tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678/articlesExpert guide to conspiracy theories – The Conversation2023-01-20T12:19:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1978192023-01-20T12:19:53Z2023-01-20T12:19:53ZHow to talk to someone about conspiracy theories in five simple steps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505162/original/file-20230118-7884-euadqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C6709%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These conversations may be difficult, but they're important</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-young-women-argue-cafe-emotional-1712540833">Aloha Hawaii/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People’s first instinct when engaging with conspiracy believers is often to try and debunk their ideas with factual and authoritative information. </p>
<p>However, direct confrontation rarely works. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612451018">Conspiracy theories are persuasive</a>, often playing on people’s feelings and sense of identity. Even if debunking conspiracy theories was effective, it’s difficult to keep up with how quickly they appear and how widespread they travel. A study showed that during 2015 and 2016, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2017.0669">number of propagators of Zika virus conspiracy theories</a> on Twitter twice outnumbered debunkers.</p>
<p>But research into how to talk with conspiracy believers is beginning to show returns. We’ve developed some <a href="https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51475">conversation prompts</a> to use with people you know or only meet in passing. But first, if you want to address someone’s conspiracy beliefs you need to consider the root causes.</p>
<p>People are attracted to conspiracy theories in an attempt to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417718261">satisfy three psychological needs</a>. They want more certainty, to feel in control, and maintain a positive image of their self and group. During times of crisis, such as the COVID pandemic, these needs are more frustrated and people’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1750698017701615">desire to make sense of the world</a> becomes more urgent. </p>
<p>Yet, conspiracy beliefs do not seem to satisfy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211060965">these psychological needs</a> and may actually make things worse for people, increasing their uncertainty and anxiety. Conspiracy theories don’t just affect people’s state of mind, they can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101363">impact behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, people who believe in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115522">anti-vaccine conspiracy theories</a> - such as the idea that pharmaceutical companies cover up the dangers of vaccines - reported more negative attitudes towards vaccinations and an increased feeling of powerlessness one month later. This is what makes it so important to reach out to conspiracy believers. </p>
<h2>What we’ve learned</h2>
<p>One important tool to reduce conspiracy beliefs is the power of social norms. People <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1368430221993907">overestimate how much others believe</a> in conspiracy theories, which influences how intensely they buy in themselves. A study in 2021 found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258985">countering this misconception</a> with information about what people actually believe diluted the strength of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs among a sample of UK adults. </p>
<p>Inoculation is a promising route, too. Giving people factual information <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jasp.12453">in advance of exposure to conspiracy theories</a> can reduce belief in them. This approach could work well in cases like vaccination where people might not think much about the issue before it becomes important to them (for example when they need to decide whether to have their children vaccinated). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="From below young men in casual outfits sitting on chairs at table with tea and coffee discussing together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505164/original/file-20230118-20-qf3o3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remember to listen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/below-young-handsome-modern-men-casual-1680204370">GaudiLab/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can inoculate yourself too. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218775070">Research has found</a> that the way people think about control can reduce the likelihood they will subscribe to conspiracy theories. People who are focused on achieving goals find conspiracy theories less appealing than those who fixate on protecting what they already have. The authors of this paper argued that concentrating on shaping your future fosters a sense of control, which reduces conspiracy beliefs.</p>
<p>To help with those difficult discussions with conspiracy believers we developed some evidence-based <a href="https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51475">conversation starters</a>.</p>
<h2>1. Be open-minded</h2>
<p>An <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/jd/index.php/jd/article/view/160">open-minded approach</a>
starts with asking questions and listening. It builds understanding with the person. Listen carefully, and avoid defending your own beliefs. Ask questions like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When did you first start believing in (briefly reference the conspiracy theory)? And how has this impacted you psychologically? What do these beliefs offer to you?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>2. Be receptive</h2>
<p>Work on what psychologists call <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597819303425">conversational receptiveness</a> to foster empathy which can bridge the gap between the beliefs you each hold. Say things like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I understand that…; So what you’re saying is…; How does this make you feel?; Tell me more…; I’m listening; and thank you for sharing.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men sit on a green hill talking with a city below them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505166/original/file-20230118-20-mlqf5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Empathy is key.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ethnic-caucasian-young-mans-looking-each-1723713331">Dumblin Films/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Critical thinking</h2>
<p>Affirm the value of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18335330.2016.1215510">critical thinking</a>.</p>
<p>If the person you’re talking to already <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.3790">perceives themselves as a critical thinker</a>, redirect this skill towards a deeper examination of the conspiracy theory itself. For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We probably both agree that asking questions is important. But it is key we evaluate all pieces of evidence. We need to weigh up the information and make sure we check the evidence that we agree with as well as the things we don’t like or make us feel uncomfortable. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>4. Conspiracy theories aren’t the norm</h2>
<p>Highlight how conspiracy theories are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258985">not as commonplace</a> as people might think.</p>
<p>Readdressing social norms can help address people’s need to protect a group they identify with. Such as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is far more typical than you might realise for your neighbours to get vaccinated and protect themselves against COVID-19. People want to work together to protect our community. It’s about us all trying to help people with medical conditions who don’t have the choice to get vaccinated. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>5. Think about what can be controlled</h2>
<p>Encourage them to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218775070">forward-focused</a> and inspire them to put their energy into areas of their life where they experience more control, like this: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are some aspects of our life that we have no control over, but there are plenty of areas where we have full agency. Let’s list some examples where we have power and independence that we can then focus on.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These conversations can be difficult, but they are crucial. Using an empathetic, understanding, and open-minded approach will nurture trust. Research shows that gaining someone’s confidence is important to <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/jd/index.php/jd/article/view/160">preventing radicalisation</a>. </p>
<p>Reassure the person if they feel uncertain, make them feel more in control if they are worried or powerless, and help them make social connections if they feel isolated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197819/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Jolley has received funding from the British Academy and Not Equal.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Douglas has received funding from the European Research Council, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, Australian Research Council, and the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Marques is a member of National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance Social Science Advisory Group.</span></em></p>Attacking the beliefs of conspiracy theorists is only likely to make them dig their heels in.Daniel Jolley, Assistant Professor in Social Psychology, University of NottinghamKaren Douglas, Professor of Social Psychology, University of KentMathew Marques, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536572021-01-29T14:18:48Z2021-01-29T14:18:48ZConspiracy theories: why are they thriving in the pandemic?<p>We’ve all seen them. Those posts shared by friends of friends on Facebook, that jaw-dropping tweet you can scarcely believe was not immediately deleted. Alongside social distancing and Zoom meetings, it seems that one inescapable symptom of the pandemic is the proliferation of conspiracy theories on social media.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theories are distinct from other forms of misinformation and falsehood. They are particular ways in which we make sense of the complex and sometimes disturbing world around us. They have also long been seen as a particularly political phenomenon. The American historian Richard Hofstadter <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/">famously</a> referred to such ideas as underpinning a “paranoid style” of political thinking, replete with “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy”.</p>
<p>A more recent understanding of their importance can be found in the work of the political theorist Alfred Moore, who <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1478-9302.12102?journalCode=pswa">suggests</a> they are means of “explaining events or phenomena in a way that is unwarranted, implausible, or even dangerous, invoking ever and deeper conspiracies and discounting all contradictory evidence”.</p>
