How a false conspiracy theory about sex workers and Paul Pelosi went viral

Welcome to?Grid Today, bringing the best of Grid to your inbox. In this issue:

• 360 Brief: Why is Nancy Pelosi a conspiracy theory target?
• 360: The midterms’ high stakes for abortion, climate change and Ukraine
• What’s next for Brazil’s Lula after defeating Bolsonaro?
• Elon’s $44 billion bet on Twitter

There’s a lot to cover today, including some Halloween reads. Let’s dive in.???

By the way,?send me your feedback and questions?– I love to hear from readers, and I read every message.?

???ON THE GRID

Why is Nancy Pelosi a conspiracy theory target? The attack shows how lies are becoming fair game in politics.

The news?

It wasn’t long after news broke that Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, had been?attacked by a hammer-wielding man?at their San Francisco home that?false conspiracy theories?began spreading online and being shared by high-profile figures and commentators. One conspiracy theory held that the man who attacked Paul Pelosi was a sex worker. And over the weekend, Elon Musk, who has 112.6 million followers on Twitter, responded to a tweet from Hillary Clinton with a link to a conspiracy theory article.??

The context?

The conspiracy theory about the attack “is being used by the right to offer an alternative version of what most likely inspired the alleged attacker,” a five-person Grid team reports in a?new 360 Brief.?

“Pelosi?has been the target?of relentless conservative attacks for the last two decades. In recent years, the anti-Pelosi rhetoric has shifted in a more intense, violent direction. Many conservatives have?rejected this backdrop?as a relevant factor in the attack on Paul Pelosi.”?

Misinformation Lens?

“Like many conspiracy theories, the sex worker fallacy wasn’t entirely random; it emerged from an existing right-wing myth” about Nancy and Paul Pelosi,?Laura McGann?writes. And as of this morning, this conspiracy theory was one of the top trending topics on Twitter.?Read more on misinformation.?

Politics?Lens?

“The conspiracy theory is one way some conservatives are deflecting claims that the event was motivated by anti-Nancy Pelosi rhetoric,”?Steve Reilly?and?Leah Askarinamreport. Some, such as figures on Fox News, “have framed the event as a random act, not as potential political violence.” But Pelosi has also been the subject of attacks and attack ads for years.?Read more on politics.?

Business and Tech Lens?

Musk, who now owns Twitter, had previously said that the site wouldn’t be a “free-for-all hellscape” under his leadership, clearly appealing to advertisers concerned about content on the platform. But over the weekend, he “added a gasoline truck to the conspiracy theory fire” when he tweeted out the sex worker conspiracy theory to his more than a hundred million followers,?Benjamin Powers?writes. What does it mean when powerful and influential figures share misinformation like this??Read more on business and tech.??

???Explore the whole 360 Brief.?

Related read

• Why many conservatives won’t call the attack on Pelosi’s husband political violence

???NEWS IN CONTEXT

Stakes for abortion, climate change, and the war in Ukraine couldn’t be higher in the 2022 midterm election

With Election Day a little more than one week away, the most likely current scenario for the midterms is that the government will be divided between Democrats and Republicans. Spending cuts and a halt to bipartisan legislation in Congress could be on the horizon.?

And as a team of eight (!) members of the Grid newsroom reports in our latest 360, for many issues, such as abortion, climate change and the war in Ukraine, the?stakes of the midterms couldn’t be higher. They approach the significance for 2022 and beyond through?multiple lenses:?

Economy x Democracy and Voting x Abortion x Technology x Climate x Global?

???We break it all down for you.?

???MORE FROM GRID

• Elon’s big bet:?Now that Elon Musk has completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, he faces a steep path ahead: making his purchase pay off. Over the past few days, between Musk tweeting misinformation, firing some of Twitter’s top executives and proposing some new plans for charging users to remain verified, “the world got a taste of the two overwhelming flavors of the billionaire it will likely see going forward — charismatic entrepreneur and chaos agent,”?Dan Vergano?and?Benjamin Powers?write. Read their report on the?task Musk faces to make Twitter profitable.?
• Lula wins:??In Brazil’s closely watched election on Sunday, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, defeated incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro by a very thin margin – 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent. Lula’s narrow victory comes in an environment of a weakened economy and intensifying political polarization, what political analyst and international relations professor?Guilherme Casar?es?terms “the Americanization of Brazilian politics.” This morning,?Tom Nagorski?spoke with Casar?es about?what’s next for Lula and what the election means. And as?Emily Schultheis?reports, Bolsonaro’s defeat in Brazil?doesn’t mean the world is rejecting far-right politics.
• Happy Halloween!?For some spooky stories, read our recent pieces on the?Halloween “rainbow fentanyl” scare, Home Depot’s?12-foot “Skelly” skeleton, how?different art forms are reimagining horror?and how?inflation might be the scariest thing?about Halloween this year. ??