Free conspiracy fact-check

Free Conspiracy Theories Fact Checker

A conspiracy theory blames an event on a secret plot by powerful people, usually without evidence that holds up. This fact checker explains 43 famous conspiracy theories, with where each one started, what the evidence shows, and a sourced verdict: 26 false, 2 unproven, 5 partly true, and 10 proven real.

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43 of 43 theories

  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1976

    The Moon landings were faked

    The claim: NASA staged the Apollo Moon landings (1969-1972) on a film set because it could not really reach the Moon.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Bill Kaysing's self-published 1976 book We Never Went to the Moon; the 1978 film Capricorn One and a 2001 Fox TV special spread it further.
    Why people believe it
    Photos look odd to non-experts (no stars, a 'waving' flag, shadows at angles), and Cold War pressure gives a motive.
    What the evidence shows
    Apollo brought back 382 kg of lunar rock studied by labs worldwide. Retroreflectors left on the Moon are still hit by lasers from observatories. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the landing sites, descent stages and astronaut tracks, and the Soviet Union tracked the missions. Stars are missing because the cameras were set for bright sunlit surfaces; the flag had a horizontal rod.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1849

    The Earth is flat

    The claim: The Earth is a flat disc, and governments and space agencies hide this with faked photos.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Samuel Rowbotham's 1849 pamphlet Zetetic Astronomy; the Flat Earth Society (1956) and YouTube videos from about 2014 revived it.
    Why people believe it
    The ground looks flat, and checking the curve yourself takes effort; distrust of institutions does the rest.
    What the evidence shows
    Ancient Greeks measured the Earth's curve; Eratosthenes estimated its size around 240 BC. Ships vanish hull first over the horizon, time zones and the Moon's round shadow during lunar eclipses follow from a sphere, and people have flown and sailed around it and photographed it from space for decades.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • Partly trueSpace and scienceSince 1989

    Area 51 hides aliens and UFOs

    The claim: The secret Nevada base Area 51 holds crashed alien spacecraft and alien bodies.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Bob Lazar's 1989 TV interview claiming he reverse-engineered alien craft there, built on 1950s UFO sightings in the area.
    Why people believe it
    The US government refused for decades to admit the base existed, and pilots and locals did see strange aircraft.
    What the evidence shows
    The secret base is real: a CIA history released in 2013 confirmed Area 51 as the test site for the U-2 and OXCART spy planes, and it says many 1950s-60s UFO reports were these high-altitude planes. No evidence of alien craft or bodies has ever surfaced, and Lazar's claimed degrees could not be verified.
    Verdict: Partly true
    Something real, wrapped in claims that are not.
  • Partly trueSpace and scienceSince 1947

    The Roswell UFO crash cover-up

    The claim: An alien spaceship crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 and the military covered it up.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    In July 1947 the Roswell Army Air Field announced it had recovered a 'flying disc', then said it was a weather balloon. UFO writers revived the story in 1978.
    Why people believe it
    The military really did change its story, and witnesses decades later described bodies and strange debris.
    What the evidence shows
    There was a cover-up, but not of aliens. US Air Force reports in 1994 and 1997 found the debris came from Project Mogul, a classified balloon train built to detect Soviet nuclear tests, and that 'body' stories mixed up 1950s crash-test dummy drops. No alien material has ever been produced.
    Verdict: Partly true
    Something real, wrapped in claims that are not.
  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1996

    Chemtrails are poisoning us

    The claim: The long white trails behind jets are chemicals sprayed on purpose to control weather, minds or population.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Late-1990s talk radio and websites, partly from a misread 1996 US Air Force paper about weather modification in 2025.
    Why people believe it
    Some trails vanish fast while others linger and spread, which looks deliberate.
    What the evidence shows
    Contrails are condensation: hot, humid engine exhaust freezes into ice crystals, and they last longer when the upper air is cold and humid. In a 2016 survey by Carnegie Institution and UC Irvine researchers, 76 of 77 atmospheric scientists found no evidence of a secret spraying program.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1990

    Climate change is a hoax

    The claim: Scientists invented or exaggerated global warming to win grants or push policy.

