The larger-than-life rapper faces a slew of charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking, with his former partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura telling jurors on Tuesday that Combs subjected her to “disgusting” group sex sessions.
“Nobody believes the earth is flat when they first hear it, but repeated exposure to conspiracy theories can make them start to ‘feel’ true,“ Dan Evon, lead writer for RumorGuard, a site that helps debunk viral disinformation, told AFP.
A song titled “I Lost Myself at a Diddy Party” and falsely attributed to Justin Bieber recently garnered millions of views across tech platforms, sparking a wave of conspiracy theories about the relationship between the two celebrities.
Also gaining traction online was a manipulated image of Combs and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sitting next to US President Donald Trump on a couch with young women.
NewsGuard reported that the voice of a supposed whistleblower who made the claim in a widely shared video was AI-generated.
The conspiracy theories lay bare the fragility of a misinformation-filled internet landscape, where views and virality are often mistaken as markers of accurate information.
“Conspiracy theories are as American as baseball and apple pie,“ A.D. Carson, associate professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia, told AFP.
Widespread mistrust in the media and public institutions has fueled armies of internet sleuths, who operate on the principle that “there is no truth” and “there are powers that hide information or the real truth from us,“ Carson said.
Many of these sleuths have drawn parallels between Combs’s case and that of other celebrities convicted of sexual misconduct, including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the late financier Epstein.
“While there are credible allegations against Combs, conspiracy theories often push beyond the boundaries of what is factually known to allege an even wider and more sinister plot,“ said Evon of RumorGuard.
“Diddy’s high profile and the nature of his alleged crimes provide another entry point into this conspiracy,“ he added.
The whirlwind of misinformation could distract public attention from the real allegations facing Combs, and in the worst scenario, influence his trial, experts warned.
“This happens with every single high-profile trial,“ he told AFP. “The question is: will the jurors follow the rules and not be influenced by that.”
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