Rioters are tear-gassed as they storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Almost eight years before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, nearly one-third of Americans surveyed – and 44% of Republicans – said armed rebellion might soon be necessary in the US to protect liberties.
The legacy of the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012 continues to reverberate 10 years later, including in how conspiracy theories have changed since the tragedy.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP via Getty Image
Conspiracy theories surrounding the Sandy Hook school shooting continue to reverberate in the US, but now there are legal consequences.
Alamy/ Vuk Valcic
Activists are using a traditional newspaper format to spread misinformation and promote real-world harms.
Alex Jones, who was sued by Sandy Hook parents for saying they were accomplices in their children’s deaths.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Alex Jones lost a defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents for falsely claiming they helped fake the murders of their children. But the judgment doesn’t deal with important First Amendment questions.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Pseudolaw arguments against vaccine, mask and test rules mix real and fantasy legal ideas.
A vigil for the victims of the UK’s worst mass shooting in a decade.
Ben Birchall/PA images
To combat online radicalisation, we first need to understand that the picture is rarely as simple as we’d like it to be.
Luis Ascui/AAP
Equality and corruption perceptions appear to explain more than 80% of the differences in trust levels between nations.
South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is picking up pace.
Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images
The circulation of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine poses the danger of hampering the government’s efforts to control the pandemic.
David Gray/AAP
At this stage of the pandemic, when behavioural change is so key to vaccine take-up, the government ignores the views of the public at its peril.
ImageFlow/Shutterstock
People have denied germ theory since the moment it was born in the late 19th century.
Couperfield/Shutterstock
The difference between conspiratorial thinking and believing the official narrative isn’t necessarily as big as you might you think.
Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo
New theories about the lab leak don’t make the case for it any stronger, but do reveal the messiness of how historical events play out.
Private messaging apps allow information to spread in an unchecked manner.
(Shutterstock)
Canadians are increasingly turning to private messaging apps where COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories spread in an unregulated manner.
Pandemic skepticism has given struggling churches a much needed financial boost.
(Shutterstock)
Despite outbreaks, some church leaders in Alberta have continued to downplay the severity of COVID-19. Choosing to double down on pandemic skepticism.
Sandor Szmutko/Shutterstock
Child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking are serious problems. Misinformation is harming efforts to combat them.
The arbitrary distinction between online and offline means much hate speech and abuse goes unnoticed until it’s too late.
(Shutterstock)
Online abuse is often dismissed as “just online.” But the rise of QAnon and similar groups demonstrates the very real consequences of online speech.
AP
At least half of Australians and New Zealanders in a recent study believed in one major conspiracy theory.
QAnon demonstrators protest during a rally to reopen California and against stay-at-home directives on May 1, 2020, in San Diego.
Photo by Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images
The followers of QAnon gained national notoriety for their support of former President Donald Trump. But QAnon members are influencing the GOP at the state and local levels, too.
Many of those arrested in the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were QAnon believers.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
A professor of religious studies argues that describing QAnon followers as brainwashed overlooks their role in accepting and spreading potentially dangerous beliefs.
It’s not clear exactly how many people believe or follow QAnon.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
How many Americans really have lost touch with reality?