What is the 'pizzagate' conspiracy theory that Elon Musk has revived on X?

Billionaire Elon Musk is climbing up the controversy ladder by reigniting the longstanding “pizzagate” conspiracy theory on his social media platform, X. The move comes just several days after he received massive backlash and faced advertiser exodus for boosting antisemitic theory. The internet mogul’s 160 million followers are currently being encouraged to believe the three-year-old conspiracy theory and baseless allegations that it is connected to Media Matters. About “pizzagate” conspiracy theory “Pizzagate” is an anti-Hilary Clinton conspiracy theory that was spread ahead of the 2016 US presidential election on 4chan, Reddit, Twitter, and other platforms, according to CNN. It was claimed that Clinton, a then-presidential candidate, and other prominent Democrats operated a child sex trafficking out of a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC. The report stated that because of the blatantly false claims, Edgar Maddison Welch, the self-appointed “investigator,” fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant in December of that year. Welch later pleaded guilty and received a four-year prison sentence, although nobody was hurt. Elon Musk-Media Matters row On Monday, a user on X attempted to link the founder of Media Matters, a left-leaning nonprofit organisation, to the owner of the so-called “Pizzagate restaurant.” Musk then gave the message a boost by responding to it with the single word, “Weird.”

Weird

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

The entrepreneur’s amplification of the theory coincides with a developing dispute between Musk and Media Matters because the organization released a report claiming that advertisements from major corporation such as Apple, IBM, Oracle and Bravo, were displayed alongside antisemitic and pro-Hitler content on Musk’s microblogging platform. This had prompted major companies, including Disney, Paramount and NBCUniversal, Apple and IBM to pull advertising from the platform, reported CNN. According to The Independent, Musk denied claims that he is antisemitic and called the organisation “evil.”

Media Matters is pure evil https://t.co/gIV1rHO9d7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

He called the report misleading and it has taken necessary steps to combat antisemitism and discrimination on his platform. On Monday, he also filed a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters. According to the media report, he and other executives said that Media Matters’ study methodology for identifying the content that was affixed to firm advertisements did not accurately reflect how average users interacted with the site. An X representative told The Independent that the firm did not deliberately position the advertisements next to the postings made by the antisemitic accounts, which have since been demonetised, making it impossible for advertisements to appear on their profiles. The accounts haven’t been deleted, though. In a statement released on Monday in response to Musk’s campaign against the organisation, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone described the lawsuit as “meritless” and described it as “an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate.” “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,” the organisation said. Musk’s antisemitic post Musk this week endorsed the assertion that Jewish communities incite “hatred against Whites” by agreeing with an antisemitic remark on X. The Tesla-owner faced backlash from the White House and others for engaging with an antisemitic conspiracy theory. “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN. According to The Independent, Musk later responded to the accusations, saying “nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.” For those unversed, this came after his scandal several days after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, where he was forced to take down a post where he amplified an account that is widely accused of anti-Semitism and promotes unreliable information in its videos. With inputs from agencies