HRC Did Not Link Beirut Explosion to Human Trafficking
The Claim
The Human Rights Campaign linked the explosion in Beirut to human trafficking.
News posted on
Emerging story
In early August 2020, users on social media revived an old conspiracy theory to apply it to the recent explosion in Beirut.
Misbar’s Analysis
The viral claim is part of QAnon conspiracy theories, which we have published on before.
This variation on the conspiracy theory purports that one of the shipping containers at the Beirut explosion may have been an Evergreen brand container. Evergreen is the the name of a shipping company that QAnon has linked to human trafficking. There is no proof that they are involved in human trafficking, although shipping containers have been used to smuggle illegal immigrants.
Hillary Clinton’s code name with the Secret Service happened to be Evergreen. QAnon believes that she is a child sex trafficker. Therefore, they believe, the explosion was a purposeful bombing meant to hide evidence of human trafficking.
However, no images from the explosion show Evergreen shipping containers. Even if there were Evergreen containers at the explosion, that does not mean that the containers have anything to do with Clinton. And even if they did have something to do with Clinton, that does not mean that she is involved in human trafficking.
The most recent hypothesis about the explosion believes it was an accident.
