NASA Debunked The Conspiracy Theory That Earth Will Lose Gravity In August

The new year debuted with an unexpected space-related conspiracy theory on social media that made us forget about the 3I/ATLAS comet conspiracy that preceded it. An imminent alien contact (3I/ATLAS) may seem less dangerous than Earth losing gravity for seven seconds in August, which is what the new conspiracy proposed, spreading rapidly across social media. Worse, the conspiracy claimed NASA was aware of the cataclysm that could result in tens of millions of lost lives and had a plan to protect the elites during the seven-second period. About two weeks later, Snopes obtained confirmation from a NASA spokesperson that there won't be a loss of gravity whatsoever on August 12, 2026. The only celestial event happening on that date is a total solar eclipse, which has no effect on Earth's gravity.

NASA's comment may seem unnecessary to anyone who is aware of how gravity works. But it may be vital to everyone else in the current context. Wild rumors spread incredibly fast on social media, and the gravity loss rumor is the best example of that. The original poster shared the alert on December 31, 2025, on Instagram, and deleted their account a few days later. But the conspiracy theory is still circulating online, having been picked up and distributed by many people on multiple platforms. Also, sophisticated AI products (like Google's Nano Banana AI model) can be used to generate fake content, including images and videos, that may be used to spread misinformation and boost the visibility of conspiracy theories that go viral.

Instagram user "mr_danya_of" shared a post on December 31 with detailed claims about NASA's alleged knowledge of the August event. They mentioned a "Project Anchor" that supposedly leaked online in November 2024, a NASA project with a massive $89 billion budget aimed at ensuring the survival of key figures during a "7-second gravitational anomaly expected on August 12, 2026, at 14:33 UTC."

The Instagram post claimed the anomaly is caused by two gravitational waves from black holes. The event was supposedly predicted in 2019 with a probability of 94.7%. The Instagram user claimed that NASA has known about the threat for five years. During that period, the agency supposedly built bunkers meant to protect essential personnel during the seven seconds of havoc.

User "mr_danya_of" also gave a detailed explanation of what would happen while Earth loses gravity. In that scenario, everything not secured would rise to about 15–20 meters (50–66 feet). After seven seconds, the gravity would return, and everything would fall to the ground. This would lead to an estimated 40–60 million casualties. Infrastructure destruction would also follow the event, with "economic collapse lasting over 10 years." The Instagram user also claimed that NASA isn't informing the wider public to prevent mass hysteria ahead of the event.

While that sounds like the kind of apocalyptic scenario you'd see in sci-fi movies, many people have shared the conspiracy theory on social media since December. Snopes found no evidence of the alleged "Project Anchor" leak in reputable news reports.

NASA provided the following comment to Snopes in response to the viral conspiracy theory: "The Earth will not lose gravity on Aug. 12, 2026. Earth's gravity, or total gravitational force, is determined by its mass. The only way for the Earth to lose gravity would be for the Earth system, the combined mass of its core, mantle, crust, ocean, terrestrial water, and atmosphere, to lose mass. A total solar eclipse has no unusual impact on Earth's gravity. The gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon on the Earth, which doesn't impact Earth's total gravity, but does impact tidal forces, is well understood and is predictable decades in advance."

Unfortunately, it's less likely for NASA's response to go viral, as the conspiracy theory did. If anything, the post "mr_danya_of" shared may continue to spread until August. Snopes also detailed the Instagram user's history on social media. Apparently, they have (or had) TikTok and YouTube profiles active. They claimed they worked at Google, and at places that don't have anything to do with technology or space research (morgue, crematorium, and hospice). They also said they were a psychiatrist and criminologist. It's unlikely for all these claims to be true at the same time. This further suggests the gravity conspiracy theory was fabricated, or distributed from a different source.

The original conspiracy theory also noted that people had 20 months to prepare until the event, even though the post was shared on Instagram on December 31, 2025, some eight months before the expected cataclysm. This suggests the user may have picked up the conspiracy theory somewhere else. With all that in mind, you should prepare for a cosmic event on August 12, the total solar eclipse that NASA mentioned in its rebuttal.