Recent years have been a growing number of what can be described as conspiracy theories, sometimes seemingly by bots, but sometimes real people making up elaborate theories with little to no basis. Most of them are so over-the-top that I doubt anyone actually believes them, but still worthwhile to debunk them (and have some fun doing it). So without much further ado, here are some recent ones about me specifically, or my organization Safeguard Defenders (SD).
No, I do not kidnap the children of Chinese human rights defenders abroad, and then use them to force those rights defenders to do my bidding…
No I did not sleep with an old friends’ new wife, as the fake porn generated would suggest (in fact I have not even had the pleasure to meet her yet…)
No, SD did not work with the Taiwanese government to make and ship the ‘exploding pagers’ used against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and which was much covered in world media.
While not mentioned by name, the largest ever online campaign against the Spanish government by China, and reported on in public, indicates that I'm having an affair with the wife of the Spanish prime minister. Not surprisingly, this is not true.
A long-standing theory seems to be that I have been put under house arrest (by SD staff no less!), and am no longer in charge. All this apparently stem from me shutting down my Twitter account. It doesn’t take much to get a conspiracy theory started…
You can also read more on the massive disinformation campaign against SD here. Its rather breathtaking. We now have four staff all targeted with various forms of fake porn. Interesting times.
Oh, and no, I do not work for the CIA. Nor am I a fascist (!).