A baseless conspiracy theory about Wayfair, an online home goods retailer, is spreading widely on social media, claiming the company has been trafficking children through its website. An image being shared on Facebook seems to try to support that theory by connecting Wayfair to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was recently arrested on grounds she helped financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse minors.

“Wayfair president of operations Bill Hutcherson with Ghislaine Maxwell a known sex trafficker who was involved with Epstein,” reads a description of the photo, which shows Maxwell and a man. 

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

The photo was taken by Getty Images photographer Mark Mainz in December 2003 in New York City. The caption says: “Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell with an unidentified male companion attends the opening of the Asprey Flagship store on 5th Avenue.” (See other photos from that night here.)

Tatler identifies the man as George Bamford, founder of Bamford Watch Department.  

Wayfair doesn’t list a president of operations on its website though there is a “vice president of operations product innovation” named Doran Robinson, a different person than the man who appears in the photo with Maxwell. It also lists a chief operating officer named Thomas Netzer. No one named “Bill Hutcherson” is listed among Wayfair’s executive leadership team.

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