Build a conspiracy theory from scratch.
The best way to learn to spot a conspiracy theory is to make one yourself.
Pick a real news story. On the next step you'll choose who's behind it and why. Then walk through the four moves real conspiracists use, with a debunk on every step.
- Hunt anomalies — turn coincidence into evidence of a secret plot.
- Fabricate connections — draw lines between unrelated dots until they look meaningful.
- Dismiss counter-evidence — if a fact disagrees, make the fact part of the cover-up.
- Discredit the critics — dismiss people who point out flaws in your theory.
Pick the event.
Choose whichever real-feeling headline your imagination will run wildest with. Don't overthink it.
Airline to weigh passengers pre-flight.
South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air will begin weighing passengers and their carry-on luggage at Gimpo and Incheon airports. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation has required the checks to collect actual passenger weights for aircraft weight-and-balance calculations. Airline officials say measuring passengers helps crews calculate load distribution, takeoff performance, and fuel needs more accurately than relying on assumed average weights. Officials emphasize it is about technical calculations, not personal data collection.
Baby Al Capone" orchestrated crypto heist
Ellis Pinsky, who grew up in Irvington, New York, has been linked to a large cryptocurrency theft that investigators say happened when he was 15. Authorities allege he orchestrated the theft of about $23.8 million in digital assets. By May 2020, masked intruders were reportedly trying to access some of the stolen funds, but Pinsky apparently no longer had the money. The case attracted attention because of the amount and the age of the alleged organizer.
China Urges UK Return Artifacts
China’s state-run Global Times published an editorial urging the British Museum to return Chinese artifacts just ahead of a visit by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. The piece accused the museum of holding items acquired through improper channels and called some pieces “stolen.” The British Museum’s collection includes more than 23,000 Chinese objects, and the editorial named examples such as the painting The Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies and Liao tri-coloured luohan statues.
Wealthy Nations Urged to Contribute
A new international nature fund set up under the Global Environment Facility aims to help developing countries meet the biodiversity targets agreed at the COP15 summit in Montreal. The fund’s creation was one of the most-contentious issues at those talks, prompting walkouts and repeated negotiations between wealthy and poorer nations. So far, only Canada and the United Kingdom have pledged money, leaving roughly $40 million still needed to capitalise the fund ahead of COP16 next year.