WASHINGTON — Misinformation and conspiracy theories can be dangerous. Washington, D.C. residents know this well.
The Pizzagate conspiracy theory that gained attention in 2016 put innocent people in harms way.
The conspiracy claimed that the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Northwest D.C. was the site of a child trafficking ring, and that Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats were connected.
No evidence ever proved any of that to be true, but some people on the far right of the political spectrum used it as an argument to vote for Donald Trump for president.
One man who believed the conspiracy, Edgar Maddison Welch, entered the restaurant in December 2016 with a gun while attempting to uncover the supposed underground child trafficking ring. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.
Elon Musk revived the conspiracy with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
QUESTION
Did the expert who debunked Pizzagate get sent to jail for child pornography charges?
SOURCES
ANSWER
A former journalist was sentenced this year for possession of child pornography, but he did not cover the Pizzagate conspiracy nor disprove it.
WHAT WE FOUND
Musk shared a meme earlier this week. It shows photos from the TV show, "The Office," with captions that say the expert who disproved the Pizzagate conspiracy was sent to jail for child pornography. Musk added the caption, "Does seem at least a little suspicious."
The post was shared more than 33,000 times, liked more than 150,000 times, and viewed more than 15,000,000 times before Musk deleted it after receiving widespread backlash.
The expert referenced in the meme is James Gordon Meek, a former ABC News journalist. According to federal prosecutors, Meek pleaded guilty in July for possessing and transporting child sexual assault material. He was later sentenced to six years in prison.
A tweet earlier this year showed an apparent New York Post headline about Meek's guilty plea, identifying him as an award-winning journalist who "debunked" Pizzagate.
That headline was digitally-altered. A search of the New York Post’s archives shows no such headline, and an article from the Post about Meek’s sentencing does not mention Pizzagate.
A search of ABC News' archives resulted in no articles showing that Meeks ever reported on Pizzagate in the first place.
In the wake of Musk's decision to share the meme with false information, The Washington Post became the latest large company to suspend its advertising on Musk's social media platform. A spokesperson for the newspaper confirmed the pause to WUSA9, but did not address whether that post specifically prompted the pause.