<p>In my work, I argue that over recent years we have seen the emergence of distinct forms of conspiracy theory, driven by structural changes in the way we communicate about politics. In order to understand the phenomenon, we need to think of conspiracy theories as part of a significant shift in the ways political participation happens in contemporary democracies.</p>
<h2>Filling a void</h2>
<p>There are a number of reasons why we are seeing conspiracy theories take hold in this way, and these have implications for our response to the pandemic which cannot be ignored.</p>
<p>It is well established that conspiracy theories are more prevalent in times of crisis. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/american-conspiracy-theories-9780199351800?cc=gb&lang=en&#">Research</a> shows us that the popularity of these ideas is not constant, and peaks during cataclysmic events and social upheaval. Conspiracy theories were prominent during previous pandemics, including <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10887-019-09167-1?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_source=ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AA_en_06082018&ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst_20190527&error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&code=a5439efd-e0dc-4d8b-8124-f00b22e7438d&code=af1820d7-a4ac-4874-9d71-a051dc9518f2">the Black Death</a>, the “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2020/05/15/the-original-plandemic-unmasking-the-eerily-parallel-conspiracy-theories-behind-the-russian-flu-of-1889/?sh=76c4c5a850d5">Russian flu</a>” of the late 19th century and the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)31360-6.pdf">1918 flu pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>However, in contrast to past crises, recent conspiracy theories have been driven by the rapid change in how we communicate with each other. Of particular importance is the emergence of social media sites, which enable the rapid spread of information based on (superficially, at least) plausible information produced by what appear to be reliable sources. This context matters, in part because it allows a great degree of individual agency in the dissemination of conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>Fundamentally, conspiracy theories of this kind are powerful because they are participatory. They engage people directly in the development and amplification of political ideas, however outlandish they might seem. In an environment when trust and confidence in political institutions are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03906700500038819?casa_token=dnM5NlTOz-QAAAAA%3AjAiT9buF2sM0ETJQikxesN3pogByyFJAdLW6rHHKvnFdFwhU6_MsR6KZHzNCtb_EzoOK9FB1ovg9">declining</a> and engagement in democracy is <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137588241">highly unequal</a>, this form of participation provides an easily-accessible and engaging alternative to mainstream forms of political participation. </p>
<p>There is an adage amongst online conspiracy theorists – do your own research. This encourages those involved to seek out validation of their ideas from sources which refute the “official” narrative. Engaging in contemporary conspiracy theories therefore has a game-like quality. People are encouraged to “discover” information promoted through their online networks rather than passively accept data and facts produced by established sources. Research tells us that any evidence presented to the contrary, no matter how compelling, is unlikely to be accepted, and indeed, might even be taken as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00300.x">evidence in favour</a> of the conspiracy theory. More importantly, following these beliefs <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2564659?casa_token=QiE06oQFvWUAAAAA%3AbzvIImAD2QYX7hJdUIjVDLBKenqcKAa585FbFKDlgQJc5RrsNbhkt9CC55eCbvohyNLjcNmykW8iMkS1dgy4oBhDsEHppL2FHhaJYu3bDUVLME9Dr40&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">necessarily</a> means adopting a distrustful orientation towards public institutions and scientific evidence.</p>
<h2>Facing facts</h2>
<p>There is clear potential for conspiracy theories of this kind to undermine efforts to stop the spread of COVID and damage trust in vaccines. False arguments against vaccines are presented as an “alternative narrative” of equal status to scientific evidence. Attempts to expose the frailties of such a position are held to be evidence of vested interests on the part of state agencies and pharmaceutical companies. </p>
<p>Throughout, the participatory, gamified nature of the generation and spread of these ideas allows people to find a degree of stability in a confusing and unsettling time. Surely, part of the appeal that there is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-plandemic-and-the-seven-traits-of-conspiratorial-thinking-138483">“plandemic”</a> is that there is, actually, a plan governing our lives rather than uncertainty at every turn. </p>
<p>The dangers of such conspiracy theories for public health and our ability to navigate a path away from the current pandemic <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/coronavirus-vaccine-misinformation.pdf">are real</a>. In such an environment, it can be hard to know fact from fiction, with expertise and established sources of information refuted and rejected through social media. That we have not seen a coherent and credible response to this issue is therefore deeply worrying.</p>
<p>Numerous steps might be taken to address the problem. Rethinking the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8743/">regulation</a> of social media and removing the most prolific “super-spreader” social media accounts (including those of celebrities and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d44a5127-ce1e-407c-bce2-293be771cd1f">public figures</a>) has obvious potential. A senior figure in government might also be appointed to lead on addressing misinformation. However, any intervention needs to be rooted in an understanding of the shifting context of political participation. </p>
<p>Of course, there are difficult questions over how we ensure that we address these forms of conspiracy theory in a way that doesn’t restrict the legitimate questioning of authority that is essential in any democracy. But it is imperative that as a society we recognise, and respond to, the sudden growth in conspiracy theories of this kind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rod Dacombe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If conspiracy theories are going mainstream, we have to start mainstreaming a response.Rod Dacombe, Director of the Centre for British Politics and Government, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1473142020-10-02T13:14:04Z2020-10-02T13:14:04ZTo combat conspiracy theories teach critical thinking – and community values<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361354/original/file-20201002-18-craugl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People are drawn to conspiracy theory communities when times are uncertain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bucharest-romania-august-10-2020-people-1796596942">M.Moira / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the era of social media, conspiracy theories feel more prominent and prevalent than ever before. Most recently, the high level of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with people’s desire to make sense of a new reality, spawned a range of new conspiracy theories <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-experts-investigate-how-the-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-began-139137">while also reinforcing existing ones</a>. These fuelled the spread of misinformation about the virus, giving succour to <a href="https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/coronavirus-edinburgh-protest-conspiracy-theory-18898221">anti-mask groups</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the US presidential election is also awash with conspiracy theories. Perhaps most prominent among these is QAnon, whose followers push a range of false ideas and claims about the Democratic Party. QAnon followers have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/19/trump-qanon-praise-conspiracy-theory-believers">been tacitly endorsed by Donald Trump</a> – who the conspiracy theory conveniently sees as their saviour. </p>
<p>In my recent book, <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28213">The Power of Being Divisive</a>, I explain how politicians benefit from taking the most radical and outrageous stances. They can capitalise on the claims made by conspiracy theorists, to antagonise certain groups, bolster their identity and, ultimately, convert them into loyal voters. </p>
<p>Research shows that people buy into conspiracy theories when times are <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/investigating-the-most-convincing-covid-19-conspiracy-theories">stressful and uncertain</a>. In these situations people tend to make less accurate judgements about the validity of the information they are given. But believing in conspiracy theories also makes people feel part of something bigger than themselves, and provides them with a tribe to belong to. </p>
<p>In my book, I discuss potential solutions to address both these problems at once. In particular, I build on Finland’s recent experience of combating the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories by teaching critical thinking in school.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Get ‘em while they’re young</h2>
<p>Lots of governments fund specific agencies to fight for the truth and try and counter the spread of conspiracy theories. The US for example, has the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-14/the-tiny-u-s-agency-fighting-covid-conspiracy-theories-doesn-t-stand-a-chance">Global Engagement Center</a>, which tries to engage with attempts to manipulate opinion on social media by sourcing their origins and in some cases putting out counter-messaging. But the level of information and speed with which it can spread on social media – along with a president who peddles conspiracy theories – has made their mission difficult, to say the least.</p>
<p>What’s more, conspiracy theories thrive on distrust of the government. As a consequence, these official agencies often struggle to contain the spread of fake news. </p>
<p>Finland took a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news">significantly different approach</a>. After seeing the damage done by the fake news spread in neighbouring Russia, the Finnish government set up a plan to teach critical thinking in secondary school in 2014. It integrated media literacy into the curriculum and got students to exercise their critical thinking when collecting information on a specific topic. The source is assessed, and so is the content. </p>
<p>Students are also trained to critically evaluate statistics and numbers. These can be particularly confusing or intimidating to critique – and we naturally tend to give them legitimacy. But the Finnish experience proves that giving citizens the confidence to debunk conspiracy theories themselves is more effective than providing them with the right information.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Teenage girl and boy looking at computer screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361349/original/file-20201002-22-1lz9onf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pointing out misinformation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-female-teenage-friends-using-computer-145435531">Tyler Olson / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The complementary role of universal values</h2>
