Shahin (September 2013). The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190631932.

"'Love Jihad' and religious conversion polarise in Modi's India". Reuters. 4 September 2014. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.

"Muzaffarnagar: 'Love jihad', beef bogey sparked riot flames". Hindustan Times. 12 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.

Ananthakrishnan G (13 October 2009). "'Love Jihad' racket: VHP, Christian groups find common cause". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.

Mahanta, Siddhartha (5 September 2014). "India's Fake 'Love Jihad'". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.

Liz Fekete (15 December 2011). "The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre". Race & Class. 53 (3): 30-47. doi:10.1177/0306396811425984. S2CID 146443283.

Langton (2010), pp. 23-56

Hindson & Caner 2008, p. 280.

De Young 2004, p. 60.

Riddell 2001, p. 235.

Waardenburg 1999, p. 276.

Waardenburg 1999, p. 255.

De Young 2004, p. 64.

"Christianity from a Bahá'í Perspective". bahai-library.com. Retrieved 26 December 2021.

Kaplan, Jeffrey (2000). Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right. AltaMira Press. p. 539. ISBN 9780742503403.

Kivisto, Peter; Rundblad, Georganne (2000). Multiculturalism in the United States: Current Issues, Contemporary Voices. SAGE Knowledge. pp. 57-60. ISBN 9780761986485.

Capehart, Jonathan. "A petition to 'stop white genocide'?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.

Sexton, Jared (2008). Amalgamation Schemes: Antiblackness and the Critique of Multiracialism. Univ of Minnesota Press. pp. 207-08. ISBN 978-0816651047.

Perry, Barbara. "'White Genocide': White Supremacists and the Politics of Reproduction." Home-grown hate: Gender and organized racism (2001): 75-85.

Eager, Paige Whaley (2013). From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 90. ISBN 9781409498575.

"8 in 10 French people believe a conspiracy theory: survey". Yahoo News. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.

Kumeh, Titania (12 October 2010). "Conspiracy Watch: Is Abortion Black Genocide?". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2018.

"Rick Tyler: Gingrich Backer Airs 'Black Genocide' Theory on MSNBC". International Business Times. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2013.

Agins, Donna Brown (2006). Maya Angelou: Diversity Makes for a Rich Tapestry. Enslow Publishers. pp. 52-53. ISBN 978-0766024694.

Smith, Mary (March 1968). "Birth Control and the Negro Woman". Ebony. Vol. 23, no. 5. p. 29.

Wright, Nathan (December 1969). "Black Power vs. Black Genocide". The Black Scholar. 1 (2): 47-52. doi:10.1080/00064246.1969.11430663. JSTOR 41202828.

Scott, Laell (25 May 1970). "Legal Abortions, Ready or Not". New York Magazine. Vol. 3, no. 21. p. 68. ISSN 0028-7369.

Rastafari, Jah (7 October 2005). "Questions about Rastafari". Rastafaritimes.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

"Haile Selassie: Who was the Rastafarian Messiah?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

Harry Jaffe, So-called "plan" for white supremacy lives on in D.C., Washington Examiner, 30 August 2010.

Jeffrey R. Henig and Wilbur C. Rich, Mayors in the middle: politics, race, and mayoral control of urban schools. Princeton University Press, 2004, pp. 204-207.

"Skeptoid: The Plan to Retake Washington".

Jonetta Rose Barras, Recruiting Diversity: Michelle Rhee's campaign to diversify DCPS means wooing white parents. Washington CityPaper, 27 August 2010.

Romano, Aja (7 August 2016). "Social justice, shipping, and ideology: when fandom becomes a crusade, things get ugly". Vox. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

Tiffany, Kaitlyn (13 July 2020). "HOW A FAKE BABY IS BORN". The Atlantic. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

Romanoff, Zan (3 July 2018). "A Journey Into The Dark Heart Of Celebrity Relationship Conspiracy Theories". Buzzfeed News. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2022). Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 173-222. ISBN 9780374722722.

"Combating Fake News: An Agenda for Research and Action - Shorenstein Center". 2 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.

Lawrence Johnstone Burpee, "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Canadian History," Oxford University Press, 1926, pg 477.

Aaronovitch, David (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. p. 20.

"The Accidental Invention of the Illuminati Conspiracy". BBC. 9 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.

"Historians Find 'Proof' that Nazis Burnt Reichstag". The Telegraph. UK. 15 April 2001. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Agujeros Negros del 11-M". Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.

Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, edited by Peter Knight, pp 689

Weber, Peter (2 September 2014). "America created the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria? Meet the ISIS 'truthers'". The Week. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

Hassan, Mehdi. "Inside jobs and Israeli stooges: why is the Muslim world in thrall to conspiracy theories?". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

"African Shia Cleric: Boko Haram attrocity is a conspiracy against Islamic resurgence in Nigeria". ABNA World Service. 8 February 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012.

"Nigeria: Boko Haram Conceived to Destroy Islam - Prof. Bunza". Daily Trust. AllAfrica. 8 February 2012. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2017.

Summers, Anthony; Swan, Robbyn (2011). The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. New York: Ballantine. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-4000-6659-9.

"Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report - The World Trade Center". Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communication. 3 February 2005. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

Bažant, Z. K. P.; Verdure, M. (2007). "Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and Building Demolitions" (PDF). Journal of Engineering Mechanics. 133 (3): 308-19. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.121.4166. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2007)133:3(308). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

"Conspiracy Theorists Blame Jews For Sandy Hook Massacre". Anti-Defamation League. 18 December 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

Dylan Baddour & W. Gardner Selby, Hillary Clinton correct that Austin's Alex Jones said no one died at Sandy Hook Elementary Archived 3 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, PolitiFact (1 September 2016).

David Mikkelson, FBI Admits Sandy Hook Hoax?: Rumor: The FBI revealed that no murders occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, proving the Sandy Hook massacre was an elaborate hoax, Snopes (7 February 2015).

"Limbaugh: Maybe the Mayan apocalypse made Adam Lanza do it". 20 December 2012. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.

Nelson, Lars-Erik (4 January 1999). "Conspiracy Nuts Hit New Low With The Body Count". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.

"The Clinton BS Files: "Lock her up" isn't really about emails - the right's been accusing the Clintons of murder for decades". Salon. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

Weiss, Philip (23 February 1997). "Clinton Crazy". The New York Times.

"The People President Clinton Didn't Have to Pardon...Because They're All Dead". TruthOrFiction.com. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

"MSNBC News Host Joe Scarborough Criticized For Tweeting Conspiracy Theories Following Jeffrey Epstein's Apparent Suicide". Newsweek. 10 August 2019.

"Jeffrey Epstein: How conspiracy theories spread after financier's death". BBC News. 12 August 2019.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Van Onselen, Gareth (25 May 2016). "The top 10 bogus ANC conspiracy theories". Business Live. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

Ndaba, Baldwin (8 September 2014). "Thuli a CIA spy, says deputy minister". IOL. Archived from the original on 29 May 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

Masoga, Elvis (3 October 2012). "Malema thrives on political conspiracy theories". South African Broadcasting Corporation.[permanent dead link]

David Aaronovitch (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. pp. 287-91.

David Aaronovitch (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. pp. 285-90.

"Trump Is Still Touting the Obama 'Birther' Conspiracy Theory Behind Closed Doors". Yahoo News. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

"Trump Still Believes 'Birther' Obama Conspiracy". Newsweek on MSN. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

"Trump, Grand Wizard of Birtherism". The New York Times. 17 September 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

"Inside The Top Benghazi Conspiracy Theories That Refuse To Go Away". International Business Times. 11 May 2013. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.

"Benghazi Conspiracy Theories Definitively Debunked. Again". HuffPost. 24 January 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.

"Rand Paul is a conspiracy theorist: Time for the world to call him what he is". Salon. 3 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.

Berlet, Chip (July 2012). "Collectivists, Communists, Labor Bosses, and Treason: The Tea Parties as Right-Wing Populist Counter-Subversion Panic". Critical Sociology. 38 (4): 565-87. doi:10.1177/0896920511434750. S2CID 144238367.

Berkowitz, Bill (2003), "Reframing the Enemy: 'Cultural Marxism', a Conspiracy Theory with an Anti-Semitic Twist, Is Being Pushed by Much of the American Right." Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center, Summer. "SPLCenter.org: Reframing the Enemy". Archived from the original on 7 February 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2004.

"'Breivik manifesto' details chilling attack preparation". BBC. 24 July 2011. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

"What is the "deep state"?". The Economist. 9 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"What is the 'Deep State' and how does it influence Donald Trump?". The Independent. 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"What Is the Deep State?". The Nation. 17 February 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"Trump to Fight 'Deep State' With Secret, Private Spy Network Around the World?". Yahoo News. 6 December 2017. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

"Deep State: How a Conspiracy Theory Went From Political Fringe to Mainstream". Newsweek. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.

