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Inside the campaign to 'pizzagate' Hunter Biden
From one of the reporters that Grenell lit into in a pre-debate call earlier today
Pizzagate-style rumors in 2016 were largely confined to far-right message boards. This year, they are reaching the mainstream with help from a website boosted by Trump.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1244331
By Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny
Some of the same people who pushed a false conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton that first emerged in 2016 are now targeting Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, with similar falsehoods. Their online posts are garnering astronomical numbers of shares on social media.
The fantastical rumors, which NBC News is declining to repeat verbatim, echo specific plot points central to "pizzagate," a viral disinformation campaign that predates QAnon but also falsely alleges a vast conspiracy of child abuse.
...
The disinformation campaign appears to have been successful in its goal of generating a smear against the former vice president's son. According to Google Trends, "human trafficking" is now the third-most common related search term for "Hunter Biden" in the last year, after "laptop" and "New York Post," which point to search interest around the unconfirmed allegations that a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden contained evidence of crimes.
The New York Post published an article on Oct. 14 that it said was based on leaked private photos from Hunter Biden's personal hard drive, including photos that appeared to show the younger Biden sleeping and screenshots of unverified emails claiming that he had used his position on the board of an energy company to set up a meeting with his father, then the vice president. Both Bidens have denied any wrongdoing, with Joe Biden recently calling the allegations a "last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family."
Some of the same people who pushed a false conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton that first emerged in 2016 are now targeting Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, with similar falsehoods. Their online posts are garnering astronomical numbers of shares on social media.
The fantastical rumors, which NBC News is declining to repeat verbatim, echo specific plot points central to "pizzagate," a viral disinformation campaign that predates QAnon but also falsely alleges a vast conspiracy of child abuse.
...
The disinformation campaign appears to have been successful in its goal of generating a smear against the former vice president's son. According to Google Trends, "human trafficking" is now the third-most common related search term for "Hunter Biden" in the last year, after "laptop" and "New York Post," which point to search interest around the unconfirmed allegations that a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden contained evidence of crimes.
The New York Post published an article on Oct. 14 that it said was based on leaked private photos from Hunter Biden's personal hard drive, including photos that appeared to show the younger Biden sleeping and screenshots of unverified emails claiming that he had used his position on the board of an energy company to set up a meeting with his father, then the vice president. Both Bidens have denied any wrongdoing, with Joe Biden recently calling the allegations a "last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family."
More at link
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Response to Roland99 (Original post)