<p>But another challenge is looming – and critical thinking is not enough. Followers of conspiracy theories, whether they believe in QAnon or that the world is flat, are often drawn to the community element of conspiracy theories. They feel like they belong to a select group, which makes them feel unique and special. They believe they have access to exclusive and well-guarded knowledge, which makes them feel distinctive.</p>
<p>These ideas are at the centre of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/social-identity-theory">social identity theory</a> in psychology research. This is the idea that our perception of ourselves as individuals is driven by the groups we belong to and the identity that they have. A group of conspiracy theorists is attractive because it is seen as holding a superior truth against others – effectively, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-believes-in-conspiracy-theories-and-why-listen-to-part-two-of-our-expert-guide-134170">a knowledge high ground</a>.</p>
<p>Finnish authorities understood this. Their secondary school programme also focused on reminding pupils of the important universal values <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/europe/finland-fake-news-intl/">upheld by Finnish society</a>. These include fairness, the rule of law, respect for others’ differences, openness and freedom. Together, these are a powerful lens to exercise their critical thinking – students are called to make sense of information with these values in mind. </p>
<p>Ultimately, students are reminded of all the good things about being Finnish and that they already belong to group with a positive identity. This throws the identity benefits of believing in conspiracy theories into question. Plus, their Finnish identity becomes more salient as they question and identify fake news. Critical thinking and countering misinformation is what makes them part of a group they can be proud of.</p>
<p>Of course, this is difficult to measure but the evidence so far suggests Finland’s approach is working. A <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1475240919830003">2019 study found</a> that Finnish pupils are much better at identifying fake news than their US counterparts. But the real benefits will take years to study, not least because Finland’s programme only really ramped up in the last couple of years.</p>
<p>The spread of conspiracy theories will not be stopped by simply giving younger generations the right training to engage in fact-checking, or collect evidence-based information. The reality of conspiracy theory groups is that they represent fragmented parts of our society – their very existence is made possible by social exclusion. So we must teach critical thinking alongside ensuring people feel part of a broader community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Roulet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Combating conspiracy theories with correct information is not enough.Thomas Roulet, Senior Lecturer in Organisation Theory and Fellow in Sociology, Girton College, Cambridge Judge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1431322020-07-22T10:51:38Z2020-07-22T10:51:38ZI’ve been talking to conspiracy theorists for 20 years – here are my six rules of engagement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348674/original/file-20200721-25-1bphrgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coronavirus conspiracy theories fuel anti-vaccination protests.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/phoenix-ariz-us-may-3-2020-1721486806">Rebekah Zemansky / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With prospects of a COVID-19 vaccine <a href="https://theconversation.com/oxford-immunologist-on-coronavirus-vaccine-our-early-results-look-highly-promising-141558">looking up</a>, attention is also turning to the problem of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25896383/#:%7E:text=Abstract,across%20time%2C%20place%20and%20vaccines.">anti-vax ideas</a>. According to a recent survey, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/07/almost-one-in-six-britons-say-would-refuse-covid-19-vaccine">one in six Britons</a> would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Although vaccine hesitancy is a complex problem with multiple causes, the number of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/52847648">conspiracy theories</a> circulating about the coronavirus do not help.</p>
<p>The fight against COVID-19-related conspiracy theories will be fought on multiple fronts. It requires a <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-anti-vaxxers-one-in-six-british-people-would-refuse-a-vaccine-heres-how-to-change-their-minds-142207">broad public health campaign</a> and for social-media companies to control the spread of disinformation. But all of us can play a part in this effort. Most people will know someone who has succumbed to conspiracy theories about the current crisis.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780230272798">researching conspiracy theories</a> for over two decades and have spoken to many believers. Here are the six rules I use for talking to conspiracy theorists in the effort to change their mind. </p>
<h2>1. Acknowledge scale of the task</h2>
<p>Talking to people who endorse conspiracy theories is inherently difficult. Simply laying out evidence or pointing out logical contradictions in the conspiracist argument is seldom enough. Conspiracy theories are, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-when-you-see-one-133574">by definition, irrefutable</a>. </p>
<p>Lack of evidence of a conspiracy, or positive proof against its existence, is taken by believers as evidence of the craftiness of those behind the plot, and their ability to dupe the public. So arm yourself with patience, and be prepared to fail.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Click here to listen and read more about conspiracy theories.</a></em></strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Recognise the emotional dimension</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theories seduce not so much through the power of argument, but through the intensity of the passions that they stir. Underpinning conspiracy theories are feelings of resentment, indignation and disenchantment about the world. They are stories about good and evil, as much as about what is true. </p>
<p>This gives conspiracy theories a strong emotional dimension. Tempers can flare and conversations turn into a shouting match. It is important to prevent this from happening. Be prepared to de-escalate the situation and keep the dialogue going, without necessarily giving ground. </p>
<h2>3. Find out what they actually believe</h2>
<p>Before trying to persuade someone, find out the nature and content of their beliefs. When it comes to conspiracy theories, the world is not divided into “believers” and “sceptics” – <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-believes-in-conspiracy-theories-and-why-listen-to-part-two-of-our-expert-guide-134170">there’s a lot in between</a>. </p>
<p>A minority of committed believers treat conspiracy theories as the literal truth and are particularly resistant to persuasion. Many others might not see themselves as “believers”, but are willing to accept that conspiracy theorists might be onto something and are at least asking the right questions. Establishing the precise nature, and extent, of someone’s belief, will enable you to better tailor your response.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="5G antenna." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348865/original/file-20200722-36-11t18jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">5G antenna has nothing to do with coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/5g-smart-mobile-telephone-radio-network-750428755">Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, try and find out what specific conspiracy theory they endorse. Is it <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-experts-investigate-how-the-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-began-139137">5G or Bill Gates that they think is behind coronavirus</a>? Or both? What videos or websites have they looked at? Once you find out, gather as much disconfirming evidence as you can from credible sources, including multiple independent <a href="https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus/">fact-checking websites</a>. </p>
<p>Background research will help you to focus the discussion on the substance of the claims. Never question someone’s intelligence or moral sense, as this is the quickest way to end a conversation.</p>
<h2>4. Establish common ground</h2>
<p>One of the main problems with conspiracy theories is that they are not confined to tinfoil-hat-wearing kooks or political extremists. In times of crisis and uncertainty, they can contaminate the worldview of otherwise reasonable people. </p>
<p>Conspiracy theories make reality seem less chaotic, and tap into broader, often well-grounded concerns about the world such as the concentration of financial and political power, mass surveillance, inequality or lack of political transparency. So when talking about conspiracy theories, start by acknowledging these broader concerns and restrict your discussion to whether conspiracy theories can provide an adequate or meaningful answer.</p>
<p>Many people come to conspiracy theories through genuine, albeit misguided, curiosity about how to make sense of the world. They sometimes see themselves as healthy sceptics and self-taught researchers into complex issues. Avoid criticising or mocking this. Instead, present it as something that, in principle, you value and share. Your aim, after all, is not to make them less curious or sceptical, but to change what they are curious about, or sceptical of.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Conspiracy theorist stereotype in tinfoil hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348862/original/file-20200722-38-1e3wl6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most conspiracy theorists don’t look like this.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silly-ugly-man-wearing-tin-foil-1155296908">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conspiracy theories often sound convincing because they start with the detailed exposition of credible scientific or historical facts. The problem is that these facts and arguments <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55258625e4b00cfda38b47d7/t/56e84dc12fe131ff71851fca/1458064834964/Hofstadter-Paranoid-Style-American-Politics.pdf">lead to extraordinary conclusions</a>. </p>
<p>The kernels of truth on which conspiracy theories are based are a solid starting point for a discussion. Agreement on at least some of the facts will allow you to focus on the leap of imagination that allows two and two to make five.</p>
<h2>5. Challenge the facts, value their argument</h2>
<p>Debunking conspiracy theories requires a two-pronged approach. The first involves challenging evidence and its origins. Address specific claims and discuss what constitutes a credible source. Offer to look at the evidence together, including on fact-checking websites. </p>