"Deep State: Inside Donald Trump's Paranoid Conspiracy Theory". Rolling Stone. 9 March 2017. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.

"Google shared conspiracy theories that sought to tie Texas shooter to antifa movement". USA Today. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

Ansari, Talal (5 November 2017). "Here Is The Misinformation Going Around About The Texas Church Shooting". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

Mikkelson, David (5 November 2017). "Was the Texas Church Shooter an Antifa Member Who Vowed to Start Civil War?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

Griffin, Miriam T (2013). Nero: the end of a dynasty. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-21464-3.

Korte, Gregory; Mider, Zachary (4 October 2019). "Trump's Story of Hunter Biden's Chinese Venture Is Full of Holes". Retrieved 14 October 2019.

Mayer, Jane (4 October 2019). "The Invention of the Conspiracy Theory on Biden and Ukraine". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 14 October 2019.Mayer, Jane (4 October 2019). "The Invention of the Conspiracy Theory on Biden and Ukraine". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 14 October 2019.

"Rudy Found Hunter Biden Emails That Totally Weren't Stolen by Russia". NY Mag. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.

Charles Maynes (21 November 2022). "'Golden billion,' Putin's favorite conspiracy, explains his worldview and strategy". National Public Radio.

Raghu Malhotra (25 July 2022). "Explained: What is the 30-year-old 'golden billion' conspiracy theory invoked by Russian President Vladimir Putin?".

"Pencil or pen? An unusual conspiracy theory grips Brexit vote". The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Pauline Hanson addresses pencil conspiracy for the 2022 federal election". Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Officials respond to conspiracy theories over pencils in polling stations". The Independent. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"At the polling place - frequently asked questions".

"Indelible pencils, my a...". Retrieved 8 August 2023.

VEC. "Sorting fact from fiction". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Disinformation register". elections.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Pens to replace pencils at NSW election". amp.9news.com.au. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Pen licence for West Australian voters". ABC News. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2023.

"Half of Americans Believe in Medical Conspiracy Theories". NPR. 19 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Cures and Cons". Scientific American. 1 March 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2019.

"'Paul McCartney is dead' and 10 more conspiracy theories". The Week. 21 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"Steven Seagal Gets a Shot at Stardom". Los Angeles Times. 14 February 1988. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.

"Separating Fact from Fiction, The CIA and AIDS". Time. 2016. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.

Kruszelnicki, Karl S (15 March 2007). "Dr Karl's Great Moments in Science. CIA did (not) make AIDS?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.

Horowitz, Leonard G. (1996). Emerging Viruses : AIDS and Ebola - Nature, Accident or Intentional?. Medical Veritas International. ISBN 9780923550127. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2019.

"Farrakhan claims Ebola invented to kill off blacks". Fox News Channel. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

Thakur N, Das S, Kumar S, Maurya VK, Dhama K, et al. (December 2022). "Tracing the origin of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2): A systematic review and narrative synthesis". J Med Virol. 94 (12): 5766-5779. doi:10.1002/jmv.28060. PMC 9538017. PMID 35945190. ... this accomplished hardly anything to halt the proliferation of often paradoxical and, at times, completely absurd conspiracy theories that propagated more rapidly than the disease outbreak itself. For example, it has been claimed that SARS‐CoV‐2 was either the consequence of a laboratory error or was purposefully manufactured or it was produced for GoF investigations ...

"Experts debunk fringe theory linking China's coronavirus to weapons research". The Washington Post. 29 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.

"China's rulers see the coronavirus as a chance to tighten their grip". The Economist. 8 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.

Kao J, Li MS (26 March 2020). "How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus". ProPublica. Retrieved 31 March 2020.

Edmunds DR (18 March 2020). "Coronavirus is a Zionist plot, say Turkish politicians, media, public". The Jerusalem Post.

"Coronavirus: Antisemitism". ADL. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

Mantyla, Kyle (16 March 2020). "Rodney Howard-Browne: Coronavirus Pandemic Is a Globalist Plot to Kill People With Vaccines". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 4 December 2020.

Parveen N (5 April 2020). "Police investigate UK far-right groups over anti-Muslim coronavirus claims". The Guardian.

"Islamophobes React to Coronavirus Pandemic with Anti-Muslim Bigotry". 30 April 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

"China coronavirus: Misinformation spreads online about origin and scale". BBC News. 30 January 2020. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.