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    Where it started
    Fossil fuel industry campaigns from the late 1980s and 1990s; the 2009 'Climategate' email leak gave it a boost.
    Why people believe it
    Climate fixes cost money and change lifestyles, and cold days seem to contradict 'warming'.
    What the evidence shows
    Independent temperature records from NASA, NOAA, the UK Met Office and Japan all show more than 1 C of warming since the late 1800s. Eight separate reviews of the Climategate emails found no fraud or data manipulation. Exxon's own scientists projected the warming accurately in the 1970s and 80s.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1995

    HAARP controls the weather

    The claim: The HAARP antenna field in Alaska is a secret weapon that causes earthquakes, hurricanes and mind control.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    The 1995 book Angels Don't Play This HAARP and later internet posts after big storms and quakes.
    Why people believe it
    It was a military-funded facility in a remote place doing hard-to-explain research.
    What the evidence shows
    HAARP studies the ionosphere, a layer of the upper atmosphere 80+ km up, far above weather. Its transmitter is about 3.6 megawatts, tiny compared with a thunderstorm. The University of Alaska Fairbanks has run it since 2015 and holds public open houses.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseSpace and scienceSince 1995

    Planet Nibiru will hit Earth

    The claim: A hidden planet called Nibiru or Planet X is on course to collide with Earth, and NASA is hiding it.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Nancy Lieder's 1995 website ZetaTalk, later tied to the 2012 Maya calendar panic.
    Why people believe it
    Doomsday dates feel urgent, and 'hidden by NASA' explains why nobody can see it.
    What the evidence shows
    A planet close enough to hit us within years would be one of the brightest objects in the sky, visible to millions of amateur astronomers. Every predicted date (2003, 2012, 2017 and more) passed without incident.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHealth and medicineSince 2020

    5G spreads COVID-19

    The claim: 5G mobile networks cause or spread COVID-19.

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    Where it started
    Social media posts in January 2020 linking Wuhan's 5G rollout to the outbreak; some people in the UK then set fire to phone masts.
    Why people believe it
    Both were new and arrived at about the same time.
    What the evidence shows
    Viruses cannot travel on radio waves. COVID-19 spread widely in places with no 5G, such as Iran, and 5G uses non-ionizing radio frequencies similar to earlier mobile networks.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHealth and medicineSince 1998

    Vaccines cause autism

    The claim: The MMR vaccine, or vaccines in general, cause autism, and health agencies cover it up.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Andrew Wakefield's 1998 Lancet paper on 12 children.
    Why people believe it
    Autism signs often appear around the age children get vaccines, and parents want an explanation.
    What the evidence shows
    The Lancet retracted the paper in 2010 after an investigation found the data were manipulated, and Wakefield lost his UK medical license. Studies of millions of children, including a 2019 Danish study of 657,461 kids, found no link between MMR and autism.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHealth and medicineSince 1983

    The CIA created AIDS

    The claim: The US government created HIV as a bioweapon.

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    Where it started
    Operation INFEKTION, a KGB disinformation campaign that planted the story in a pro-Soviet Indian newspaper in 1983.
    Why people believe it
    Real abuses such as the Tuskegee syphilis study made it believable, especially in Black communities.
    What the evidence shows
    Genetic studies trace HIV to a chimpanzee virus that crossed into humans in central Africa around 1920, decades before genetic engineering existed. In 1992 Russia's intelligence chief admitted the KGB had run the campaign.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • Real (proven)Health and medicineSince 1932

    The Tuskegee syphilis study

    The claim: US health officials let Black men with syphilis go untreated for decades to study the disease.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    The US Public Health Service study in Macon County, Alabama, ran from 1932 to 1972.
    Why people believe it
    It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it is documented history.
    What the evidence shows
    True. About 600 Black men were enrolled, 399 with syphilis, and were not told their diagnosis or given penicillin after it became standard in the 1940s. A 1972 Associated Press story by Jean Heller ended it, and President Clinton formally apologized in 1997.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • UnprovenHealth and medicineSince 2020

    COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab

    The claim: SARS-CoV-2 escaped, accidentally or on purpose, from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Early 2020 speculation because a major coronavirus lab sits in the city where the outbreak began.
    Why people believe it
    The location coincidence is real, and China limited outside investigation.
    What the evidence shows
    Still unresolved. US agencies are split: the FBI and Department of Energy lean toward a lab accident with low-to-moderate confidence, while others lean toward natural spillover, which many virologists favor based on early cases clustered at the Huanan market. The claim that it was a deliberate bioweapon has no support.
    Verdict: Unproven
    Open questions, but no proof of the plot.
  • FalseHealth and medicineSince 1970

    Big Pharma is hiding the cure for cancer

    The claim: Drug companies have a cure for cancer but suppress it to keep selling treatments.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A long-running belief that grew alongside alternative medicine sellers from the 1970s.
    Why people believe it
    Drug companies do put profit first sometimes, and cancer remains a top killer.
    What the evidence shows
    Cancer is hundreds of different diseases, so a single cure is unlikely. Companies compete fiercely, and a cure would earn billions; many cancers, such as most testicular cancers and some leukemias, are now curable and those drugs are sold, not hidden.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • Real (proven)Health and medicineSince 1953

    Tobacco companies hid that smoking kills

    The claim: Cigarette makers knew smoking caused cancer and addiction and worked together to hide it.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Tobacco executives met at New York's Plaza Hotel in December 1953 and launched the 'Frank Statement' ad casting doubt on the science.
    Why people believe it
    Internal documents released in lawsuits show it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. Millions of internal documents came out in 1990s litigation. In 1998 the industry signed a $206 billion Master Settlement Agreement with 46 states, and in 2006 a federal judge ruled in US v. Philip Morris that the companies violated racketeering law by deceiving the public.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)Health and medicineSince 1965

    The sugar industry paid scientists to blame fat

    The claim: Sugar industry money shaped nutrition research to blame dietary fat for heart disease instead of sugar.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    The Sugar Research Foundation paid Harvard scientists for a 1967 review in the New England Journal of Medicine.
    Why people believe it
    Historical documents published in 2016 show it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. A 2016 JAMA Internal Medicine paper by Cristin Kearns and colleagues used industry archives to show the foundation funded and helped shape the 1967 review without disclosure. How much it changed later nutrition policy is still debated.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 1953

    MKUltra: CIA mind-control experiments

    The claim: The CIA secretly drugged people with LSD and other methods to research mind control.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Project MKUltra was approved in 1953 and ran into the 1960s.
    Why people believe it
    Congressional investigations and declassified records confirm it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. The Church Committee (1975) and a 1977 Senate hearing exposed it, using about 20,000 documents that survived after CIA director Richard Helms ordered files destroyed in 1973. Some subjects were dosed without consent, and at least one, Frank Olson, died.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 1956

    COINTELPRO: the FBI spied on activists

    The claim: The FBI secretly surveilled, infiltrated and tried to discredit US political groups, including civil rights leaders.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's counterintelligence programs ran from 1956 to 1971.
    Why people believe it
    Stolen FBI files and Senate investigations prove it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. Activists stole files from an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in 1971 and gave them to the press. The Church Committee confirmed the program targeted groups including Martin Luther King Jr., and the FBI sent King an anonymous letter urging him to kill himself.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 1972

    Watergate

    The claim: President Nixon's re-election campaign broke into the Democratic headquarters and the White House covered it up.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Five men were arrested inside the Watergate office complex on June 17, 1972.
    Why people believe it
    Tapes, testimony and convictions prove it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. White House tapes showed Nixon ordered the cover-up. Dozens of officials were convicted, and Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before an impeachment vote.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Partly trueGovernment and politicsSince 1964