<p>If you are talking to a staunch believer, they probably won’t even engage with you on this. But if they have not yet fallen down the rabbit hole, they might, and this may lead them to start questioning their views.</p>
<p>The second approach involves challenging the relevance and value of the conspiracist case more generally. You may want to point out that throughout history, conspiracy theories <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-when-you-see-one-133574">have come up short</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, the longstanding claims by <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387794754">AIDS denialists</a> that antiretroviral drugs are more harmful than HIV were not only disproven, but they contributed to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19186354/">hundreds of thousands of deaths</a> in sub-Saharan Africa. More recent and similarly baseless theories about the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6318131/">polio vaccine causing sterility</a> directly led to the disease resurging in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afganistan. </p>
<p>COVID-19-related claims are in the same genre. Setting these conspiracy theories in their historical context can demonstrate that they offer nothing new, and don’t ask the right questions about the pandemic and its causes. This just might encourage the person to direct their curiosity and scepticism to more worthwhile concerns.</p>
<h2>6. Finally, be realistic</h2>
<p>There is, of course, no guarantee that this advice will be effective. There are no incontestable arguments or fail-proof strategies that will always convert a conspiracy theorist to scepticism. Therefore, set realistic expectations. The aim of talking to conspiracy theorists is not to convert them, but to sow doubt about an argument, and hopefully enable them to gradually build up resistance to its seductive appeal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jovan Byford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most people will know someone who has succumbed to conspiracy theories about coronavirus – here’s how to talk to them.Jovan Byford, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386352020-06-18T09:45:10Z2020-06-18T09:45:10ZDon’t blame social media for conspiracy theories – they would still flourish without it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340343/original/file-20200608-176560-9t1ar7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=133%2C107%2C4100%2C2710&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The technology isn't the problem. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/curious-teenager-browsing-internet-on-his-1239519538">mooremedia via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 conspiracy theories have encouraged people to engage in some <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-misinformation-campaigns/">dangerous activities</a> in the past few months. There is no simple explanation for why people believe conspiracy theories like these, and the best researchers can say is that the causes of such beliefs are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pops.12568@10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9221.2019-conference-vi">complex and varied</a>. </p>
<p>And yet <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-are-we-doing-doctors-are-fed-conspiracies-ravaging-ers-n1201446?cid=eml_mrd_20200507&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Rundown%20Special%20Edition:%20The%20Coronavirus%20Crisis%2C%207%20May%202020">journalists</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/22/sacha-baron-cohen-facebook-propaganda">activists</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/26/what-happened-when-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-came-face-to-face-with-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg">politicians</a> are increasingly blaming the internet, and social media in particular, for the spread of conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>The accusations aimed at social media tend to take the same narrative form as many conspiracy theories. It might be an anecdote, perhaps testimony from a trusted source such as a doctor <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-are-we-doing-doctors-are-fed-conspiracies-ravaging-ers-n1201446?cid=eml_mrd_20200507&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Rundown%20Special%20Edition:%20The%20Coronavirus%20Crisis%2C%207%20May%202020">claiming that social media companies</a> “truly have blood on their hands”. Or it might be the portrayal of the public as an innocent victim at the hands of malicious internet profiteers – all designed to appeal to people already disposed to distrust corporations and tech companies. </p>
<p>The problem with such accusations is that the evidence paints a more nuanced picture. </p>
<h2>The pre-internet era</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theories were being generated, spread, and believed well before the internet and social media.</p>
<p>US President John Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. Shortly afterwards <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx">most</a> Americans believed – in opposition to the official explanation – that the president had been killed by an unidentified group of conspirators rather than by a lone gunman. By 1975, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx">80%</a> of Americans believed in one form of Kennedy conspiracy theory or another. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340336/original/file-20200608-176554-c3b787.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">JFK’s last moments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_limousine.png">Walt Cisco, Dallas Morning News via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the late 1940s, someone found debris in the New Mexico desert at Roswell. By 1997, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/266441/americans-skeptical-ufos-say-government-knows.aspx">71% of Americans</a> believed the government was hiding information about UFOs, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/4594/What-Government-Really-Listened-People.aspx">45% believed</a> that aliens had visited Earth, and only <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/4594/What-Government-Really-Listened-People.aspx">25% believed</a> the government’s explanation of what actually happened at Roswell. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/what-can-coronavirus-tell-us-about-conspiracy-theories/610894/">polling of Americans</a> has uncovered few examples of conspiracy theories that enjoy as much support as those about JFK and aliens from the pre-internet era. For example, the theories that President Barack Obama faked his birth certificate to illegally usurp the presidency, and that the Bush administration or some other group was behind the 9/11 terror attacks typically find support among no more than <a href="http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2013/outthere/final.pdf">30%</a> of the American public.</p>
<p>It remains an open question if conspiracy theories were even more widespread and influential before the internet. Consider, for example, the anti-communist Red Scares of the 20th century, the Illuminati panics of the early 19th century, or the witch trials of the 17th century.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/simoninis-letter-the-19th-century-text-that-influenced-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-about-the-illuminati-134635">Simonini’s letter: the 19th century text that influenced antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Illuminati</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Technology isn’t the problem</h2>
<p>What we’re seeing now with COVID-19 is nothing new: conspiracy theories have flourished across human history, and for many reasons. Some psychologists suggest that they are a natural byproduct of evolutionary psychological <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691618774270">mechanisms</a> that are sewn into our DNA to help us detect threats and protect ourselves from rival groups. Historians find that conspiracy theories have been a regular presence, used by <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/real-enemies-9780190908560?cc=us&lang=en&">leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/81401/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics-by-richard-hofstadter-with-a-new-foreword-by-sean-wilentz/">fringe groups</a> alike to spread their message and build coalitions.</p>
<p>Despite their familiar tropes, COVID-19 conspiracy theories are new and disconcerting – and they are being spread on YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. But, modern commentary engages in numerous errors of reasoning. It sees only particular conspiracy theories, rather than the basic building blocks shared by all such theories.</p>
<p>In the past, video games, rock music, television, the telephone, radio, and books were all methods of communication upon which the supposed newfound ills of society were blamed. In the 1980s, for example, the popular new board game Dungeons and Dragons was said to be corrupting the nation’s youth; the TV show <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFq5aci6CHA">60 Minutes</a> even ran a story with supposed experts attesting that the game could summon actual demons. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Why people believe conspiracy theories</h2>
<p>Political science and psychology research shows that the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/what-can-coronavirus-tell-us-about-conspiracy-theories/610894/">motivations</a> to believe or disbelieve conspiracy theories are largely unrelated to particular methods of communication. </p>
<p>What researchers call <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajps.12234">“motivated reasoning”</a>, for example, leads people to accept conspiracy theories that are congruent with existing political and social motivations and reject those that are incongruent with such motivations. This explains why Trump supporters are <a href="https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/why-do-people-believe-covid-19-conspiracy-theories/">more likely</a> to believe the conspiracy theory that the threat of COVID-19 is being exaggerated to hurt Trump’s presidency than Trump’s opponents. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conspiracy-theories-spread-online-its-not-just-down-to-algorithms-133891">How conspiracy theories spread online – it's not just down to algorithms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Likewise, many of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/05/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-pandemic/">psychological states</a> that make conspiracy theories attractive have little do with social media. Uncertainty, powerlessness and anxiety – feelings caused by a rising death toll, crumbling economy and social isolation – would be exacerbated by a pandemic irrespective of time spent on Facebook or Twitter.</p>
<p>In other words, people believe in conspiracy theories for a host of reasons, both conscious and unconscious. We are not merely blank slates, lemmings ready to believe any idea to which we are exposed. <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau4586?rss=1&fbclid=IwAR0AnmmBOuikMvGya9AUs3Zd0418CI4aeKLocjhhPfZIQJcgXbGyw3Ix-nE">Recent studies</a> even find evidence that young people who grew up with the internet are more discerning than those of past generations when it comes to the information they are exposed to online. They truly “don’t believe everything they read on the internet”.</p>
