Yahoo News published a story today about the origins of the "Seth Rich was murdered by the DNC for leaking to @wikileaks" conspiracy theory (spoiler: Russian intelligence plays a major role.) We analyzed ensuing Twitter traffic for "Seth Rich" and #SethRich.

cc: @ZellaQuixote

The first accounts to tweet about #SethRich after the Yahoo story dropped didn't get much traction. Some share the story while others continue to spread conspiracy theories. Some appear to be responding to the story, while some may not have read it.

Retweet network for "Seth Rich"/#SethRich. The network separates into two major clusters of accounts; one consists of accounts spreading conspiracy theories about Rich's murder and one does not. (This separation is common for highly polarized topics.)

A couple of major themes emerge in the tweets of the accounts that continued to spread #SethRich conspiracy narratives following the release of the Yahoo story:

- "leak not a hack"
- Yahoo story is a deep state plot to distract from X

Also, @realMattCouch's meltdown? Legendary.

What media sources are linked by accounts discussing #SethRich following the Yahoo story? The accounts spreading conspiracy narratives mostly link right-wing conspiracy sites (with RT thrown in for good measure), while the accounts that don't largely link Western MSM.

(the Yahoo story that triggered renewed interest in #SethRich conspiracy theories)
news.yahoo.com/exclusive-the-…