Florida shooting survivor thanks conspiracy theorists

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A Florida high school shooting survivor wants to thank all the conspiracy theorists and detractors he believes have helped amplify his real message, a media report said.

David Hogg, 17, told CNN on Sunday that the people attacking him online as a "crisis actor" who's been "coached" on anti-gun talking points were really just "great advertisers".

"These people that have been attacking me on social media, they've been great advertisers. Ever since they started attacking me, my Twitter followers are now a quarter of a million people. People have continued to cover us in the media. They've done a great job of that, and for that, I honestly thank them," Hogg said.

Hogg is one of the outspoken students from Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who has been talking about the need for gun control after Nikolas Crus, the 19-year-old former student killed 17 students and teachers on February 14.

He has become the subject of smear campaigns and demonstrably false conspiracy theories that say either he has been "coached" by his father, a former FBI agent; or he was a "pawn" for anti-gun campaigners; or he was not a victim but a "crisis actor" paid to travel to disaster sites to argue against stricter gun laws.

Hogg said the only thing that these conspiracy theorists have exposed was how "disgusting they are", he told CNN.

"The fact that they're calling out me, as a witness of this horrifying incident, that I'm a crisis actor? ... I feel for those people, honestly...

"They've lost faith in America. But we certainly haven't. And that's ok, because we're going to outlive them," he added.

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