I woke up this morning to see #JFKJRRETURN trending in the US and #PizzaGate trending over here in the UK. The QAnon movement is slowly taking over the internet. 25,000 tweets with #PizzaGate and 12,400 with #JFKJRRETURN (RTs included). So why are they trending? Let's have a look
If you're unfamiliar with Q terminology, JFK, Reagan and Trump are the only three presidents Q approves of. There's been a long-standing conspiracy in the movement that JKF Jr (who died in a plane crash in 1999) is alive and secretly working with Mr Trump against "deep state"
Some even believe JFK JR might be Q himeself - although this is disputed by some other followers - and spent some time "researching" this. They identified a guy who appeared in some of Mr Trump's rallies as JFK Jr. The man in questions is actually called Vincent Fusca
Here are some other words and hashtags that appeared alongside tweets with either #PizzaGate or #JFKJRRETURN Pretty clear which type of people are tweeting the hashtags. PizzaGate is the 2016 conspiracy that linked the basement of a DC pizzeria with "elite child abusers"
The JFK Jr hashtag was only trending in the US, while the PizzaGate one appeared in both the US and the UK. You might wonder why South Korea is there. It's because K-pop accounts have been "hijacking" right-wing hashtags for just over a week now
Anyway, the reason JFK Jr was trending is because a fake account under his name appeared and some Q followers went into a "told you so" frenzy. The account got tens of thousands of followers and then disabled/deleted itself. It's been coming and going regularly for months
Whoever's behind the account will probably continue reappearing occasionally to keep the conspiracy alive. For now, it's gone again. Needless to say, JFK Jr is DEAD. And he ain't coming back
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THREAD: New high-res satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on 24 June show new signs of damage at the Fordo nuclear site following an attack by Israel a day after the US bombed the facility.
New craters are visible at tunnel openings and buildings have been destroyed.
At Iran's Natanz enrichment facility, two craters right above the undergound buildings housing centrifuges that were visible after US strikes on 22 June have now been covered with dirt.
Before: 22 June
After: 24 June
📷@Maxar
@Maxar New Maxar Technologies satellite images show previously unseen damage to tunnel entrances at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre caused by US strikes on 22 June.
The claim in this viral tweet that US Marines have arrested the chief master sergeant of the California National Guard for opposing President Trump's orders is baseless and false.
RealRawNews is a notorious fake news website.
This video has racked up millions of views and been shared by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
While there's very real footage of LA protesters setting multiple vehicles on fire on Sunday, this particular video is from the George Floyd protests in 2020.
As is often the case with major developing events, expect a surge in fake news posted by users looking to farm engagement and clout.
There are currently no reports indicating that the Mexican government is considering a military intervention over the LA protests.
A LinkedIn profile in Rodriguez's name suggests he’s based in Chicago and has been working at the American Osteopathic Information Association since 2024.
The profile photo bears a resemblance to the suspect arrested at the scene.
Prior to that, Rodriguez appeared to work as a researcher at HistoryMakers, a research and educational institution based in Chicago that aims to preserve the African-American historical record.
This matches his staff information page on the HistoryMakers website.
Two online pages, one by the People's Congress of Resisatnce and the other by the newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, featuring Rodriguez's name in relation to a 2017 protest in Chicago over the killing of Laquan McDonald are no longer accessible.
THREAD: As India launches strikes against Pakistan tonight, misinformation is rapidly spreading online. I'll fact-check viral falsehoods in this thread.
This video, viewed over 160,000 times, shows Israeli air strikes on Gaza in October 2023. It's unrelated to tonight's strikes.
Be wary of online accounts using tonight's events for engagement farming by posting unrelated yet dramatic images and videos and falsely linking them to Indian strikes.
This video shows the Beirut explosion in 2020. It's unrelated to tensions between India and Pakistan.
This image, viewed over 150,000 times, faslely claims to show an Indian fighter jet shot down by Pakistani air defence.
The image is in fact taken from footage of an Indian MiG-29 fighter jet crashing in Barmer, Rajasthan, due to a technical fault in September 2024.
While Elon Musk recommends sending around X posts so people can "learn the truth", here's a thread of viral misinformation on X about Hurricane Milton.
Alex Jones baselessly claims hurricanes Milton and Helene were deliberately started by the US government as "weather weapons".
This post by one of X's most prominent conspiracy theorists, viewed 4.8 million times, suggests without any evidence that Hurricane Milton is a result of geo-engineering.
Conspiracy theorist Stew Peters claims Hurricane Milton was pre-planned to directly hit Tampa Bay, in a post viewed 4 million times.
Obviously, Hurricane Milton is not pre-planned. No-one can plan to create hurricanes.
A Russia-based disinformation network run by a former Florida cop has published a new fabricated story on a fake news website called "Seattle Tribune".
It baselessly claims Ukrainain President Zelensky has secretly purchased a Mercedes 770 used by Hitler. It's nonsense.
The story refers to this doctored picture of a Mercedes 770 near the presidential office in Kyiv, posted on Telegram.
But that Telegram channel has never posted the pic, and the Mercedes in it has been lifted from the image on the right. Note the same reflections on both cars.
As is often the case with the network of fake news websites posing as local news outlets run by Moscow-based John Mark Dougan, the "Seattle Tribune" website was set up only five days ago, specifically to post this fake story.
There's no record of such a news outlet in Seattle.