With his social media site bleeding cash and advertisers bolting after he amplified antisemitism and a report emerged that claimed ads were placed on the site alongside pro-Nazi content, Elon Musk on Tuesday revisited the conspiracy theory well and fished out ... Pizzagate.
“Does
seem at least a little suspicious,” Musk wrote in a social media post-- alongside a meme about the widely discredited
2016-era conspiracy. In a six-panel image featuring characters from “The Office,” the meme said “Pizzagate is real-- They trafficked children.”
The widely debunked conspiracy, peddled by far-right personalities like Alex Jones in the final days of the 2016 election, claimed a child sex trafficking ring was operating out of the basement of a D.C.-area pizza shop frequented by high-profile politicians including Hillary Clinton. Absolutely no evidence supports the claim ― the building doesn’t even have a basement ― though that didn’t stop fringe elements from violently descending upon the establishment.
In December 2016, a 28-year-old man, egged on by YouTube videos about theory, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant and threatened employees, believing he was “standing up against a corrupt system that kidnaps, tortures and rapes babies.” He later pleaded guilty to federal charges and acknowledged his “intel” wasn’t “100 percent.” In a different incident, another man attempted to set fire to the building.
The post is Musk’s second Pizzagate-related missive in a little over a week. Last week, he amplified a message attempting to tie Media Matters to the owner of the pizza restaurant. Musk is currently suing the media watchdog after it published a report about major brands’ ads appearing alongside posts promoting Nazism.
It’s unclear when (or how) Musk might get his advertisers to come back, but his ongoing flirtation with conspiracy theories and bigots on his platform don’t appear to be helping matters.
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