Broderick R (23 January 2020). "QAnon Supporters And Anti-Vaxxers Are Spreading A Hoax That Bill Gates Created The Coronavirus". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.

Cellan-Jones R (26 February 2020). "Coronavirus: Fake news is spreading fast". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.

Waterson, Jim (24 April 2020). "Revealed: former Vodafone executive in 5G conspiracy video is UK pastor". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2020.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2001). "Recommendations for using fluoride to prevent and control dental caries in the United States". MMWR Recomm Rep. 50 (RR-14): 1-42. PMID 11521913. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007.

"CDC Releases New Guidelines on Fluoride Use to Prevent Tooth Decay". CDC (Press release). 9 August 2007. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008.

Armfield JM (2007). "When public action undermines public health: a critical examination of antifluoridationist literature". Australia and New Zealand Health Policy. 4 (1): 25. doi:10.1186/1743-8462-4-25. PMC 2222595. PMID 18067684.

Freeze RA, Lehr JH (2009). "Fluorophobia". The Fluoride Wars: How a Modest Public Health Measure Became America's Longest-Running Political Melodrama. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 127-69. ISBN 978-0-470-44833-5.

Murray N. Rothbard (January 1993). "Fluoridation Revisited". The Rothbard-Rockwell Report. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.

"Donald Trump Has Finally Erased the Line Between Conservatism and Conspiracy Theories". New York. 1 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.

Triggle, Nick (24 May 2010). "MMR doctor struck off register". BBC News. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.

"Rob Schneider Links Autism To Vaccines, Rails Against Big Government". HuffPost. 2 July 2012. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

"Jim Carrey, Please Shut Up About Vaccines". Time. 1 July 2015. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

"John Oliver blasts Trump as a 'human megaphone' for the anti-vaccine movement". The Washington Post. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

"Donald Trump says vaccinations are causing an autism 'epidemic'". The Independent. 17 September 2015. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.

"COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status in Virginia". Virginia Department of Health. 27 November 2021. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.

"Germany vaccination: Fines plan as measles cases rise". BBC. 26 May 2017. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

"Watch John Oliver Explore How Trump, Memes Fueled Anti-Vaccine Movement". Rolling Stone. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.

"Should Vaccines Be Required? In Italy, Parents Can Now Be Fined for Skipping Kids' Shots". Newsweek. 19 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

"Measles outbreak in maps and graphics". BBC. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

"Nigeria's polio campaign undermined by conspiracy theories". Al Arabiya News Channel. 26 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.

"Vaccines, the CIA, and how the War on Terror helped spread polio in Nigeria". The Guardian. 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.

"Pakistan bomb blast: why health workers keep getting attacked". The Christian Science Monitor. 7 October 2013. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"Stunts! Bumps! Fake Trumps! 25 pop-culture myths too weird to be true". The Guardian. 2 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.

"Profile: Gary McKinnon". BBC. 14 December 2012. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.

"16 Batshit Space Conspiracy Theories That Will Freak You The Fuck Out". Buzzfeed News. 1 March 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.

"The man whose biblical doomsday claim has some nervously eyeing 23 Sept". The Washington Post. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

"Will 2017 solar eclipse cause secret planet 'Nibiru' to destroy Earth next month? (No, but conspiracy theorists think so)". The Daily Telegraph. 20 August 2017. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Please stop annoying this NASA scientist with your ridiculous Planet X doomsday theories". The Washington Post. 18 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

LONDBERG, MAX (2017). "Conspiracy theorists use the Bible to claim the eclipse is a sign of the apocalypse". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Paul Begley says there is "overwhelming evidence that Planet X will destroy the Earth in 2017".

Selk, Avi (2017). "Armageddon via imaginary planet has been pushed back - yet again - to November". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.

"US base leads poll's top conspiracy theories". The Guardian. 31 July 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.

"Colorado cow mutilations baffle ranchers, cops, UFO believer". The Denver Post. 8 December 2009. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.

Knight, Peter (2003). Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-57607-812-9.

Barkun, Michael (4 May 2006). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. University of California Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-520-24812-0.

Robertson, David G. (2016). Cox, James; Sutcliffe, Steven; Sweetman, William (eds.). UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age: Millennial Conspiracism. Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1474253208.

Fritze, Ronald H. (2009). Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-Religions. London, England: Reaktion Books. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-86189-430-4.

Fritze, Ronald H. (2016). Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy. London, England: Reaktion Books. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-78023-639-1.

"The Reptilian Elite". Time. 2009. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.

