A new report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project documents the proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories around the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The report, released on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the era defining attacks, shows how the conspiracies promoted existing prejudices, including anti-semitism.
The report identifies the key role that the internet and social media played in disseminating debunked and noxious ideas. “Conspiracies about the 9/11 attacks began spreading in the days immediately following the tragedy, as individuals grappled with the enormity of the scale of the events and conflicting information that emerged as authorities and media outlets attempted to understand what had happened,” the report reads. “The internet was used to spread many of the key conspiracy theories right from the beginning and has continued to serve as a space for these communities to flourish.”
