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Was Donald Trump born in Pakistan? That's what some online pranksters want you to believe. (YouTube)

We have entered a new information age that has left facts fighting for their lives.

Before the internet, conspiracy theorists existed on the fringes of society. They hung out in public squares, handing out smudged pamphlets decrying the Trilateral Commission and the Warren Commission. (Conspiracy theorists really hate commissions.)

That was then. Today, out-there views show up in our Facebook feeds, often produced by partisan news websites that employ sleek graphics. This has invested conspiracy theories with a sheen of legitimacy. The new president-elect, Donald Trump, passed along many of the so-called alt-right's more absurd theories during his campaign, from claims that Bill and Hillary Clinton associate Vince Foster was murdered to the notion that Sen. Ted Cruz's father played a role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Now Trump is going to learn what it's like to be on the receiving end.

The real-estate magnate rose up the alt-right ranks by aggressively pushing the "birther" conspiracy theory -- the lie that President Barack Obama was born not in Hawaii but in Kenya, thus making him ineligible to be president. So in the wake of Trump's shock election, online pranksters flipped the birther script.

It had been discovered, they put out on social media, that Trump was born in Pakistan. His birth name: Dawood Ibrahim Khan. His parents died in a car accident, leading to him being taken to the U.S., where he was adopted by Fred and Mary Trump in 1955.

Well, like the original birther absurdity, this new birther conspiracy theory is gaining traction. A Pakistani TV channel reportedly aired what appears to be a straight-faced report about Trump possibly being born in Pakistan, complete with a photo of "young Trump" in a desert setting looking very much like Anakin Skywalker in "The Phantom Menace." You can watch the newscast below.

For the record, Donald John Trump was born in New York City. He was never named Dawood Ibrahim Khan. On Nov. 8, he was legitimately elected president of the United States.

-- Douglas Perry