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How did furniture firm Wayfair end up at the centre of a conspiracy theory about child trafficking?
Expensive pillows - and cabinets with girlsâ names - the latest QAnon conspiracy gripping the internet.
Read here: https://bbc.in/2C5CsqM
I spoke to @BBCRosAtkins
How did furniture firm Wayfair end up at the centre of a conspiracy theory about child trafficking? Expensive pillows - and cabinets with girlsâ names - the latest QAnon conspiracy gripping the internet.
Read here: https://bbc.in/2C5CsqM
I spoke to @BBCRosAtkins
Also with the excellent anti-disinformation team! @Shayan86 and editors @Malhotra_rk @Roop1 @rebeccaskippage
So whatâs the recipe for a conspriacy theory like this one? And how does it burst into the mainstream?
Hereâs a step-by-step guide! THREAD
Wayfair: The false conspiracy about a furniture firm and child trafficking https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53416247
Hereâs a step-by-step guide! THREAD
Wayfair: The false conspiracy about a furniture firm and child trafficking https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-53416247
It starts on the fringes of the internet. In this case with QAnon! The QAnon community believe in a far-right conspiracy theory that there's a secret plot by a supposed "deep state" against President Trump and his supporters.
They are actively looking for conspriacies
Take facts and throw them together to point towards an outlandish conclusion.In this case it was very expensive Wayfair cabinets (because they were industrial) - and the fact they have girlsâ first names (not unusual)
Tweet the claims and âjust ask questionsâ
Make sure the facts that you cherry pick point towards the conclusion you want! With these conspriacy theories - thatâs often about human trafficking.
QAnon made supposed links between the expensive Wayfair furniture, girlsâ names and actual cases of missing children.
This isnât dissimilar to the unfounded QAnon Pizzagate conspiracy theory suggesting that a pizza restaurant in Washington DC was at the centre of a supposed child sex ring linked to Hillary Clinton.
These conspriacy theories undermine legitimate concerns about human trafficking!
These conspriacy theories undermine legitimate concerns about human trafficking!
Find more totally unrelated and baseless claims to bolster your conspriacy theory. In this case that Wayfair pillows - which can cost up to $10,000 if you try to personalise them because of a price glitch - are that expensive because they come with a trafficked child
And why not add in another for good luck?
QAnon followers then said that after they put stock-keeping unit numbers of specific Wayfair products into Yandex, images of young women appeared in the search.
That claim was true, but was down to a glitch - @Shayan86 investigated!
QAnon followers then said that after they put stock-keeping unit numbers of specific Wayfair products into Yandex, images of young women appeared in the search.
That claim was true, but was down to a glitch - @Shayan86 investigated!
But by this point your conspiracy theory is trending in the US - and itâs spreading on social media across the worldFrom the US to Latin America to Turkey - with the term Wayfair generating 4.4 million engagements on Insta and spreading on Facebook groups and pages!
This conspriacy theory might seem very bonkers - and unbelievable. But that doesnât stop people thinking there could be some truth to it!
And very shortly after this report went out I received this email
And very shortly after this report went out I received this email
Wayfair has said âthere is of course no truth to these claimsâ.
And their explanations make sense!
They use an algorithm to generate names of products - and high prices were either down to glitches or industrial-size furniture.
And their explanations make sense!
They use an algorithm to generate names of products - and high prices were either down to glitches or industrial-size furniture.
And one woman, who was mentioned when a cabinet with her first name was linked to her alleged disappearance as a teenager, did a Facebook live refuting the claims.
She said she never went missing in the first place.
She said she never went missing in the first place.
I spoke to @Emmabarnett @bbc5live about how furniture firm Wayfair found itself at the centre of this child trafficking conspiracy that gripped social media 
https://bbc.in/2C5CsqM
Explaining the anatomy of these outlandish claims - and the QAnon community - is a mouthful!
https://bbc.in/2C5CsqM Explaining the anatomy of these outlandish claims - and the QAnon community - is a mouthful!