"After chilly forecast, Trump tweets U.S. 'could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming'". The Washington Post. 28 December 2017. Archived from the original on 29 December 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2017.

"Yes, Donald Trump did call climate change a Chinese hoax". PolitiFact.com. 3 June 2016. Archived from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.

"Fiddling with global warming conspiracy theories while Rome burns". The Guardian. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

"The 5 most deranged conspiracy theories from GOP mega-donors' bizarro climate conference". Salon. 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

"Illuminati, Mind Control and Hurricanes: Conspiracy Theories Follow HAARP". International Business Times. 30 July 2015. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.

Pappas, Stephanie (22 May 2014). "Conspiracy Theories Abound as U.S. Military Closes HAARP". NBC News. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Eden, Philip. "The day they made it rain". WeatherOnline. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.

"RAF rainmakers 'caused 1952 flood'". The Guardian. 30 August 2001. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2017.

Maqbool, Aleem (21 October 2010). "Is Pakistan in denial about tackling its problems?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 November 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

"Why bad ideas refuse to die". The Guardian. 28 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.

"Do they really think the earth is flat?". BBC. 4 August 2008. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.

"Flat Earth Society Says Evidence of Round Planet Part of Vast Conspiracy Theory". HuffPost. 29 October 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.

"MARK OF THE BEAST: Secret plan to 'implant us all with ID chips by 2017'". Daily Express. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.

"'Vladimir Putin is advised by ALIENS' Councillor blames space reptiles for Ukraine crisis". Daily Express. 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.

Gaughen, Patrick. "Structural Inefficiency in the Early Twentieth Century: Studies in the Aluminum and Incadescent Lamp Markets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2015.

Tutt, Keith (2003). The Scientist, The Madman, The Thief and Their Lightbulb: The Search for Free Energy. UK: Simon & Schuster UK. ISBN 978-0684020907.

B. King, Moray (2005). The Energy Machine of T. Henry Moray: Zero-Point Energy & Pulsed Plasma Physics. Adventures Unlimited Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1931882422.

Edwards, Tony (1 December 1996). "End of road for car that ran on Water". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2013 - via Google Groups.

Vallée, Jacques F (1994). "Anatomy of a Hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty Years Later" (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration. 8 (1): 47-71. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2009.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.

Allen, Robert; Vogel, Peter (June-July 1996). "America's Dark Secret: The Port Chicago Disaster". Nexus Magazine. Vol. 3, no. 4. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.

"Hugo Chavez Says U.S. Hit Haiti With 'Earthquake Weapon'". Fox News Channel. 7 April 2010. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.

Yan, Laura (4 March 2018). "Mind Games: The Tortured Lives of 'Targeted Individuals'". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2 November 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.

Brain Invaders, archived from the original on 11 February 2017, retrieved 31 December 2018

Mind Control, retrieved 31 December 2018

"Did the middle ages not really happen?". The Straight Dope. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

"King Arthur was really a Russian, say Slavs". The Daily Telegraph. 19 April 2001. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Brian Dunning (2 February 2021). "Tartaria and the Mud Flood". Skeptoid. Retrieved 16 March 2022.

Tiffany, Kaitlyn (31 August 2021). "Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet 'Died' Five Years Ago". The Atlantic. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

Carson, Dan. "10 Sports Conspiracy Theories That Are Totally True". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

"History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

Roeper, Richard (2008). Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century. Chicago Review Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-55652-970-2.

"Moyes - UEFA hot balls cost us". SkySports. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

"The 13 most stunning sports conspiracy theories, ranked". Yahoo Sporting News. 12 May 2016. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.

"The great World Cup Final mystery". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2 April 2002. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2014.

"World Cup moments: Mystery surrounds Ronaldo in 1998". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2018.

"World Cup: 25 stunning moments [...] No15: Ronaldo falters as France win" Archived 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2014

"The mystery of Paris that refuses to go away". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.

"Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Pats Conspiracy Theories Are the NFL's UFOs". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

"Patriots had a few calls go their way vs. the Jaguars, and everyone is in conspiracy mode again". 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.

"Super Bowl LII: Save your Patriots conspiracy theories". Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

"3 reasons why the internet thinks the Super Bowl was totally rigged". 6 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.

"Falcons' Quinn defends questionable play-calling late in Super Bowl loss". Retrieved 5 February 2017.

Bibliography

Aaronovitch, David (2010) [2009]. Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. ISBN 978-0099478966.

