December 17, 2019
Investigating the infamous #Pizzagate conspiracy theory
Panagiotis Metaxas and Samantha Finn

The echo-chamber formed by the highly visible actors promoting the #pizzagate conspiracy theory on Twitter reveals a dense group of accounts who do not question the obvious lies they propagate.
- Describes the TwitterTrails tool that enables the investigation of rumors on Twitter
- Using TwitterTrails, analyzes Pizzagate, an infamous conspiracy theory that gained prominence during the 2016 US Presidential election
- Reveals several previously unknown facts about the story, including the role that a Turkish journalist played in internationalizing the rumor, visualizes the echo chamber of those who promoted it, and describes their identities and connections