Flat Earth Theory

2016conspiracy theorysemi-active

Published August 20, 2026

Flat Earth Theory is the online-driven claim that the planet is a flat disc rather than a sphere, revived by a 2004 web forum and pushed into mainstream culture by celebrity converts and the 2019 Netflix documentary Behind the Curve.

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Overview

Flat Earth Theory is the belief that the planet is a flat disc rather than a sphere, kept alive by a small but loud subculture of online forums, YouTubers and celebrity converts1. Adherents typically argue that space photography is faked, that Antarctica is a giant ice wall ringing the disc, and that the sun and moon rotate above our heads inside a dome1.

The modern scene sits somewhere between sincere conspiracy belief and internet trolling, with Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and YouTube channels pulling in tens of thousands of followers3. Psychologists writing about the movement describe it as a symptom of wider distrust in institutions and the way the web gives safe harbor to fringe ideas2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Flat Earth Society forum (2004) / Netflix (viral spread)
Creator
Samuel Rowbotham
Date
2016

People argued the Earth was flat long before the internet, but the current movement traces back to the Bedford Level Experiment, run in the mid-1800s by Englishman Samuel Rowbotham3. Rowbotham wrote a book called Earth Not a Globe and toured public debates with scientists, seeding a following that outlived him.

In 1956, Samuel Shenton formalized the group as the Flat Earth Society, and when the first photos of Earth came back from space, he dismissed them as fabrications3. The society limped through the following decades on printed newsletters that argued with NASA.

How It Spread

The society was revived in 2004 by Daniel Shenton, no relation to Samuel, who launched a web forum that by early 2016 counted over 8,200 members and 1.4 million posts3. Independent flat earth YouTubers built parallel audiences through the 2010s, with one popular explainer video passing four million views4.

On January 25th, 2016, Atlanta rapper B.o.B. tweeted that Polaris was visible 20° south of the equator; astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson replied that Polaris disappears by 1.5°S, prompting B.o.B. to drop the Tyson diss track "Flatline" on SoundCloud that same day1. Weeks later, NBA star Kyrie Irving said on the Road Trippin podcast on February 16th, 2016 that he believed the Earth is flat, and Jiu-Jitsu coach Eddie Bravo repeated similar claims on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2017.

The 2019 Netflix release of Behind the Curve turned the community into mainstream entertainment, following YouTubers Mark Sargent, Patricia Steere and Bob Knodel; Newsweek noted that the film's own ending featured a laser test in which flat earthers accidentally proved Earth's curvature1. Twitter users then latched onto a scene where Sargent complained a NASA museum exhibit did not work when he had simply missed a large start button.

How to Use This Meme

Rather than a template, Flat Earth Theory functions as online shorthand, invoked to mock conspiratorial reasoning or to ironically "prove" absurd claims. Posts often pair a stretched physics diagram with a straight-faced caption, or riff on the ice wall and dome cosmology described in Behind the Curve1.

Frequently Asked Questions