The Solar Eclipse Is the Super Bowl for Conspiracists

Far-right trolls and extremists in particular have been using the total solar eclipse to push their belief that a group of “elites” is using the event as cover to impose new controls on the population, writes Wired reporter David Gilbert. (Getty images)

Wired
Kate Middleton and the Baltimore Bridge collapse were just warm-ups. For conspiracists in 2024, the total solar eclipse taking place on April 8 is their Super Bowl.

Over the past few weeks, social media channels, Telegram groups, and conspiracy-focused message boards have been flooded with every conceivable wild allegation about what will happen when the moon blocks out the sun.

The rare astronomical event has proved incredibly fertile ground for conspiracists to express their wildest fantasies, and they have theorized about everything from the end of the world, to the secret deployment of balloons to poison the population, to occult rituals and even the imposition of martial law to usher in a “new world order.”

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