The first conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States of America (US) emerged just hours after the event. With the rise of social media, the theories have gained momentum and grown even more.
Official reports of Commission established by Congress To investigate the circumstances of the September 11 attacks, US government agencies and expert groups have dismissed conspiracy theories.
Despite this, activist groups in the US and elsewhere have said that the facts are being hidden.
"World governance"
The rise of new online conspiracy movements, such as QAnon – whose followers take a different view, and believe that an American “Deep State” was responsible for the attack – has kept the theories alive and brought them to larger audiences.
Among the claims that have circulated over the years has been that the US Government staged the case or that it was aware of it in advance and allowed it to happen.
The theory fits with the belief that the "global elite" plan to restrict civil liberties in response to attacks and facilitate the creation of an authoritarian world government.
One claim circulating online was that "jet fuel cannot melt steel," suggesting that the Twin Towers in New York were brought down by explosives.
By according to the official report, The planes that hit the buildings caused significant damage to both supports of both towers.
Furthermore, the fire is believed to have reached temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius in some areas and deformed steel beams, leading to the major collapse of buildings.
Uncontrolled fires
The collapse of 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story building very close to the Twin Towers, has sparked numerous conspiracy theories, some of which are trending on social media during the September 11th anniversary.
The building – which housed the CIA, Department of Defense, and Office of Emergency Management – collapsed shortly after the Twin Towers, without being directly hit by the planes.
But in 2008, a three-year investigation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology ESTABLISHED that it collapsed as a result of uncontrolled and intense fires that lasted for about seven hours – which started from the remains of the collapse of the North Tower.
Viral
BBC News correspondent Jane Stanley's live reporting of the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, with the building still visible behind her, was used to fuel the conspiracy theory that major media organizations were part of an internal conspiracy. The journalist herself later admitted that she was wrong (here).
Reuters incorrectly reported the building collapse, which CNN also picked up shortly before reporting live.
Reuters has since corrected the error – but the video of the report often goes viral even more than two decades after the attack.
Business plane
Some conspiracy theories circulating online have suggested that US missiles were fired at the Pentagon as part of a government plot, and that the hole in the building was too small to have been caused by a passenger plane.
But a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers told the magazine, “Popular Mechanics"The size and shape of the hole was because one wing of the Boeing 757 aircraft hit the ground and the other was torn apart during the collision with the building."
Meanwhile, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to wrest control of the plane from the hijackers.
Theories online were that he was thrown from a white business jet flying to a nearby airport.
But aviation officials had asked the plane to inspect the area, which it did, reported a large hole in the ground and smoke coming out of it.
The then-Vice President, Dick Cheney, later spread in his autobiography that after the attack on the Twin Towers, he had ordered the shooting down of any commercial airliner believed to have been hijacked.
Amid the chaos and confusion following the attack, his order was not conveyed to the fighter pilots, according to the 9/11 Commission report.
"Jewish elites"
Another theory was that no Jews were killed in the attacks because all 4000 Jewish workers in The World Trade Center had received advance notice not to go to work..
Those who believed in conspiracy theories had concluded that the Israeli government organized the attacks to provoke the US into attacking its regional enemies or that the responsibility lies with powerful Jewish elites who control world events from the shadows.
But of the 2071 victims of the September 11 attacks who worked at the World Trade Center, 119 were confirmed to be Jewish and at least 72 others were believed to be Jewish.
This accounted for 9.2 percent of the number of victims according to the BBC documentary, "Conspiracy Files," and matches the 9.7 percent of New York's working class at the time who were believed to be Jewish.
There were reports that up to 400 Jews died that day.
Such conspiracy theories have also touched on Iraq and Iran, but there has been no evidence of direct involvement.
On September 11, 2001, the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda carried out major attacks in the United States. Four planes were hijacked, two of which crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, one hit the Pentagon outside Washington, and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. About 3000 people died in all of the attacks (here).
Adapted from the article by BBC