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The Pizzagate scandal was a huge conspiracy in 2016 that blew up around the presidental elections time. It was about a theory that famous and powerful in the world were in on child trafficking program . Supposedly the coverup was a pizza place in New York called “COMET”. Supposedly, many famous people were involved in this ring such as Hillary Clinton and Jeff bezos. Kids and other people being sex trafficked were supposedly kidnapped and held in the basment of the pizza place because nobody would choose to look there. The owner of the pizza Place name appeared in the Hillary Clinton emails, which led people to try and out two and two together. On December 4, 2016, a 28year old man named Edgar Maddison arrived at Comet Ping Pong and fired three shots from an AR. His reasoning was because he wanted to free the victims that were supposedly held captive in the pizza place. This story was one of the biggest on the internet during 2016

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CLAIM: An expert who debunked the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory has been jailed for possessing child sexual abuse images.

AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. A former ABC reporter referenced in a meme circulating online was recently sentenced to federal prison for such crimes, but he never investigated the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory.

The unfounded rumor was popular among supporters of Republican Donald Trump during his winning 2016 campaign for president and even led a North Carolina man to travel to Washington and fire a rifle in where children were being enslaved.

Musk and others shared a meme referencing the television series "The Office," breathing new life into the false narrative.

Using a series of images of Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer's characters from the hit show, the meme claims the conspiracy theory is "real," involved "trafficked children" and that an expert who had debunked the theory "just went to jail for child porn."

"Does seem at least a little suspicious," wrote Musk in a since-deleted post on Tuesday sharing the meme on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

But Meek didn't play a role in debunking the conspiracy theory.

The false connection stems from an image of a fabricated New York Post headline that spread online in recent months.

"Award winning ABC journalist who 'debunked' pizzagate, pleads guilty in horrific child porn case," the headline reads over an image of Meek.

In addition to this meme, other social media users are sharing a screenshot of a headline claiming the FBI has announced that "Pizzagate is real."

However, there is no evidence of the agency, which didn't respond to requests for comment, making such a statement.

Instead, the headline comes from a site that is known for spreading misinformation and fake quotes. The post itself misrepresents a statement from an FBI agent in a different case related to child sexual abuse material.
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This is part of AP's effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

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Elon Musk and others spread meme reviving unfounded 'pizzagate' conspiracy theory

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The long-dormant "pizzagate" conspiracy theory - which posited that Democratic Party insiders harbored child sex slaves in a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor - has been revived online in recent days, boosted by prominent social media users including Elon Musk.

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Pizzagate: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

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The web of conspiracy theorists, Russian operatives, Trump campaigners who manufactured ‘news’ that Hillary Clinton ran a child-sex ring.

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The saga of ‘Pizzagate’: The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread

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Thousands of people are spreading a false rumour about a Washington pizza restaurant and a child sex ring. But why?

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Elon musk deleted a tweet that shared a meme talking about how a person that “debunked” the pizzagate conspiracy got caught with Possessing child porn which raises questions on what kind of people are covering this up.

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On the BBC website talking about how fast fake news story’s/ conspiracies can spread, they bring up how “No victim has come forward. There's no investigation. And physical evidence? That doesn't exist either”.

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One of the big things about this conspiracy was that the child sex ring supposedly held under the pizza place held kids under in the basment. However, in the BBC article they talk about how the owner even said “For instance, the conspiracy supposedly is run out of the restaurant's basement. We don't even have a basement."

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On the bbc website, they bring up how Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails, a topic that was a big deal during the presidential election of 2016, a name is brought up. The name James Alefantis. James is the owner of comet pizza place. The pizza place where people say this whole sex ring ran under.

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‘PizzaGate’ Conspiracy Theory Thrives Anew in the TikTok Era (Published 2020)

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The false theory targeting Democrats, now fueled by QAnon and teenagers on TikTok, is entangling new targets like Justin Bieber.

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On the New York Times article, it talks about how Justin Bieber, the famous pop singer, was seen on tik tok doing something strange. On TikTok somebody posted a comment asking Justin Bieber to touch his hat if he was a victim of child sex trafficking. And in his next video was seen pointing at something on his beanie. People on the internet and conspiracy theorist say that he did that because he saw the comment and wanted to give a sign to the viewers on his tik tok page.

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I believe that this whole pizza gate situation is real and fake in its own ways. The whole pizza gate situation and belief on its own, I think it’s fake. I don’t think they were running an undercover ring under this pizza shop. However, I feel like the belief of human trafficking between politicans and elite people in the world is real. Ever since Epstein island got exposed, and with how many friends Jeffery had in the industry makes it really hard for me to believe that they never had something to do or fund to help him. Everyday a lot of illegal content that involves vulnerable people like children sell on the internet for a lot of money. Thousands of dollars for videos like that. I doubt random internet creeps would have that kind of money. SO much money being in that industry makes me think that these powerful people get in on it. But the theory of it being in a pizza place for me is pretty stupid.