What is Pizzagate and how did it get cooked up?

Hillary Clinton has called for action on fake news, saying the "epidemic" means "lives are at risk" - an apparent reference to a conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate".

In a rare public appearance since losing the US presidential election last month, Clinton said online scam stories can have "real world consequences". Her speech came just days after a man opened fire in a pizzeria in Washington DC after reading a hoax story that claimed it was the site of a Clinton-led paedophile ring.

So what is the story behind Pizzagate?

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How did it start?

The story germinated on the anonymous message boards of 4chan, an anarchic treasure trove dubbed the "internet's bogeyman". Users combing through the WikiLeaks release of emails hacked from the account of Clinton aide John Podesta spotted references to James Alefantis, the owner of DC pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong and a Democrat fundraiser.

They then turned to his social media accounts, where they found innocent images of children and the restaurant's modern art on his Instagram account, leading them to dream up the idea that the Democrat elite were running a child-sex trafficking ring out of his restaurant's basement.

"We don't even have a basement," Alefantis told the BBC. "Sometimes an innocent picture of a child in a basket is just an innocent picture of a child in a basket and not proof of a child-sex trafficking ring."

Alefantis hasn't even met Clinton, but neither of these facts stopped conspiracy theorists sending him and his team threatening messages online.

How did Pizzagate spread?

In November, Turkish pro-government media suddenly started tweeting about the conspiracy theory using the hashtag #Pizzagate.

Conspiracy fans earned the story more than a million mentions on Twitter during the month, despite it being debunked by outlets including Fox News and the New York Times. Some also claimed a cover-up when Reddit deleted a Pizzagate thread – the page now says: "We don't want witchhunts on our site."

What happened next?

Last Sunday, Edgar Welch, 28, from North Carolina, arrived at Comet Ping Pong, 250 miles from his registered home address, and allegedly threatened an employee and fired an assault rifle into the floor. A worker told police he heard three loud bangs, NBC reports.

No one was injured and the police arrived shortly afterwards.

Welch surrendered peacefully – after finding "no evidence that underage children were being harboured in the restaurant", say court documents.

He has been charged with four offences, including assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a pistol without a licence.

Welch told the New York Times he had only intended to give the restaurant a "closer look" and regretted how he handled the situation. "The intel on this wasn't 100 per cent," he said.