By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — February 13, 2026
A familiar claim is circulating online again: that a child exploitation ring is being operated out of “a pizza place.” Promoters insist this time is “not QAnon” and “not Pizzagate.”
It is, functionally, the same story.
The details get swapped (a different restaurant, a different city, a different “insider source”), but the structure stays constant: vague allegations, “coded language” claims, heavy emotional framing, and no matching evidence in the form that real criminal cases always produce—arrests, indictments, sworn filings, or police statements.
What “Pizzagate” Was in 2016
In 2016, a conspiracy theory falsely claimed that senior Democratic figures were running a child sex trafficking ring out of Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, D.C.. The narrative was built on misreadings of emails released by WikiLeaks, including messages associated with John Podesta, plus the claim that ordinary food words (“pizza,” “hot dog,” etc.) were secret “codes.”
No evidence supported the allegations. The “coded language” interpretation was never substantiated by law enforcement findings tied to that restaurant.
The Outcome: A Real Gun Attack Triggered by a Fake Story
The 2016 hoax did not “lead to arrests.” It led to an armed man entering **Comet Ping Pong and firing shots while attempting to “self-investigate.” No trafficking victims were found there, and no such operation was discovered.
In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.) publicly documented the case and sentencing for the armed assault.
That is the core lesson of Pizzagate: misinformation can cause real-world harm even when the underlying claim is false.
What’s New in 2026: The Same Horse, Dressed Up Again
The current revival is being fueled by a mix of social-media virality and selective interpretation of materials related to **Jeffrey Epstein. In particular, online communities are spotlighting repeated mentions of the word “pizza” in Epstein-related documents and treating that repetition as “proof” of a coded system, then mapping that speculation back onto the old Pizzagate template.
That leap—from “a word appears frequently in documents” to “therefore a pizza restaurant is running a trafficking ring”—is not evidence-based reporting. It is pattern-matching driven by emotion and confirmation bias.
How to Tell the Difference Between a Real Case and a Viral Claim
Here’s what a real criminal case looks like in public record:
- a named investigating agency
- a documented raid, warrant, or arrest
- filed charges (complaint, indictment, information)
- court dates, docket numbers, or official press releases
What these pizza-ring posts usually offer instead:
- screenshots without provenance
- “someone found this” claims
- “media blackout” rhetoric
- “code words” assertions
- no identifying law enforcement action
If there’s no public trail of legal process, what you’re looking at is almost always rumor—or activism-by-virality that risks misidentifying innocent people.
Why This Matters Beyond “Being Wrong”
False child-exploitation narratives do damage in three directions at once:
- They endanger bystanders (including workers and customers at targeted businesses).
- They distract from real victims and real investigations that require evidence, time, and resources.
- They train the public to expect cinematic evil and ignore the more common realities of abuse: proximity, trust, institutions, and cover-ups.
Pizzagate did not uncover a hidden trafficking network. It demonstrated how quickly a compelling lie can metastasize—and how easily it can be revived when new document dumps or trending topics appear.
Editorial Note (Standing Policy for Wednesday Posts)
WPS News does not take a neutral stance toward fascism or authoritarianism. We reject the normalization of state power used to punish dissent, undermine democratic norms, or entrench minority rule. Our reporting is grounded in evidence, documentation, and historical record.
References (APA)
U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. (2017, June 22). North Carolina man sentenced to four-year prison term for armed assault at Northwest Washington pizza restaurant.
Time. (2016, December). Comet Ping Pong shooter wanted to rescue “child sex slaves” from fake news story, officials say.
Associated Press. (2023, November 29). Fact check: “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory revived online—here’s the facts.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2026). Pizzagate.
Vanity Fair. (2026, February). The new Epstein files are reopening the Pizzagate box.
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