When Kyle Chapman, a far right activist known for trying to burn down a marae shared this hoax again recently he was unlikely to be challenged. Which is sad. 18/

Members of Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church vandalised rainbow crossings after a sermon that referenced the litterbox hoax. 14/

Carlene Hereora also shared the claim on social media. 13/

And complain about being censored - during a sympathetic interview on a mainstream media podcast with an audience of thousands.

As he posed as a persecuted hero and promoted more antivax & Big Pharma conspiracy theories, the presenter announced he's "sick of the word expert". /23

More often, conspiracy theorists try to undermine trust in experts by claiming science and medicine is irredeemably corrupt.

And experts who disagree with them are portrayed as being motivated by power, money or fear to hide "the truth" or just plain evil /5

When Voices for Freedom asked “Are your spidey senses tingling?” they were inviting people to trust their gut feelings instead of public health experts.
Why follow their advice or consider whether they know more about Covid-19 than you do, if you "just know" they are wrong? /4

So how do people get drawn to the open mouth of the marketing funnel? 7/

We know that conspiracy theory groups actively recruit members. But how does that work? It turns out it looks more like a sales process than you might think. As Reality Check Radio advises: slide someone from A to Z one pink pill at a time. 🧵

VFF founder Alia Bland was an early promoter of US election disinformation so perhaps it’s no surprise that RCR continues to these ideas long after they have been found baseless in US courts. (Screenshots thanks to
@bobbymiller202 on Twitter) 14/

Frame Game AKA Mike Benz said he was a white identitarian against diversity and urged white viewers to "unite under the banner of race." He also seems to have a sideline in Holocaust revisionism. 7/