De Young, James (2004). Terrorism, Islam, and Christian Hope: Reflections on 9-11 and Resurging Islam. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-59752-005-8.

Dunning, Brian (2018). Conspiracies Declassified. Adams Media. ISBN 978-1-5072-0699-7.

Gray, John (2000) [1998]. False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-592-3.

Hindson, Ed; Caner, Ergun (2008). The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity. Harvest House. ISBN 978-0-7369-3635-4.

Hodapp, Christopher; Alice Von Kannon (2008). Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-18408-0.

Langton, Daniel R. (2010). The Apostle Paul in the Jewish Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51740-9.

Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories (Facts on File, 2006), worldwide coverage, 520 entries

Riddell, Peter G. (2001). Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2473-0.

Roniger, Luis, Senkman, Leonardo. Conspiracy Theories and Latin American History: Lurking in the Shadows (Routledge, 2023) ISBN 978-1-032-05237-3

Tudge McConnachie, Robin James (2008) [2005]. The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories. Rough Guide. ISBN 978-1-85828-281-7.

Waardenburg, Jacques (1999). Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535576-5.

vte

Conspiracy theories

List of conspiracy theories

Overview

Core topics

AntiscienceCabals deep stateéminence grisepower behind the throneCivil / Criminal / Political conspiraciesCrisis actorsDeceptionDystopiaEspionageGlobal catastrophe scenariosPseudohistoryPseudoscienceSecrecySecret societiesUrban legends and myths

Psychology

ApopheniaAttitude polarizationCognitive dissonanceCommunal reinforcementConfirmation biasDenialismLocus of controlMachiavellianismMass psychogenic illness moral panicsParanoiaPsychological projection

Astronomy and outer space

2012 phenomenon Nibiru cataclysmAncient astronautsApollo Moon landingsFlat EarthHollow MoonReptilians

UFOs

Alien abductionArea 51Black Knight satelliteCryptoterrestrial / Extraterrestrial / Interdimensional hypothesisDulce BaseEstimate of the Situation (1948)Lake Michigan TriangleMJ-12Men in blackNazi UFOs Die GlockeProject Serpo

Hoaxes

Dundy County (1884)Maury Island (1947)Roswell (1947)Twin Falls (1947)Aztec, New Mexico (1949)Southern England (1967)Ilkley Moor (1987)Gulf Breeze (1987-88)Alien autopsy (1995)Morristown (2009)

Deaths and disappearances

Assassination /

suicide theories

Zachary Taylor (1850)Louis Le Prince (1890)Lord Kitchener (1916)Tom Thomson (1917)Władysław Sikorski (1943)Benito Mussolini (1945)Adolf Hitler (1945)Subhas Chandra Bose (1945)Johnny Stompanato (1958)Marilyn Monroe (1962)John F. Kennedy (1963)Lee Harvey Oswald (1963)Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966)Harold Holt (1967)Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)Robert F. Kennedy (1968)Salvador Allende (1973)Aldo Moro (1978)Renny Ottolina (1978)Pope John Paul I (1978)Airey Neave (1979)Olof Palme (1986)Zia-ul-Haq (1988)GEC-Marconi scientists (1980s-90s)Turgut Özal (1993)Vince Foster (1993)Kurt Cobain (1994)Yitzhak Rabin (1995)Diana, Princess of Wales (1997)Alois Estermann (1998)Nepalese royal family (2001)Yasser Arafat (2004)Benazir Bhutto (2007)Osama bin Laden (2011)Hugo Chávez (2013)Seth Rich (2016)Alejandro Castro (2018)Jeffrey Epstein (2019)Sushant Singh Rajput (2020)John McAfee (2021)

Accidents / disasters

Mary Celeste (1872)RMS Titanic (1912)Great Kantō earthquake (1923)Lynmouth Flood (1952)Dyatlov Pass (1959)Lost Cosmonauts (1950s-60s)JAT Flight 367 (1972)United Air Lines Flight 553 (1972)South African Airways Flight 295 (1987)MS Estonia (1994)TWA Flight 800 (1996)EgyptAir Flight 990 (1999)Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2014)

Other cases

Joan of Arc (1431)Yemenite children (1948-54)Elvis Presley (1977)Jonestown (1978)

Body double hoax

Paul McCartney (1966)Avril Lavigne (2003)Melania Trump (2017)

Energy, environment

Agenda 21California drought manipulationClimate change denial false theoriesFree energy suppressionHAARPRed mercury

