Soros conspiracy theories surge along with protests
They say he hires protesters and rents buses to transport them. Some say he has people stash piles of bricks to be hurled into glass storefronts or at police.
George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been a target of conspiracy theories, is now being falsely accused of orchestrating and funding the protests over police killings of Black people that have roiled the United States. Amplified by a growing number of people on the far right, including some Republican leaders, online posts about Soros have skyrocketed in recent weeks.
Soros, 89, has donated billions of his personal wealth to liberal and antiauthoritarian causes around the world, making him a target among many on the right. The HungarianAmerican, who is Jewish, also has been the subject of antiSemitic attacks and conspiracy theories for decades.
Such hoaxes can now travel farther and faster with social media.
Over just four days in late May, negative Twitter posts about Soros spiked from about 20,000 a day to more than 500,000, according to the AntiDefamation League.
The new wave began as nationwide demonstrations emerged over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Some insist Soros financed the protests, while others say he colluded with police to fake Floyd’s death last month. But all available evidence suggests the protests are what they seem: gatherings of thousands of Americans upset about police brutality and racial injustice.
Experts who study conspiracy theories say the new claims about Soros are a way to delegitimize the protests and the actual reasons behind them. Some see antiSemitism, or a new spin on the ageold hoax that a shadowy cabal of rich men — whether it’s the Illuminati, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, Bill Gates or Soros — is manipulating world events.
Experts say conspiracy theories can become a problem when they lead to threats of violence or cause people to lose trust in important institutions.