    The Gulf of Tonkin attack that never happened

    The claim: The US used a second North Vietnamese attack that never took place to escalate the Vietnam War.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    The US reported attacks on its destroyers on August 2 and 4, 1964; Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution days later.
    Why people believe it
    Declassified NSA records support it.
    What the evidence shows
    Partly true. The August 2 clash was real. An NSA history declassified in 2005 concluded no attack happened on August 4 and that intercepts were mishandled to suggest one. Whether officials knowingly lied or acted on bad intelligence is still debated.
    Verdict: Partly true
    Something real, wrapped in claims that are not.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 1962

    Operation Northwoods

    The claim: US military chiefs proposed staging fake terror attacks on Americans to justify invading Cuba.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A March 1962 memo from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of Defense.
    Why people believe it
    The declassified memo says it.
    What the evidence shows
    True that it was proposed: the memo, declassified in 1997, suggested fake attacks and hijackings to blame on Cuba. The Kennedy administration rejected it and it was never carried out.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 2001

    The NSA collects everyone's phone records

    The claim: US intelligence agencies secretly collect the phone and internet records of ordinary Americans.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Programs grew after the 2001 Patriot Act; NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked the details in June 2013.
    Why people believe it
    Leaked documents, court rulings and official admissions confirm it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. The NSA collected the phone call records of millions of Americans in bulk, and PRISM gathered data from big tech companies. Congress ended the bulk phone program with the USA Freedom Act in 2015, and a federal appeals court ruled it unlawful in 2020.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Partly trueGovernment and politicsSince 1950

    Operation Mockingbird: the CIA ran the media

    The claim: The CIA controlled major news outlets through a secret program called Operation Mockingbird.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A 1977 Rolling Stone article by Carl Bernstein and the Church Committee's reports on CIA ties to journalists.
    Why people believe it
    The CIA really did use journalists during the Cold War.
    What the evidence shows
    Partly true. The Church Committee found the CIA had relationships with about 50 US journalists and paid for propaganda abroad. But 'Mockingbird' was a 1963 wiretap of two reporters, and there is no evidence of a program that ran the American press.
    Verdict: Partly true
    Something real, wrapped in claims that are not.
  • Real (proven)Government and politicsSince 1985

    Iran-Contra

    The claim: Reagan administration officials secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the money to fund Nicaraguan rebels, which Congress had banned.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A Lebanese magazine broke the arms sales story in November 1986.
    Why people believe it
    Congressional hearings and convictions confirm it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. Officials including Oliver North and John Poindexter were convicted (both convictions were later vacated on appeal), and President George H. W. Bush pardoned six others in 1992.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • Real (proven)HistorySince 1945

    Operation Paperclip brought Nazi scientists to the US

    The claim: The US secretly recruited German scientists, including Nazi Party members, and hid their pasts.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A US program that ran from 1945 to 1959.
    Why people believe it
    Declassified records confirm it.
    What the evidence shows
    True. More than 1,600 German scientists and engineers came to the US, including rocket designer Wernher von Braun, an SS officer whose files were cleaned to get him in. He went on to lead the Saturn V rocket for Apollo.
    Verdict: Real (proven)
    Official records prove the secret plot happened.
  • FalseHistorySince 2001

    9/11 was an inside job

    The claim: The US government planned the September 11 attacks, and the Twin Towers and WTC 7 came down by controlled demolition.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Online videos and books from 2002 onward, especially the 2005 film Loose Change.
    Why people believe it
    The scale of the intelligence failure, and the later Iraq war, made people suspect a motive.
    What the evidence shows
    al-Qaeda planned and claimed the attacks, and the 9/11 Commission documented the plot. NIST's engineering investigations found the towers fell after jet impacts and fires weakened steel, and WTC 7 fell from fire-driven thermal expansion; no demolition explosives or sounds were recorded.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • UnprovenHistorySince 1963

    JFK was killed by a conspiracy

    The claim: Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in killing President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Doubts began right after the shooting and grew with books, Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK, and slow document releases.
    Why people believe it
    Oswald was killed two days later, and the CIA withheld some records for decades.
    What the evidence shows
    Unproven. The Warren Commission (1964) found Oswald acted alone. The House Select Committee in 1979 said there was 'probably' a conspiracy, based on acoustic evidence the National Academy of Sciences later found unreliable. Released files show agencies hid embarrassing details, but no proof of a second shooter or plot has emerged.
    Verdict: Unproven
    Open questions, but no proof of the plot.
  • FalseHistorySince 1941

