Pizzagate conspiracy theory

Pizzagate is a debunkedconspiracy theory that emerged during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle alleging that John Podesta's emails, which were leaked by , contain coded messages referring to human trafficking and connecting a number of restaurants in the United States and members of the Democratic Party with a fabricated child-sex ring. It has been extensively discussed in the media and discredited by a wide array of sources across the political spectrum, described as a "fictitious conspiracy theory" by the District of Columbia Police Department and determined to be false by multiple organizations including Snopes.com, The New York Times, and Fox News.

This conspiracy theory emerged near the end of the 2016 United States presidential election cycle. BuzzFeed News traced its origin to a tweet written by a "reputed white supremacist" on October 30, 2016 that claimed the New York City Police Department, which was searching emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop as part of an investigation into his sexting scandals, had discovered the existence of a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party. Internet users reading John Podesta's emails released by in early November 2016 speculated that some words in Podesta's emails were code words for pedophilia and human trafficking. The theory also proposed that the ring was a meeting ground for satanic ritual abuse. Other claims that the theory proposed include the use of handkerchief codes (interpreted from a widely-cited email mentioning a "pizza-related" handkerchief), the alleged use of pedophile symbols in the logos of various organizations, and John Podesta and his brother Tony Podesta's alleged connection to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

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