False flag allegations

USS Maine (1898)RMS Lusitania (1915)Reichstag fire (1933)Pearl Harbor (1941)USS Liberty (1967)Lufthansa Flight 615 (1972)Widerøe Flight 933 (1982)KAL Flight 007 (1983)Mozambican presidential jet (1986)Pan Am Flight 103 (1988)Oklahoma City bombing (1995)9/11 attacks (2001) advance knowledgeWTC collapseMadrid train bombing (2004)London bombings (2005)Smolensk air disaster (2010)Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (2014)

Gender and sexuality

Alpha / beta malesAnti-LGBT anti-gender movementChemicalsdrag panicgay agendagay Nazis mythHIV/AIDS stigma United StatesHomintern Lavender scareRecruitmentGroominglitter box hoaxGamerGateIdeology in incel communitiesLarries / GaylorsSatanic panicSoy and masculinity

Health

5G misinformationAnti-vaccination autism MMRThiomersalin chiropracticmisinformationAspartameBig PharmaChemtrailsCOVID-19 Ivermectinlab leakvaccinesin Canada / Philippines / United StatesEbolaElectronic harassmentGerm theory denialismGMOsHIV/AIDS denialism origins theoriesoral polio AIDS hypothesisLepers' plotMedbedsSARS (2003)Water fluoridationPont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning

Race, religion and/or ethnicity

Bhagwa Love TrapCERN ritual hoaxCOVID-19 and xenophobiaFreemasons French Revolution [fr]Gas chambers for Poles in Warsaw (1940s)German POWs post-WWIIPriory of SionProduct labeling HalalKosherTartarian EmpireWar against IslamWhite genocide

Antisemitic

Andinia PlanBlood libelCohen PlanDoctors' plotduring the Black DeathEpsilon TeamGeorge SorosHolocaust denial TrivializationInternational Jewish conspiracy Committee of 300Cultural Bolshevism / Jewish Bolshevism ŻydokomunaJudeo-Masonic plotThe Protocols of the Elders of ZionWorld War IIZ.O.G.JudeopoloniaKilling of JesusKalergi PlanNew World OrderRothschildsStab-in-the-back myth

Christian / Anti-Christian

Anti-Catholic JesuitsPopish PlotVaticanBibleGiuseppe Siri

Islamophobic

Counter-jihadBihar human sacrificeEurabiaGreat ReplacementLove jihadProposed "Islamo-leftism" inquiryTrojan Horse scandal

Genocide denial /

Denial of mass killings

ArmenianBangladeshBosnianCambodianThe HolocaustHolodomorNanjingRwandanSayfoSerbs during WWIIUyghur

Regional

Americas

(outside the United States)

Argentina Andinia PlanCanada Avro Arrow cancellationLeuchter reportPeru Casa MatusitaVenezuela Daktari Ranch affairGolpe Azul

Middle East / North Africa

In the Arab world 10 agorotCairo fireIsrael-related animal theoriesIran Western-backed Iranian RevolutionIsrael Pallywood

Russia

Alaska paymentDulles' PlanGolden billionPetrograd Military OrganizationRasputinUkraine bioweapons

South Asia /

Southeast Asia

India Cow vigilante violenceGreater BangladeshPakistan JinnahpurPhilippines Tallano goldThailand Finland Plot

Turkey

2016 coup attempt ErgenekonOperation SledgehammerGezi Park protestsSèvres SyndromeÜst akıl

Other European

EuromythIreland German PlotRoman Republic First Catilinarian conspiracySpain Mano Negra affairSweden Lilla SaltsjöbadsavtaletUK Clockwork Orange plotElm Guest HouseHarold WilsonVoting pencil

United States

Barack Obama citizenshipreligionparentage"Obamagate" / SpygateBiden-UkraineBlack helicoptersCIA and JFKCIA assistance to bin LadenClinton body countCultural MarxismFBI secret societyFEMA campsGeorgia GuidestonesJade Helm 15Montauk ProjectPhiladelphia ExperimentPizzagateThe Plan (Washington, D.C.)Project AzorianQAnon PastelincidentsSaddam-al-QaedaSandy Hook (2012)Trump-Ukraine"Vast right-wing conspiracy"Vietnam War POW/MIA issue / Stab-in-the-back myth

2020 election

Italygate"Pence Card"Maricopa County ballot auditStop the Steal

Other

Dead Internet theoryNESARA/GESARANew CokePhantom time / New chronologyShadow government claims BilderbergIlluminatisynarchismShakespearean authorship