    FDR knew Pearl Harbor would be attacked

    The claim: President Roosevelt knew the Japanese attack was coming and let it happen to bring the US into World War II.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Journalist John T. Flynn's 1944-45 pamphlets, then books such as Rear Admiral Robert Theobald's The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor (1954).
    Why people believe it
    The US had broken some Japanese codes and expected war.
    What the evidence shows
    Nine official investigations found failures of intelligence and communication, not a plot. The broken codes were diplomatic and did not name Pearl Harbor as a target, and the Japanese fleet kept radio silence on the way.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHistorySince 1797

    The Illuminati secretly rule the world

    The claim: A secret society called the Illuminati controls governments, banks and pop stars.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Books in 1797 blamed the French Revolution on the Bavarian Illuminati.
    Why people believe it
    The group really existed, and 'secret elite' stories explain a confusing world.
    What the evidence shows
    The Bavarian Illuminati was a real Enlightenment society founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776, but the Bavarian government banned it in 1785 and it collapsed. There is no evidence it survived or controls anything today.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHistorySince 1903

    The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

    The claim: A secret Jewish council plans to take over the world, as recorded in the 'Protocols'.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A fabricated text first published in Russia in 1903.
    Why people believe it
    It was pushed by governments and powerful people, including Henry Ford, who printed 500,000 copies in the US, and later by Nazi propaganda.
    What the evidence shows
    A forgery. The Times of London showed in 1921 that it was plagiarized from an 1864 French satire about Napoleon III that had nothing to do with Jews. It remains a source of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHistorySince 1991

    The phantom time hypothesis

    The claim: About 300 years (614 to 911 AD) never happened and were invented by medieval rulers, so it is really about the 1700s.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    German writer Heribert Illig in 1991.
    Why people believe it
    Early medieval Europe left few records, which can look like an empty stretch.
    What the evidence shows
    Astronomical records such as eclipses observed in China and Europe fit the standard timeline, as do tree-ring dating, carbon dating, and the histories of the Islamic world and China, which these supposed forgers had no control over.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseHistorySince 1998

    The Titanic was switched with its sister ship

    The claim: White Star Line secretly swapped the damaged Olympic for the Titanic and sank it on purpose for insurance.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Robin Gardiner's 1998 book Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank?
    Why people believe it
    The two ships looked nearly identical, and the Olympic had been damaged in a 1911 collision.
    What the evidence shows
    Wreck surveys found Titanic's yard number 401 on recovered propeller parts, and the wreck has features Olympic lacked. The ship was underinsured relative to its cost, so a sinking would have lost White Star money.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseGovernment and politicsSince 2020

    The 2020 US election was stolen

    The claim: Widespread fraud or rigged voting machines changed the result of the 2020 US presidential election.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Claims by President Trump and allies before and after the November 2020 vote.
    Why people believe it
    Mail ballots counted late shifted results overnight, and the claims came from trusted leaders.
    What the evidence shows
    More than 60 lawsuits failed, many dismissed by judges who cited no evidence. Hand recounts in Georgia and audits in Arizona confirmed the results. Federal election security officials called it 'the most secure in American history', and Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department found no fraud on a scale that could change the outcome. Fox News paid Dominion $787.5 million in 2023 to settle a defamation suit over voting machine claims.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseGovernment and politicsSince 2008

    Obama was not born in the US

    The claim: Barack Obama was born in Kenya, so he was not eligible to be president.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Chain emails during the 2008 campaign.
    Why people believe it
    His father was Kenyan and he spent part of his childhood abroad.
    What the evidence shows
    Hawaii released his short-form certificate in 2008 and long-form birth certificate in 2011, and two Honolulu newspapers printed his birth announcement in August 1961. In 2016 Donald Trump, a leading promoter, said Obama was born in the US.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseInternet ageSince 2016