<p>Regardless of their long history, or their recent spread on social media, conspiracy theories do <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dangerous-are-conspiracy-theories-listen-to-part-five-of-our-expert-guide-136070">pose a problem for society</a>. But, misattributing blame for conspiracy theories to social media ensures that the problems they pose will persist.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The technology isn’t the problem – conspiracy theories were around long before the internet.Joseph E Uscinski, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of MiamiAdam M Enders, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of LouisvilleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1400222020-06-11T13:21:55Z2020-06-11T13:21:55ZWhy we should not treat all conspiracy theories the same<p>Ever since the coronavirus spread across the world, suspicions have proliferated about what is really going on. Questions arose about the origins of the virus, the way it makes people sick, the mitigation measures taken, the suspended civil rights, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-experts-investigate-how-the-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-began-139137">connection with 5G</a>, possible cures and medications, and about the role of Bill Gates in it all. </p>
<p>These ideas are commonly framed as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-listen-to-part-six-of-our-expert-guide-136664">conspiracy theories</a>. Yes, they may all distrust the mainstream narrative and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-plandemic-and-the-seven-traits-of-conspiratorial-thinking-138483">share certain characteristics</a>, but they are not one of a kind. </p>
<p>They take so many different forms and have such varying degrees of plausibility that I question how useful it is to bracket them all under the same banner. To understand and effectively respond to the various coronavirus conspiracy theories, we need to dig deeper.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen to our Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/morality-and-suspicion/202004/covid-19-conspiracy-theories-and-5g-networks">dominant</a> <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-the-pandemic-is-turning-so-many-people-into-conspiracy-theorists">explanation</a> for the popularity of coronavirus conspiracy theories is remarkably <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-listen-to-part-six-of-our-expert-guide-136664">similar</a>: these dark and unsettling ideas help people make sense of a complex and uncertain world. They provide sufficiently large explanations for tragic events, and give back feelings of agency and control.</p>
<p>Since these ideas sometimes have real-world consequences, from 5G masts set on fire to ignoring coronavirus mitigation measures, various <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dangerous-are-conspiracy-theories-listen-to-part-five-of-our-expert-guide-136070">commentators</a> condemn these conspiracy theories. Officials now need not only fight a health pandemic, so <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-heres-how-to-stop-them-spreading-136564">their story</a> goes, but an infodemic too. </p>
<h2>Recognising diversity and context</h2>
<p><a href="https://repub.eur.nl/pub/102423">The problem with the generalising approach</a> is threefold. It does not account for the motivations of conspiracy theorists themselves; nor for the different forms and plausibility of the various conspiracy theories; nor for their relations with various <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02235-x">political and societal issues</a>. </p>
<p>Providing uniform explanations for conspiracy theories fails to <a href="https://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/taking_conspiracy_theories_seriously/3-156-e9d0fdf3-56ea-4798-a05d-b239d42dd74b">seriously consider their contents</a> or underlying concerns. Similarly, it leaves untouched how certain conspiracy theories <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/alternative-influence/">are weaponised</a> in various <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fortress-Russia-Conspiracy-Theories-Post-Soviet/dp/1509522654">propaganda wars</a>.</p>
<p>A closer look at these theories or – even better – actual engagement with the people propagating them, shows conspiracy theories not so much as a uniform coping strategy in unsettling times, but rather as a wide array of cultural expressions. </p>
<p>These include suspicions of planned efforts to impose mass vaccinations, doubts about the origins of the virus, expressions of disgust for the ruling elite, geopolitical insinuations, pointers to an inflated media panic, the scapegoating of certain societal groups (Chinese or Jews), critiques on the methods and measurements of COVID-19 symptoms and deaths, discontents with powerful philanthropists, worries about the expansion of authoritarian government policies, or concerns about corporate intrusion in the search for effective medications.</p>
<p>This means, as I argue in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Contemporary-Conspiracy-Culture-Truth-and-Knowledge-in-an-Era-of-Epistemic/Harambam/p/book/9780367347413">my recent book</a>, that we need to focus on the meaning, diversity and context of different conspiracy theories, as well as the people who subscribe to them.</p>
<h2>Different conspiracy theory subcultures</h2>
<p>During my ethnographic research projects on contemporary conspiracy cultures, I encountered a wide variety of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1749975516661959">people, ideas, practices and communities</a>. Because coronavirus conspiracy theories have yet to settle down, let’s turn to some markedly different conspiracy theory subcultures that have been around for longer. They illustrate how different conspiracy theories and the people who subscribe to them can be.</p>
<p>Starting with the anti-vaccination movement – of <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019">great concern</a> to many. Because many anti-vaxxers in the western world are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/nyregion/measles-outbreak-new-york.html">highly educated urban hipsters</a>, it is difficult to reject them as ignorant deplorables. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/throwing-science-at-anti-vaxxers-just-makes-them-more-hardline-37721">Throwing science at anti-vaxxers just makes them more hardline</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Next to critiques of Big Pharma, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X09019264?casa_token=mu8TBB_gL98AAAAA:d1ASGeySn6xGG91yQ1RvdC5fzrwn4QvYegkw0hqUPIAUvAfmej9gJjJiBXE4GDAaqKQDURj5SAI">vaccine hesitancy</a> is informed by holistic and naturalistic ideas about health and the body; ideas rooted in alternative medicine and New Age spiritualities. In <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1749975516661959">these subcultural worlds</a>, emotions, feelings, experiences, testimonies and social relations are often <a href="https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2019/09/06/opinion-worried-about-measles-bashing-alternative-schools-wont-help/">more important guides</a> than scientific knowledge.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341206/original/file-20200611-80770-rl9m2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-vaxxers are often well educated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/phoenix-arizona-may-18-2019-two-1401984065">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather different are those active in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/35/4/671/426305">9/11 Truth Movement</a>. Broadly interested in geopolitics and government cover ups, <a href="http://www.consensus911.org/">these people</a> challenge the mainstream narrative of 9/11 with competing <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0304375419898334">factual and scientific evidence</a>. They advance visual proofs and mathematical calculations of why the towers could not have collapsed by the planes, but indicate controlled demolition instead. </p>
<p>These activists profess knowledge of physics, construction and explosives, and <a href="https://www.ae911truth.org/">ground their legitimacy in this expertise</a>. They are focused on “exposing the official lies”. Like true activists, <a href="https://911truth.org/">they wish revolutionary change</a>, “to end the regime and illicit power structures responsible for 9/11”.</p>
<h2>Amusing or dangerous?</h2>
<p>The list of markedly different conspiracy subcultures could go on. Think of the <a href="https://www.netflix.com/be-en/title/81015076">Flat Earthers</a>, who deploy various scientific methodologies and perform <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobson/2019/03/16/flat-earth-supporters-now-plan-an-antarctica-expedition-to-the-edge-of-the-world/#c86949b59165">actual experiments in the outside world</a> to show that it is not a globe but a Truman Show-like dome. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-watched-an-entire-flat-earth-convention-for-my-research-heres-what-i-learnt-95887">I watched an entire Flat Earth Convention for my research – here's what I learnt</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Favouring rational thinking and scientific methods is, however, no guarantee for brotherhood. 9/11 Truthers generally stay away from them as that would harm their credibility. </p>
<p>QAnon followers, meanwhile, deploy various strategies to interpret secret messages from their anonymous leader Q. These are known as “crumbs” or “drops” and are all part of their search for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/">truth and redemption</a>. Sharing many characteristics of millenarian <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-church-of-qanon-will-conspiracy-theories-form-the-basis-of-a-new-religious-movement-137859">New Religious Movements</a>, QAnon followers anticipate a violent apocalypse when the conspiracy will be dismantled and followers will be vindicated.</p>
<p>This brief overview already shows the wide variety of themes, ideologies, plausibilities, origins, people and potential dangers of different conspiracy theory subcultures. Regarding conspiracy theories as one uniform category obscures all these differences and the various <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-one-133802">societal dynamics in which conspiracy theories play a role</a>. </p>
