Nuclear Bomb Denial Conspiracy Theory Spreads On Twitter

A conspiracy theory claiming that nuclear bombs are not real and radiation isn’t dangerous has spread on Twitter in recent days after blue-checkmarked right-wing comedian Owen Benjamin shared a tweet about it.

According to Benjamin, nuclear weapons must be fake because people have filmed nuclear blasts, and if atomic bombs were really so destructive, the cameras would not survive the explosion.

Twitter's Community Notes feature almost immediately pushed back on his initial tweet, which, according to the site's own metrics, was seen over 21 million times in just two days.

While his claims are difficult to follow, Benjamin seems to believe that the nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki did explode but they were not radioactive nor significantly different from "regular bombs."

He also claims that the fossil fuel sector wants to paint nuclear energy as potentially dangerous in order to limit competition — notably repeating the Nuclear Power Is Just Boiling Water meme.

These claims are obviously not true. Twitter’s community notes feature added context, saying cameras filming nuclear blasts were very far away and nuclear radiation is a real, documented phenomenon.

It's also worth noting that Benjamin has a history of promoting conspiracy theories and is associated with the anti-vaccine and flat earth movements. He also, curiously, denies the existence of panda bears.

Benjamin’s claims about nuclear weapons went viral. Many users on Twitter argued that his claims were able to reach so many people because of his blue checkmark. Benjamin had previously been banned from several social media platforms for spreading false stories. Many users believe that since Elon Musk acquired the platform, they see conspiracy theory content more frequently in their feeds.

It is unclear what effect, if any, the nuclear bomb denial trend may have on the box office performance of the highly memed Oppenheimer — a film which apparently some only "claims" to be based on a true story.