    Pizzagate

    The claim: A Washington, DC pizzeria hid a child-trafficking ring run by political figures.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    4chan and Reddit users reading hacked campaign emails in late 2016, treating food words as code.
    Why people believe it
    It mixed real leaked emails with 'decoded' meanings that seemed to fit.
    What the evidence shows
    Police found no evidence. The restaurant has no basement. In December 2016 a man fired a rifle inside the restaurant to 'investigate', found nothing, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseInternet ageSince 2017

    QAnon

    The claim: An anonymous insider 'Q' revealed a secret war against a cabal of elite child abusers that would end in mass arrests.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Posts on 4chan beginning in October 2017.
    Why people believe it
    Vague 'drops' let followers fill in meanings, and the community felt like solving a puzzle.
    What the evidence shows
    None of Q's specific predictions, such as Hillary Clinton's arrest in 2017 or 'the Storm', came true. No evidence of the cabal exists, and the FBI flagged QAnon-driven extremism as a domestic terror threat in 2019.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseCelebrities and pop cultureSince 1999

    Reptilian aliens run the world

    The claim: Shape-shifting reptile aliens disguised as humans hold power in governments and royal families.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    British author David Icke's 1999 book The Biggest Secret.
    Why people believe it
    Video glitches that make eyes or faces look odd get shared as 'proof'.
    What the evidence shows
    There is no evidence of any kind. 'Shape-shifting' clips are compression artifacts and lighting. The story also echoes antisemitic 'secret rulers' tropes.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseCelebrities and pop cultureSince 1969

    Paul McCartney died in 1966

    The claim: Paul McCartney died in a 1966 car crash and The Beatles replaced him with a lookalike, hiding clues in their albums.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A call to Detroit radio station WKNR-FM in October 1969 and college newspaper articles that month.
    Why people believe it
    Fans found 'clues' like the barefoot Paul on the Abbey Road cover.
    What the evidence shows
    McCartney gave a Life magazine interview in November 1969 and has performed for more than 50 years since. The clues are pattern-finding in album art.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseCelebrities and pop cultureSince 1977

    Elvis is alive

    The claim: Elvis Presley faked his death in 1977 and went into hiding.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Sightings and tabloid stories soon after his death in August 1977.
    Why people believe it
    Fans did not want to accept it, and the middle name on his grave is spelled differently from his birth certificate.
    What the evidence shows
    His death was confirmed by an autopsy and a public funeral. His birth certificate spells his middle name 'Aron' while his grave says 'Aaron', the spelling Elvis himself switched to later in life, so the difference is not a clue. No verified sighting exists.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseCelebrities and pop cultureSince 1997

    Princess Diana was murdered

    The claim: Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed on purpose by British intelligence or the royal family in the 1997 Paris crash.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Started right after the crash and pushed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed, who died with her.
    Why people believe it
    Her break from the royal family gave some people a motive to imagine.
    What the evidence shows
    A French investigation and the Metropolitan Police's Operation Paget (2006) found no plot. A 2008 British inquest jury ruled her death an unlawful killing caused by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul, who was over the drink-drive limit, and the pursuing paparazzi.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseCelebrities and pop cultureSince 1995

    The Denver airport hides a secret bunker

    The claim: Denver International Airport hides underground bunkers for the elite, and its murals and statues are coded messages.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    The airport opened in 1995, 16 months late and far over budget, with unusual art.
    Why people believe it
    Delays, odd art and a capstone with Masonic symbols fed the story.
    What the evidence shows
    The delays came from a failed automated baggage system. The tunnels are for trains and the old baggage system. The airport now leans into the jokes with its own exhibits.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • FalseInternet ageSince 2017

    Birds aren't real

    The claim: Birds were replaced with government surveillance drones.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    Peter McIndoe made it up in 2017 as a satire of conspiracy thinking.
    Why people believe it
    It is a joke; most fans are in on it.
    What the evidence shows
    McIndoe told The New York Times in 2021 that it was satire meant to mock misinformation. Birds are real.
    Verdict: False
    The evidence shows the claim is wrong.
  • Partly trueInternet ageSince 2021

    The dead internet theory

    The claim: Most of the internet has been bots and AI content since about 2016, run on purpose to manipulate people.