<p>This inevitably leads to simplistic explanations. Further, it has the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/si.2007.30.2.127">political effect</a> of collectively <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Stigmatization-of-Conspiracy-Theory-since-the-1950s-A-Plot-to-Make/Thalmann/p/book/9781138346819">stigmatising</a> certain ideas and people – and prematurely excluding them from <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263276416657880">legitimate political debate</a>. Conspiracy theories are not uniform – nor should our engagements with them be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaron Harambam received PhD funding from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), file number 404-10-438, and currently receives postdoctoral funding from European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program, Marie Sklodowksa-Curie Individual Fellowship, no. 799815.</span></em></p>Don’t jump to conclusions about 5G conspiracy theories or those that believe in them.Jaron Harambam, Postdoctoral Researcher in Sociology, KU LeuvenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1391372020-06-11T08:00:07Z2020-06-11T08:00:07ZFour experts investigate how the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory began<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339791/original/file-20200604-67387-1uubvvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=583%2C179%2C5101%2C3718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-may-6th-2020-5g-1724597788">Shutterstock/InkDrop</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In times of crisis conspiracy theories can spread as fast as a virus. </p>
<p>As the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip on a world which struggled to comprehend the enormity of the situation it was facing, darker forces were concocting their own narratives. </p>
<p>Scientists and researchers were working – and continue to work – around the clock for answers. But science is slow and methodical. So far-fetched explanations about how the outbreak started began filling the vacuum. Among these strange explanations is a theory that the recent rollout of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-5g-conspiracy-theories-prosper-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-136019">5G technology is to blame</a>. But where did this theory begin, how did it develop and mutate and what can be done to stem the tide of fake news? We asked four experts who have all done extensive research in this area to examine these questions.</p>
<p>Marc Tuters, assistant professor of new media and digital culture
at the University of Amsterdam, and Peter Knight, professor of American studies at the University of Manchester, examine the big questions and the history of conspiracy theories. Then Wasim Ahmed, lecturer in digital business at Newcastle University, and Joesph Downing, a nationalism research fellow at the London School of Economics, share the results of their new study into the origins of the 5G conspiracy theory on social media.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
<hr>
<h2>A toxic cocktail of misinformation</h2>
<p><em>Marc Tuters and Peter Knight</em></p>
<p>Conspiracy theories about mobile phone technology have been circulating since the 1990s, and have long historical roots. Doctors first talked of “<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10421078/medicos-meet-radiophobia-1903/">radiophobia</a>” as early as 1903. Following on from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/sociology/sociology-general-interest/cellular-phones-public-fears-and-culture-precaution?format=PB&isbn=9780521520829">fears about power lines and microwaves</a> in the 1970s, opponents of 2G technology in the 1990s suggested that radiation from mobile phones could cause cancer, and that this information was being covered up. Other conspiracy theories about 5G include the idea that it was responsible for the <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/birds-5G-netherlands/">unexplained deaths of birds</a> and <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/trees-not-chopped-down-for-5g/">trees</a>. The coronavirus <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-5g-conspiracy-theories-prosper-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-136019">5G conspiracy theory</a> comes in several different strains, of varying degrees of implausibility.</p>
<p>One of the first versions of the theory claimed that it was no coincidence that 5G technology was trialled in Wuhan, where the pandemic began (this is incorrect, as 5G <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-telecoms-5g/who-was-first-to-launch-5g-depends-who-you-ask-idUSKCN1RH1V1">was already being rolled out</a> in number of locations). Some claim that the coronavirus crisis was deliberately created in order to keep people at home while 5G engineers install the technology everywhere. Others insist that 5G radiation weakens people’s immune systems, making them more vulnerable to infection by COVID-19. Another mutation of the 5G conspiracy theory asserts that 5G directly transmits the virus. These different 5G stories are often combined together with other COVID-19 conspiracy theories into a toxic cocktail of misinformation.</p>
<p>At first, some conspiracy theorists insisted that the threat of the virus (and the apparent death rates) had been exaggerated. Echoing President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/">own language</a>, some of his supporters considered this as part of an elaborate “hoax” intended to harm his chances of re-election. Others, particularly on the far right in the US, framed lockdown emergency measures in terms of “Deep State” efforts at controlling the population and called for a “<a href="https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Covid-Briefing-2.pdf">second civil war</a>” in response. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339797/original/file-20200604-67351-fyu2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China, in February 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://webgate.epa.eu/webgate">EPA-EFE/SHEPHERD HOU CHINA OUT</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other prominent theories include the claim that the virus was accidentally released by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or that it was deliberately made as a biowarfare weapon, either by the Chinese or the Americans. One increasingly popular idea is that the pandemic is part of a plan by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)">global elites</a> like Bill Gates or George Soros – in league with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047480613Z.000000000142">Big Pharma</a> – to institute mandatory worldwide vaccinations that would include tracking chips, which would then be activated by 5G radiowaves.</p>
<p>Polling data in various countries including the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/coronavirus-conspiracy-beliefs-mistrust-and-compliance-with-government-guidelines-in-england/9D6401B1E58F146C738971C197407461">UK</a>, the <a href="https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/why-do-people-believe-covid-19-conspiracy-theories/">US</a>, <a href="https://jean-jaures.org/nos-productions/l-epidemie-dans-l-epidemie-theses-complotistes-et-covid-19">France</a>, <a href="https://research.mci.edu/en/cshi/blog/covid19">Austria</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340967865_Erste_Ergebnisse_einer_Online-Umfrage_zur_gesellschaftlichen_Wahrnehmung_des_Umgangs_mit_der_Corona-Pandemie_in_Deutschland">Germany</a> has shown that the most popular coronavirus conspiracy theory is that the virus was man-made – 62% of respondents in the UK think that this theory is true to some degree. In that UK poll, 21% agreed, to varying extents, that coronavirus is caused by 5G and is a form of radiation poisoning transmitted through radiowaves. In comparison, 19% agreed that Jews have created the virus to collapse the economy for financial gain.</p>
<h2>Where did these theories come from?</h2>
<p>Few of these theories are new. Most of them are mutations or re-combinations of existing themes, often drawing on narrative tropes and rhetorical manoeuvres that have a long history. Conspiracy theorists usually have a complete worldview, through which they interpret new information and events, to fit their existing theory. Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of conspiracy thinking is that it is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2008.00325.x">self-sealing, unfalsifiable</a> and resistant to challenge. The absence of evidence is, ironically, often taken as evidence of a massive cover up.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-how-the-origins-of-historys-oldest-hatred-still-hold-sway-today-87878">Antisemitism: how the origins of history’s oldest hatred still hold sway today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The dismissal of the pandemic as a hoax and the questioning of scientific experts is straight out of the playbook of <a href="https://oxfordre.com/climatescience/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-328">climate change denial</a>. The 5G theory about radiowaves transmitting or activating the virus, for example, is a reworking of long running conspiracy fears about <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801478536/the-covert-sphere/#bookTabs=1">mind control experiments</a>, subliminal messaging and supposed secret US military weapons projects (all ripe topics for Hollywood’s movie industry).</p>
<p>The 5G story shares similarities with rumours that date back to the 1990s about HAARP (the US military’s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program). HAARP was a large radio transmitter array located in Alaska and funded by the US Department of Defence, in conjunction with a number of research universities. The programme conducted experiments into the ionosphere (the upper layer of the atmosphere) using radio waves, and was closed down in 2014. Conspiracy theorists, however, claimed that it was actually developing a weapon for weather control as well as mind control. Similarly, concerns have been expressed concerning that 5G might be in fact be a hi-tech weapon whose use represents an “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3tAxnNccY">existential threat to humanity</a>”. </p>
<p>There have also long been conspiracy rumours that Big Pharma is <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/1835348">suppressing a cure for cancer</a>. The idea that the virus was made in a lab mirrors claims made a quarter of a century ago about HIV/AIDS. One origin for that story was an early example of a <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/jcws_a_00907">KGB disinformation campaign</a>. The allegation that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or George Soros planned the coronavirus pandemic is a version of familiar right-wing (and often racist and antisemitic) conspiracy fantasies about <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-origins-of-the-globalist-slur/555479/">“globalist”</a> elites threatening national and individual sovereignty. There is <a href="https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200513-ISDG-Weekly-Briefing-3b.pdf">mounting evidence</a> that far-right groups are opportunistically using fear and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic to promote their hateful politics.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Listen to a special episode on coronavirus conspiracy theories featuring Marc Tuters in The Anthill Podcast’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-listen-to-part-six-of-our-expert-guide-136664">expert guide to conspiracy theories</a></em></p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-6-coronavirus?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319903583">Populist conspiracy theories</a> often work by dividing the world into Us vs Them, with the aim of scapegoating people and institutions and providing simple explanations for complex phenomena. The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories are particularly challenging because they bring together people from very different parts of the political spectrum. On the one hand, they attract the far-right who see them as part of a technological assault by big government on the freedom of individuals. On the other, they appeal to the well established <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-impact-will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-have-on-anti-vaxxers-135153">anti-vaxxer community</a>, who are often allied with those distrustful of Big Pharma. </p>