Pseudolaw

Admiralty lawFreeman on the land movementRedemption movementSovereign citizensStrawman theoryTax protesters

Satirical

AcreBielefeldBirds Aren't RealLi's fieldTed Cruz-Zodiac Killer meme

See also

Argument from ignoranceConspiracy EncyclopediaConspiracy fictionConspiritualityDogma pseudoskepticismFalsifiabilityFringe scienceHistorical negationismParanormalPrejudice hate speechSuperstition

vte

Disinformation and misinformation

Types

Algorithmic radicalizationAlternative factsBig lieCherry pickingCircular reportingCognitive bias List of cognitive biasesConspiracy theory (list)DeceptionDenialismDisinformation attackDoublespeakEuphemistic misspeakingFactoidFake news onlinelist of websitesLying pressFallacy List of fallaciesFalse accusationFalse flagFear, uncertainty, and doubtForgery as covert operationGaslightingHalf-truthHistorical negationismHoaxInfodemicInternet manipulationManipulation (psychology)Media cultureMedia manipulationPotemkin villagePost-truth politicsPsychological warfare Memetic warfareMilitary deceptionPropaganda black propagandacounterpropagandaState-sponsored Internet propagandaQuote miningScientific fabricationSmearingSocial botSpinTruthinessUrban legendWhataboutismYellow journalism

Books and documentaries

Disinformation by Ion Mihai PacepaDezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet StrategyThe KGB and Soviet DisinformationWho's Who in the CIAMerchants of DoubtAfter Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News

Examples

Bermuda TriangleCongo Free State propaganda warClimate change denialFree energy suppressionGenocide denialIlluminatiInternational Jewish conspiracyDisinformation in the 2023 Israel-Hamas warDisinformation in the Russian invasion of UkraineNew World OrderRed mercuryReptiliansRothschildsStrategy of tension

Health

5GCOVID-19 misinformation by governmentsEbolaHIV/AIDS denialismMental illness denialVaccines anti-vaccinationautismCOVID-19

Operations and events by country

Canada

Jihadunspun.com

China

Chinese information operations 50 Cent PartycyberwarfareLittle PinkInternet Water ArmyPLA Unit 61398COVID-19Global Times

Czechoslovakia

Operation Neptune

Germany

FunkspielPropaganda in Nazi GermanyMyth of the clean Wehrmacht

India

Fake news in IndiaGodi-mediaPaid news in IndiaOpIndia

Israel

Team Jorge

Korea

Voluntary Agency Network of Korea

Mexico

Peñabots

Philippines

COVID-19 misinformation in the PhilippinesFake news in the PhilippinesHistorical distortion regarding Ferdinand Marcos

Russia /

Soviet Union

Soviet era

Active MeasuresK-1000 battleshipOperation INFEKTIONOperation ToucanSeat 12Soviet influence on the peace movementU.S. Army Field Manual 30-31BUseful idiot

Post-Soviet era

Cyberwarfare on Estoniaduring the Russo-Georgian WarInformation war against Ukraine Disinformation in the 2022 Russian invasion of UkraineOn US elections 2016201820202016 Brexit referendumRussian Institute for Strategic StudiesTrolls from OlginoWeb brigades

South Africa

HIV/AIDS denialism

Turkey

Conspiracy theoriesMedia censorship and disinformation during the Gezi Park protestsAK Trolls

United Kingdom

Bell PottingerDouble-Cross SystemClockwork Orange plotEuromythLancet MMR autism fraudOperation Mass AppealPsychological Warfare DivisionZinoviev letter

United States

1995 CIA disinformation controversyAttempts to overturn the 2020 electionConspiracy theories 9/11 conspiracy theoriesCIA Kennedy assassinationQAnonSandy HookCOVID-19Fake news onlineThe Freedom Fighter's ManualHabbush letterInformation Operations RoadmapLitter boxes in schoolsMohamed Atta's alleged Prague connectionNiger uranium forgeriesTobacco industry playbookOperation ShockerYellow rain

Venezuela

Bolivarian Army of Trolls

Vietnam

Public opinion brigadesForce 47

Opposition

Fact-checking Fact-checking websiteActive Measures Working GroupCounter disinformation unitCounter Misinformation TeamCountering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation ActThe Disinformation ProjectEast StratCom Task ForceFactCheck.orgFull FactLogicallyNewsGuardPolitiFactSnopesStopFakeUnited States Information AgencyUSAFacts Categories: Conspiracy theoriesSociety-related lists