“Hunter Biden’s Laptop”: An analysis of modern-day conspiracism
By: Caroline Beckworth & Rohil Verma
A conspiracy theory is “any narrative about hidden, malevolent groups secretly perpetuating political plots and social calamities to further their own nefarious goals” as defined by Oliver and Wood in their book Enchanted America (Oliver, 2018). Now, more than ever in human history, it is easy for conspiracy theories of this kind to rapidly spread and gain traction. Modern-day conspiracism is largely characterized as conspiracy without reason, where validity is confirmed by “not evidence but repetition” (Muirhead, 2020). Theories surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop and how it could hint at a larger force at play involving current US President Joe Biden have followed these characteristics as they have developed and propagated through mainstream/social media.
The Conspiracy Theory Explained
The “Hunter Biden’s Laptop” conspiracy goes as such: In April of 2019, Hunter Biden, son of current President of the United States Joe Biden, dropped off three damaged laptops and a hard drive at a computer store in Wilmington, Delaware. After 90 days the laptop and drive now belonged to the store and its owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, due to the store’s policy on abandoned products. Isaac began to investigate the laptops and claimed he found an abundance of incriminating evidence including emails and other documents that showed Hunter was involved in negotiations with Chinese and Ukrainian officials, as well as records of Hunter’s drug use. In December 2019, Issac turned the laptops and hard drives over to the FBI for investigation. The FBI found no evidence of criminal activity and said that the laptop was possibly owned by someone other than Hunter Biden. Issac was not satisfied with these findings and stated that he felt “betrayed by the FBI’s inaction in providing the laptop as evidence” in Donald Trump’s impeachment trials, according to his book American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth (Issac, 2022). By this point, it was October 2020, and the presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was quickly approaching. At this point, Isaac sold the story to the New York Post, a right-winged media outlet.
The New York Post then published a series of articles claiming the laptop contained evidence of “Hunter’s illegal involvement with a Ukrainian natural-gas producer” (Morris, 2020) and several personal affairs. This sparked public attention and the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden, who was now president, had been secretly involved in Ukrainian dealings and that the current president had urged various actions by the United States and Ukrainian governments to protect his son gained traction. As the conspiracy theories began to circulate, the authenticity of the emails and documents was yet to be verified by the Post, or any other media outlets sharing the story. Hunter Biden denied the laptop was his and the Biden campaign denied any wrongdoing.
The New York Post is still publishing stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2023, now saying that Hunter Biden is taking a new approach to the scandal by “playing the victim.” (Post Editorial Board, 2023) Conspiracy theories regarding the material on Biden’s laptop have continued to circulate over the past few years and have escalated due to social media, the news, and articles from both sides of the political spectrum. Most recently, Hunter Biden filed a counterclaim lawsuit, suing John Paul Isaac Mac for attempting to “invade his privacy and wrongfully share his data for political purposes,” (Polantz, 2023) according to various news sources including Times, The Post, and CNN.
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Intersection with Conspiratorial Thinking Theory
Conspiratorial thinking has grown and developed over human history, and one major consequence is the “othering” of those who do not follow the theory. In the case of Hunter Biden’s laptop conspiracy, this consequence is manifested through the polarization of the two political parties as some members of one political party “othered” members and media sources associated with the other. At a high level, some believe that the information on Hunter Biden’s laptop provides some form of evidence that the Biden family had involvements in Ukraine that were tied to Joe Biden’s avocation to remove Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. In specific, proponents of the conspiracy theory claim that Joe Biden pushed for the removal of Shokin to protect Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that had Hunter Biden on its board. Believers are convinced that the full extent to which Joe Biden is involved with his son’s international dealings is being hidden, classifying this as a conspiracy theory.
The “Hunter Biden’s Laptop” theory illustrates certain characteristics of modern-day conspiracy theories as opposed to older conspiratorial thinking. For example, news, pictures, and memes regarding Hunter Biden and his laptop situation have largely and rapidly spread through society due to the modern-day media. On various social media platforms, people can quickly and easily get access to any updates on the situation or see what influential people are saying about it. Additionally, this conspiracy theory has featured large amounts of misinformation and fake news throughout the entirety of its lifespan. Some have alleged that Joe Biden’s true motivation in his Ukrainian-based decision-making is to protect his son, or that Joe Biden is involved in secret deals in Ukraine where he receives a large percentage of profit. Modern-day conspiracism is characterized by a much larger amount of misinformation as it has never been easier to create false information and rapidly spread it to a large number of people.