<p>In the US, which is in an election year, coronavirus mitigation strategies have become a divisive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/22/us-stores-against-face-masks">culture war issue</a>, with the president <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/12/opinions/trumps-refusal-to-mask-is-the-most-revealing-thing-ben-ghiat/index.html">refusing to wear a face mask</a>. But in countries <a href="https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/hygiene-demo-neonazis-und-impfgegner-vereint-bei-corona-demo/25768284.html">like Germany</a> anti-lockdown issues appear to be creating connections across the political spectrum, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_h_sH3g0Np/">led by social media influencers</a> who are working to connect the dots between previously separate conspiracy theory communities or tribes. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1263818537132531714"}"></div></p>
<p>As seen in the quantitative analysis below, such influencers anchor conspiracy theory communities on social media. Because these methods provide only a partial view, <a href="https://medium.com/dmrc-at-large/are-filter-bubbles-real-3be22bd9230e">it is problematic to assume</a> that the members of these communities are necessarily trapped within echo chambers, unable to access other points of view. Nevertheless the findings do correspond with the troubling patterns outlined above. And they also show that <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-believes-in-conspiracy-theories-and-why-listen-to-part-two-of-our-expert-guide-134170">those who believe in</a> and propagate conspiracy theories can come from a cross section of society. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/throwing-science-at-anti-vaxxers-just-makes-them-more-hardline-37721">Throwing science at anti-vaxxers just makes them more hardline</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Social network analysis</h2>
<p><em>Wasim Ahmed and Joseph Downing</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.jmir.org/2020/5/e19458/">Our study</a> set out to investigate the 5G conspiracy theory on Twitter towards the beginning of April 2020 which was when the conspiracy was trending in the UK and increasing its visibility. </p>
<p>This time period coincided with reports that <a href="https://www.jmir.org/2020/5/e19458/">at least 20</a> UK 5G phone masts were vandalised, including damage reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/14/arsonists-attack-phone-mast-serving-nhs-nightingale-hospital">at a hospital</a>. There were also 5G arson attacks across <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/26/5g-mast-torchers-turn-up-in-continental-europe-210736">continental Europe</a> during this time. </p>
<p>Our research set out to uncover who was spreading the conspiracy theory, the percentage of users who believed the theory and what steps were needed to combat it. We used a tool called <a href="https://www.smrfoundation.org/nodexl/">NodeXL</a> to carry out a social network analysis. NodeXL is a Microsoft Excel plugin which can be used to retrieve data from a number of social media platforms such as Twitter. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-impact-will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-have-on-anti-vaxxers-135153">What impact will the coronavirus pandemic have on anti-vaxxers?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We captured data using the “5Gcoronavirus” keyword which also retrieved tweets with the #5GCoronavirus hashtag. Tweets we analysed were posted from March 27 to April 4. The network consisted of a total of 10,140 tweets, which are composed of 1,938 mentions, 4,003 retweets, 759 mentions in retweets, 1,110 replies, and 2,328 individual tweets.</p>
<p>We found that there was a specific Twitter account, set up as @5gcoronavirus19 with 383 followers, which was spreading the conspiracy theory and had become influential in driving it forward on social media. The account was able to send out 303 tweets in seven days. We also found that President Trump was often tagged in tweets and was influential within the network without having tweeted himself. This highlights the point about support for these theories coming from the alt-right.</p>
<p>Out of a total of 2,328 individual tweets, 34.8% of users believed the theory and/or shared views in support of it. For example, one user who we are not identifying due to the ethics on which our study was based tweeted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>5G Kills! #5Gcoronavirus – they are linked! People don’t be blind to the truth!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But 32% denounced the theory or mocked it. For instance, one user noted: “5G is not harming or killing a single person! COVID-19 #5Gcoronavirus”.</p>
<p>A further 33% were just general tweets not expressing any personal views or opinions. Like one user who tweeted: “I have a 10AM Skype Chat on Monday, COVID-19 #5Gcoronavirus”. But this overt lack of support for the conspiracy itself became a problem because as more users joined the discussion, the profile of the topic was raised which allowed it to start trending. </p>
<h2>Network clusters</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336698/original/file-20200521-102647-rnfq9f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our social network graph shows the different groups within a network.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We created a social network graph (above), clustering identified different shapes and structures within the network. The largest group in the network represented an “isolates group”. These groups are typically formed when a user mentions a hashtag in their tweets without mentioning another user. Big brands, sports events and breaking news stories will all have a sizeable isolates group. This suggests that during this time the conspiracy topic had become popular and attracted views and opinions from users who were new to the network. </p>
<p>The second largest network shape resembled a “broadcast” network and contained users that were being retweeted. Broadcast networks can typically be found in the Twitter feeds of celebrities and journalists. The Twitter handle @5gcoronavirus19, which was set up to spread the theory, formed a group of its own resembling a broadcast network shape and it received a number of retweets, showing how the conspiracy theory was being amplified as users retweeted content. Conspiracy theorists are likely to use comments made by influential figures which can add fuel to the fire. </p>
<p>A key example of this would be when the television presenter <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/eamonn-holmes-coronavirus-5g-conspiracy-coronavirus-ofcom-david-icke-london-live-a9475336.html">Eamon Holmes</a> said the media couldn’t say for sure whether the 5G theory was false. These comments fell outside of the time period we studied. But they are likely to have had an impact across social media platforms. Holmes was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52358920">strongly criticised by Ofcom</a> which noted that his comments risked undermining the public’s faith in science.</p>
<h2>The misinformation pandemic</h2>
<p>Months before mobile phone masts were attacked in the UK, the “<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30461-X/fulltext">infodemic</a>” (a wide and rapid spread of misinformation) was unfolding at a rapid pace. In France, news spread on Facebook of a tasty cure for the virus: <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/04/22/non-le-roquefort-n-est-pas-un-remede-contre-le-covid-19_6037460_4355770.html">Roquefort cheese</a>. Indeed, a far more dangerous public health prospect than blue cheese, the rumour that cocaine could cure COVID-19 caused the French Ministry of Health to <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/france-coronavirus-cocaine-social-media-disinformation-a4383181.html">release a warning statement</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1236626510703968257"}"></div></p>
<p>Some argue that strange events like this, which erupt from the online world of fake news, memes and misinformation, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/23/how-jokes-won-the-election">effectively delivered</a> Trump the US presidency. Given that a survey showed 75% of Americans <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/fake-news-survey">believed fake news</a> during that election, this claim is not as outrageous as it initially sounds. But there is another theory. Rather than social media activity leading to direct “real world” action, the reverse could be true. For example, a major event like the Arab Spring was a real world action that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1940161212471716">caused a ripple effect</a> across social media.</p>
<p>Dark forces are still at work on the internet during major events. They seek to spread a fake news agenda and change the way events are perceived and constructed in dangerous ways. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444819864572">Our other research</a>, carried out with <a href="https://www.salford.ac.uk/business-school/our-staff/business-academics/richard-dron">Richard Dron</a> from the University of Salford, examined the depictions of Muslims during the Grenfell fire and tracked how Grenfell was covered on Twitter as the fire still burned in the early hours of June 14, 2017. In the following days <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/16/scepticism-persists-over-grenfell-death-toll-despite-mets-final-figure">both celebrities</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-cover-up-death-toll-stop-riot-david-lammy-mp-labour-london-prevent-a7809911.html">politicians</a> would be reprimanded for spreading distrust about official accounts of the fire.</p>
<p>A strong denunciation of the 5G and COVID-19 conspiracy from a world leader, when it surfaced, would have helped in mitigating the effect of the theory on the public. But during this time Boris Johnson, the UK’s prime minister, was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52060791">himself sick with COVID-19</a>. So was there was no direct rebuttal from him. </p>
<p>Although this would have helped we believe the fight should ideally take place on the platform on which the conspiracy is shared. Our ongoing work on <a href="https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/12169/">fitness influencers</a> demonstrates how popular culture figures with large followings on Twitter and other social media platforms can sometimes have more of an appeal – and be more believable – than “official” accounts or politicians. That is why we believe that governments and health authorities should draw on social media influencers in order to counteract misinformation. </p>
<p>It is also important to note which websites people were sharing around this time, as they are likely to play a key role in the spread and existence of the theory. Unsurprisingly, “fake news” websites such as InfoWars published a number of articles which indicated that there was a link between COVID-19 and 5G technologies. YouTube also appeared as an influential domain, as Twitter users linked to various videos which were spreading the theory.</p>
