Flat Earth Theory

The Modern Revival link

The flat Earth movement, which argues that the Earth is a flat disc rather than an oblate spheroid, experienced an unexpected revival in the 2010s, driven primarily by YouTube algorithms and social media communities. The modern movement coalesced around figures like Eric Dubay, Mark Sargent, and organizations such as the Flat Earth Society and the Flat Earth International Conference (FEIC), which held annual gatherings from 2017 to 2019.

The movement’s core claims varied but generally asserted that the Earth is a flat plane with the Arctic at its center and Antarctica forming an ice wall around the perimeter, that gravity is an illusion produced by the disc accelerating upward, that all photographs of a spherical Earth are fabricated by NASA and other space agencies, and that a global conspiracy involving every government, airline, shipping company, and scientist maintains the deception.

The Final Experiment link

The most significant event in the flat Earth movement’s recent history occurred in December 2024 with “The Final Experiment,” a project organized by a group of flat Earth believers who chartered a trip to Antarctica to observe the midnight sun — a phenomenon that cannot occur on the flat Earth model, which places Antarctica as a wall around the edge of the disc. On a globe, the South Pole experiences 24-hour sunlight during the southern summer. On a flat Earth, this would be physically impossible.

The expedition, which cost approximately $280,000, was documented extensively. Upon arriving in Antarctica and observing the midnight sun firsthand — the sun circling the sky without setting — several prominent flat Earth proponents publicly acknowledged that their model was wrong. Jeran Campanella, one of the most well-known flat Earth content creators, stated on camera that what he observed was inconsistent with the flat Earth model.

The fallout within the flat Earth community was significant. Rather than accepting the result, many in the community accused the participants of being compromised, paid off, or having been duped by some form of atmospheric manipulation. The expedition accelerated a broader fragmentation of the movement that had been underway since the early 2020s.

The Evidence for a Spherical Earth link

The evidence for Earth’s spherical shape is overwhelming and has been accumulating for over 2,300 years since Eratosthenes calculated the Earth’s circumference with remarkable accuracy around 240 BCE. Modern evidence includes:

• Direct observation from orbit by thousands of astronauts from multiple countries, including nations with no political alliance (the U.S., Russia, China, India, and others have all independently sent humans or cameras to space)
• GPS satellite networks, which function based on spherical geometry and would produce inaccurate results on a flat surface
• Time zones and the day-night cycle, which are explained by a rotating sphere but require increasingly convoluted mechanisms on a flat model
• Ships disappearing hull-first over the horizon, observable with any telescope from any coastline
• The circular shadow Earth casts on the Moon during lunar eclipses, consistent only with a sphere
• Airline flight paths, which follow great circle routes that only make sense on a globe

The Movement’s Status link

As of 2026, the organized flat Earth movement has largely collapsed as a coherent community. FEIC has not held a conference since 2019. Major YouTube channels have gone dormant or pivoted to other topics. The movement persists in smaller online communities but has lost its cultural visibility. Polling data from YouGov (2018) found that only 2% of Americans firmly believed the Earth was flat, with another 5% expressing uncertainty.

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