By GREGOR AISCH<\/span>, <\/span>JON HUANG<\/span> and <\/span>CECILIA KANG \u00a0| \u00a0DEC. 10, 2016<\/span><\/span> In the span of a few weeks, a false rumor that Hillary Clinton WikiLeaks began releasing emails hacked from the account of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign chairman, a month before the election.<\/li>\n Social media users on a popular Reddit forum dedicated to Donald J. Trump and 4chan\u2019s far-right fringe message board searched the releases for evidence of wrongdoing.<\/li>\n Within the emails were discussions that include the word pizza, including dinner plans between Mr. Podesta and his lobbyist brother, Tony Podesta.<\/li>\n A participant on 4chan connected the phrase \u201ccheese pizza\u201d to pedophiles, who on chat boards use the initials \u201cc.p.\u201d to denote child pornography.<\/li>\n Following the use of \u201cpizza,\u201d theorists focused on the Washington pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong. The WikiLeaks emails revealed that John Podesta corresponded with Comet\u2019s owner, James Alefantis, who had connections to Democratic operatives.<\/li>\n The theory started snowballing, taking on the meme #PizzaGate. Fake news articles emerged and were spread on Twitter and Facebook.<\/li>\n The false stories swept up neighboring businesses and bands that had played at Comet. Theories about kill rooms, underground tunnels, satanism and even cannibalism emerged in fabricated stories and on social media.<\/li>\n On Dec. 4, Edgar M. Welch, a 28-year-old from North Carolina, arrived at Comet with a military-style rifle and a handgun. The police said he fired the rifle inside the pizzeria, hurting no one, and surrendered after finding no evidence to support claims of child slaves being held there.<\/li>\n The shooting did not put the theory to rest. Purveyors of the theory and fake news pointed to the mainstream media as conspirators of a coverup to protect what they said was a crime ring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n The conspiracy theory took the internet by storm. YouTube clips pushed the false story, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. Tens of thousands of individuals subscribed to message boards, feeding into theories with fake news reports and crowd-driven detective work. The police refuted the claims of an online pedophile ring running out of Comet Ping Pong, but the theories continued. Here are eight that gave #PizzaGate momentum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Combing through John Podesta\u2019s leaked emails, members of a far-right fringe community on the social media site 4chan and Trump supporters on Reddit pulled out a number of emails unconnected to politics. Several of them mentioned pizza or other Italian food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most cited email revolved around a handkerchief left at a house Mr. Podesta visited with a real estate agent. It led to speculation that the handkerchief and map on it were clues to some sort of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The term \u201ccheese pizza\u201d had previously been used on 4chan as code for \u201cchild pornography.\u201d An anonymous user speculated that other food-related terms could also have double meanings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This interpretation spread, and other emails containing supposed code words were reinterpreted as evidence of pedophile activity. For example, this 2015 email was taken as an inquiry about providing sexual services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hey John,<\/p>\n We know you’re a true master of cuisine and we have appreciated that for years \u2026<\/p>\n But walnut sauce for the pasta? Mary, plz tell us the straight story, was the sauce actually very tasty?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It’s an amazing Ligurian dish made with crushed walnuts made into a paste. So stop being so California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Podesta brothers were famous in Washington circles for their Italian cooking and big salon and fund-raising dinners, often cooked by their mother<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some pizza-related emails mentioned a Washington pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong, whose owner is connected to prominent Democratic figures. An email about a pizza fund-raiser there fed speculation about sex parties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hello. Some young lawyer type friends of mine are hosting an Obama Fundraiser at Comet Ping Pong on Thursday Night and then watching the debate. Should be about 150 people and they are raising between 25 and 35 thousand dollars. Would you be willing to stop by around 8 o’clock or so and make a little speech. They (and I) would be thrilled to have you of course. I understand if you are not available.<\/p>\n Also, I saw that you are reading at Politics & Prose soon. What can we do afterward? Would you like to have a dinner at my places?!?<\/p>\n Big or small. What do you think?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The pizza parlor owner was swept into the rumormongering on message boards. Amateur online sleuths linked the pizzeria\u2019s signage to satanic symbols. Fake stories emerged putting the restaurant in the center of a child-trafficking ring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A photo of President Obama playing table tennis was used by conspiracy theorists to connect him to the pizza restaurant. In a video, this photo is introduced with \u201chere is Obama at Comet Ping Pong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, this photo is of a framed picture within the White House, and the original photograph was taken inside the White House, not the Comet Ping Pong restaurant. Mr. Alefantis took the picture of the photograph at the White House and posted it on his Instagram account, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Inside the White House, where the picture was taken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to an F.B.I. document released by WikiLeaks<\/a>, the following symbols are used by pedophiles to identify sexual preferences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conspiracy theorists claimed that other design elements used by businesses near the Comet Ping Pong restaurant also resembled pedophile symbols.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, countless other major American brand logos contain similar shapes. Hearts, triangles and spirals are widely used symbols in business logos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The photo shows a walk-in refrigerator supposedly in the restaurant, described as part of a network of underground facilities. However, a reporter can confirm that there is no basement in Comet Ping Pong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Comet\u2019s spokesperson said the photo was taken during a visit to a restaurant Mr. Alefantis was considering leasing. Comet uses a low-slung refrigerator at Buck\u2019s Fishing & Camping, Mr. Alefantis\u2019s other restaurant two doors down on the same block, to store produce, cheese and proofing dough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This photo was found on James Alefantis\u2019s Instagram account, and #PizzaGate believers claimed it as proof that he is a pedophile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, the man with the black T-shirt was not James Alefantis. It was a co-owner of a different restaurant in Washington, named L\u2019Enfant Cafe-Bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n (And in case you\u2019re wondering, that restaurant was named after Pierre Charles L\u2019Enfant<\/a>, an American colonist from France who served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-20-at-11.24.49-AM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\nDissecting the #PizzaGate
Conspiracy Theories<\/h1>\n
\nThe New York Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
and her top aides were involved in various crimes snowballed
into a wild conspiracy theory that they were running a
child-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizza parlor. The fast
evolution of the false theory revealed how a powerful mix of fake
news and social media led an armed North Carolina man to
investigate the rumors about the pizza place, Comet Ping Pong, last Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\nHow the #PizzaGate conspiracy theory evolved<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Claim: Podesta\u2019s leaked emails
contained secret code language.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\nDid you leave a handkerchief<\/h3>\n
Claim: The emails contained
coded messages about pedophilia.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\nWalnut sauce?<\/h3>\n
Claim: Comet Ping Pong is at the center of it.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
Comet Ping Pong and OBAMA…and Podesta?.<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\nClaim: An Instagram photo is proof of a
link between Obama and Comet Ping Pong.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\nClaim: Comet Ping Pong and other nearby
businesses use pedophile symbols in logos.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\nClaim: Comet Ping Pong had a secret kill
room and posted a picture of it on Instagram.
Fake stories claimed underground tunnels
and child trafficking in the basement.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\nClaim: The owner of Comet Ping Pong
admitted he was a pedophile \u2013 on a T-shirt.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n