    Read the fact check
    Where it started
    A 2021 forum post on Agora Road's Macintosh Cafe that went viral.
    Why people believe it
    Bots and AI spam are visibly everywhere.
    What the evidence shows
    Partly true: security firms estimate bots make up around half of web traffic, and AI-generated content is growing fast. But there is no evidence of a coordinated plan, and billions of real people still post online.
    Verdict: Partly true
    Something real, wrapped in claims that are not.

True or false? Real conspiracy quiz

Some secret plots really happened. Sort 8 claims into proven real conspiracies and false theories.

How it works

How to use the Conspiracy Theories Fact Checker

  1. 01

    Search for a conspiracy theory by name or keyword, like moon landing or JFK.

  2. 02

    Filter by category, verdict or the era the theory started.

  3. 03

    Open a card to read the claim, where it started and why people believe it.

  4. 04

    Read what the evidence shows and the verdict: False, Unproven, Partly true or Real.

  5. 05

    Follow the source links to check the evidence yourself.

  6. 06

    Take the 8-question quiz and sort real conspiracies from false theories.

How to spot a conspiracy theory

Real conspiracies happen, and the difference is evidence. Use this checklist before you share a claim about a secret plot.

  • It explains everythingEvery new fact, even a contradiction, gets folded in as more proof.
  • Evidence against it is part of the cover-upIf a lack of proof proves the plot, the claim can never be tested.
  • It needs thousands of people to keep a secretReal conspiracies like Watergate leaked within months or years.
  • The 'proof' is a pattern, not a recordNumbers, symbols and coincidences stand in for documents and witnesses.
  • It is pushed by someone selling somethingBooks, supplements, subscriptions or votes ride on you believing it.
  • Real conspiracies come with paper trailsMKUltra, COINTELPRO and Tuskegee were proven by documents, hearings and court cases.

Why Lie Library cares

Conspiracy theories and viral political claims spread the same way: a confident story, no receipt, and a lot of retelling. Lie Library keeps the receipts. Run any claim through the Fact Checker, check a quote with the Quote Checker, or browse folklore in the Urban Legends Explorer.

Conspiracy theories FAQ

What is a conspiracy theory?

A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event that blames a secret plot by powerful people, usually without solid evidence and in a way that treats any evidence against it as part of the cover-up. A real conspiracy, by contrast, is proven by documents, testimony or court records.

What are the most famous conspiracy theories?

Some of the most famous conspiracy theories are that the Moon landings were faked, that the Earth is flat, that Area 51 hides aliens, that JFK was killed by a conspiracy, that 9/11 was an inside job, that chemtrails poison people, and that vaccines cause autism. The evidence shows the Moon landing, flat Earth, 9/11, chemtrail and vaccine-autism theories are false; Area 51 is partly true (the secret base was real, the aliens were not), and a JFK conspiracy remains unproven.

Have any conspiracy theories turned out to be true?

Yes. 10 theories in this checker are proven real, including the CIA's MKUltra mind-control experiments, the FBI's COINTELPRO program, the Tuskegee syphilis study, Watergate, the tobacco industry's cover-up of smoking's harms, and NSA bulk phone surveillance. Each was exposed by documents, hearings or court cases.

Why do people believe conspiracy theories?

Researchers point to a need to make sense of frightening events, distrust of institutions (often earned by real scandals), and the brain's habit of seeing patterns and intent where there is chance. Conspiracy theories also offer a sense of special knowledge and belonging to a community.

How can you tell if a conspiracy theory is true?

Look for a paper trail: documents, named witnesses, court records or official investigations. Be wary when a theory explains everything, needs thousands of people to keep a secret, treats missing evidence as proof, or is promoted by someone selling something.

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