The Media Ecosystem:
Because this conspiracy theory has heightened the polarization and dissension across the two major political parties, it is no surprise that the various media outlets associated with each party have represented the situation differently. In a more general sense, the side of the media associated with the right and the Republican party has been more active in sharing information that implies Joe Biden’s involvement and how certain data may be kept from the public. Furthermore, certain events associated with the conspiracy theory have been hidden, suppressed, or not mentioned by certain sides of the media. In the book written by John Paul Isaac Mac: American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth, he describes how big tech and mainstream media blocked reports related to his story.
Twitter has admitted to blocking tweets related to Hunter Biden’s laptop (Reuters, 2023). Despite this, Twitter and other social media plat The right side of the media, specifically the New York Post and Fox News, also amplified certain aspects of the information found on the laptop. An example of this is the emphasis on “the big guy” referenced in one of the emails found on the laptop. This “big guy” was seemingly going to be given a certain percentage of profits in a Ukrainian venture, and the right media tended to imply that this person was actually Joe Biden (Devine, 2021). Further, the right side of the media also presented various pictures of Hunter Biden doing drugs and sexually explicit activity (Koloff, 2022).
Over the past few years, the Hunter Biden laptop narrative has been highlighted by widespread mass information, polarization between political parties, and numerous trials ranging from alleged drug-related crimes committed by Hunter Biden to the involvement of his father in Ukrainian business. What makes this situation a full-fledged conspiracy theory, and not just an alleged crime, is that the laptop has hinted to many at a larger situation at play; Joe Biden has involvement in Ukraine that he does not want the general public to find out about or he is meddling in international affairs to protect his son.
References
Cohen, M. (2021, April 2). Hunter Biden laptop: Latest news & developments. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/politics/hunter-biden-laptop/index.html
Morris, E. (2020, October 14). Email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian bizman to dad. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-bizman-to-dad/
Hamburger, Viser, Timberg. (2022, March 30). Biden laptop data examined. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/hunter-biden-laptop-data-examined/
Nelson, S. (2022, November 21). CBS confirms Hunter Biden laptop is real 769 days after Post broke story. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2022/11/21/cbs-confirms-hunter-biden-laptop-is-real-769-days-after-post-broke-story/
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Bennet, B. (2023, March 17). Hunter Biden laptop leads to investigations, no charges. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/6254861/hunter-biden-laptop-investigations-charges/
Polantz, K. (2023, March 17). CNN News. Hunter Biden files counterclaim in court. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/politics/hunter-biden-counterclaim/index.html
Sherman, A. (2019, October 11). Trump ad misleads about Biden, Ukraine and prosecutor. PolitiFact. Retrieved from https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/oct/11/donald-trump/trump-ad-misleads-about-biden-ukraine-and-prosecut/
Kessler, G. (2020, October 14). Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop: An explainer. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/14/hunter-bidens-alleged-laptop-an-explainer/
Morgan, D. (2023, February 8). Republican-led US House panel probes Twitter block of Hunter Biden story. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-led-us-house-panel-probes-twitter-block-hunter-biden-story-2023-02-08/
Fox News Staff. (2021, April 1). Big guy texts offer ‘overwhelming evidence’ Joe Biden knew of Hunter’s business deals. Fox News. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/media/miranda-devine-big-guy-texts-overwhelming-evidence-joe-biden-knew-hunter-business-deals
Post Editorial Board. (2023, February 2). New tactic: Hunter Biden is the ‘laptop from hell’ victim. New York Post. Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/new-tactic-hunter-biden-is-the-laptop-from-hell-victim/
Konda, T. M. (2019, March 1) Conspiracies of conspiracies. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo28959391.html
Paul, M. I. J. (2022). American injustice: My battle to expose the truth. Liberatio Protocol, an imprint of Post Hill Press.
Oliver, J. E and Wood, T. (2018). Enchanted America: How intuition and reason divide our politics. University of Chicago Press.
Muirhead, R., & Rosenblum, N. L. (2020). A lot of people are saying: The new conspiracism and the assault on democracy. Princeton University Press.
