ABSTRACT
On 30 October 2016, nine days before the final vote in the U.S. presidential elections, Twitter user @DavidGoldbergNY posted a message – ‘Rumors stirring in the NYPD that Huma’s emails point to a paedophilia ring and @HillaryClinton is at the centre. #GoHillary #PodestaEmails23’. Seven days later, on the wake of election day, the hashtag #pizzagate emerged and, within hours, absolutely false rumour was disseminated all around conservative, pro-Trump sectors of social networks. When the shocking morning of Donald J. Trump’s victory arrived, more than 6000 re-tweets attracted traditional media to the claim (Fisher et al. 2016). The tweet was the foundation of a news-related conspiracy theory that claimed an existence of a Democrat-run paedophile network tied in with the highest ranks of the party, if not Hillary Clinton herself. The theory was based on the interpretation of some cryptic emails found in the hacked account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chief, and allegations that similar cryptic texts show up in the investigated case of Anthony Weiner (unfaithful husband of Hillary Clinton’s closest aide, who digitally flirted with underage teenagers).