<p>Worryingly, our study found that a small number of Twitter users were happy to see footage posted of 5G masts being damaged and hoped for more to be attacked. Twitter has been taking action and <a href="https://www.techtimes.com/articles/249097/20200423/twitter-blocks-5g-conspiracy-theorists-from-sharing-fake-news.htm">blocking users</a> from sharing 5G conspiracy theories on the platform. YouTube has also been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52388586">banning content</a> that contains medical misinformation. It has not been easy for social media platforms to keep up as the pandemic has given rise over <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/">ten different conspiracy theories</a>. </p>
<p>One way the public can join the fight against conspiracy theories is to report inappropriate and/or dangerous content on social media platforms and – more importantly – avoid sharing or engaging with them. Meanwhile the mainstream media on public television, newspapers and radio should be doing its part by discussing and dispelling conspiracy theories as they arise.</p>
<p>But social media platforms, citizens and governments need to work together with experts to regain trust and debunk the deluge of fake news and ever evolving theories.</p>
<h2>Mutations</h2>
<p><em>Marc Tuters and Peter Knight</em></p>
<p>The viral conspiracy video, <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-plandemic-and-the-seven-traits-of-conspiratorial-thinking-138483">Plandemic</a> is a key example as it has helped coronavirus conspiracy theories spread even more widely into the mainstream. The video – which briefly went viral on YouTube and Facebook until it was taken down – focused on a discredited virologist who promotes the theory that the coronavirus pandemic was a Big Pharma plot to sell vaccines. Although such conspiracy theories are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fpolitics%2f2019%2f10%2f28%2fits-not-easy-spot-disinformation-twitter-heres-what-we-learned-political-astroturfing-campaigns%2f">less widespread</a> than the torrent of coronavirus misinformation that is being catalogued and debunked by <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=list:factchecknet/coronavirusfacts%20%23coronavirusfacts&src=typed_query&f=live">media watchdog groups</a>, what is particularly concerning is how they are mutating and combining into novel and potentially dangerous forms as different tribes converge and encroach in the mainstream with slick videos involving “real” experts.</p>
<p>With coronavirus, existing 5G conspiracy theories have indeed become supercharged, leading for instance to new protest movements such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/21/germany-braced-for-more-protests-against-coronavirus-polices">the “hygiene protests” in Germany</a>. In these protests, unfamiliar configurations of left and right-wing activists are finding common cause in their shared indignance towards lockdown protocols.</p>
<p>In the past several years Deep State conspiracy theories like <a href="http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1422">Pizzagate</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/qanon-conspiracy-theories-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-are-a-public-health-threat-135515">QAnon</a> first developed within <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330021744_LARPing_Liberal_Tears_Irony_Belief_and_Idiocy_in_the_Deep_Vernacular_Web_Online_Actions_and_Offline_Consequences_in_Europe_and_the_US">reactionary “deep web” communities</a> before spreading into the mainstream, where they were amplified by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fpolitics%2f2019%2f10%2f28%2fits-not-easy-spot-disinformation-twitter-heres-what-we-learned-political-astroturfing-campaigns%2f">disinformation bots</a>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maga-trolls/mike-cernovichs-far-right-conspiracy-theories-bigotry-and-association-white">social media influencers</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/31/the-conspiracy-theory-behind-a-curious-roseanne-barr-tweet-explained/">celebrities</a>, and <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/qanon-supporter-wins-republican-senate-primary-in-oregon.html">politicians</a>. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/">Thriving communities</a> have grown up around these theories, clustered around <a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/abstract-E_DIO_249_0099--remarks-on-conspiracy-entrepreneurs.htm">conspiracy theory entrepreneurs</a>. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ7VgW7XgJQjDEPnOR-Q0Qw">significant</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMVTRzCXvIbdK0Y1ZxD-BlA">number</a> of these figures, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/coronavirus-mike-cernovich/">with some notable exceptions</a>, have pivoted to interpret the coronavirus pandemic through their particular conspiratorial lens. With coronavirus as a common strand connecting these various tribes, the result has been a cross-fertilisation of ideas. Such <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAQiIxXni3h/">hybridised conspiracy theories</a> appear to be popping up across all points of the political spectrum and of the web, in contrast to previous cases when they emerged primarily from the margins and spread to the mainstream. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339851/original/file-20200604-67351-1s50k8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social media platforms are taking actions against fake news.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-02-july-2018-hands-1155245371">Shutterstock/VasinLee</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In comparison with previous outbursts of fake news, social media platforms have responded quite proactively to the abundance of coronavirus-related <a href="https://datasociety.net/pubs/oh/DataAndSociety_LexiconofLies.pdf">problematic information</a>. Google, for example, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dnnjxjFf5dyh58RkgrlDlF4QfuHXkwty/view">curates</a> coronavirus-related search results, meaning that they only return authoritative sources and feature links to those sources where advertisements would usually have appeared.</p>
<p>Platforms have also been much more willing to delete problematic trending content, as with the case of the Plandemic video which <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/07/plandemic-youtube-facebook-vimeo-remove/">YouTube removed within 24 hours</a> – although not before it had reached 2.5 million views. While this kind of banned content inevitably migrates to an “<a href="https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/47402210/Rogers_Deplatforming_EJC_0267323120922066.pdf">alternative social media ecology</a>” of sites like Bitchute and Telegram, their much smaller audience share diminishes the reach of these conspiracy theories as well as undermining the revenue streams of their entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>In an era in which public distrust of institutions and suspicion of elites is one of the contributing factors in the global rise of <a href="https://books.google.nl/books/about/National_Populism.html?id=pFZaDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">national populism</a>, the communication of authoritative knowledge is undoubtedly a challenge for governments. </p>
<p>In this time of enormous uncertainty, capable and honest leadership is one of the only truly effective measures which will help manage the spread of coronavirus misinformation and politicians should be putting party allegiances to one side while confronting the problem. For everyone else this means accepting that short term solutions are unlikely and that people should trust the experts, think before sharing social media content and care for one another. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/lockdown-lessons-from-the-history-of-solitude-134611?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Lockdown lessons from the history of solitude</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-the-world-be-like-after-coronavirus-four-possible-futures-134085?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">What will the world be like after coronavirus? Four possible futures</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-the-world-a-history-of-how-a-silent-cosmos-led-humans-to-fear-the-worst-120193?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The end of the world: a history of how a silent cosmos led humans to fear the worst</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Tuters received funding from the ODYCCEUS Horizon 2020 project, grant agreement number 732942.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Downing, Peter Knight, and Wasim Ahmed do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theories about mobile phone technology have been circulating since the 1990s and the imagined potential of radio waves to remote control a population.Wasim Ahmed, Lecturer in Digital Business, Newcastle UniversityJoseph Downing, LSE Fellow Nationalism, London School of Economics and Political ScienceMarc Tuters, Department of Media & Culture, Faculty of Humanities, University of AmsterdamPeter Knight, Professor of American Studies, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384832020-05-15T18:40:50Z2020-05-15T18:40:50ZCoronavirus, ‘Plandemic’ and the seven traits of conspiratorial thinking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335443/original/file-20200515-138620-zse7ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=741%2C0%2C6797%2C4857&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No matter the details of the plot, conspiracy theories follow common patterns of thought.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-man-with-tin-foil-hat-thinking-while-using-royalty-free-image/1209163064">Ranta Images/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The conspiracy theory video “Plandemic” recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/technology/plandemic-judy-mikovitz-coronavirus-disinformation.html">went viral</a>. Despite being taken down by YouTube and Facebook, it continues to get uploaded and viewed <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-film-attacking-vaccines-has-racked-million-views">millions of times</a>. The video is an interview with conspiracy theorist Judy Mikovits, a <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/12/updated-rare-move-science-without-authors-consent-retracts-paper-tied-mouse-virus">disgraced former</a> <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6057/814">virology researcher</a> who believes the COVID-19 pandemic is based on vast deception, with the purpose of profiting from selling vaccinations.</p>
<p>The video is rife with misinformation and conspiracy theories. Many high-quality fact-checks and debunkings have been published by reputable outlets such as <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/fact-checking-judy-mikovits-controversial-virologist-attacking-anthony-fauci-viral">Science</a>, <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/08/fact-checking-plandemic-documentary-full-false-con/">Politifact</a> and <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/05/the-falsehoods-of-the-plandemic-video/">FactCheck</a>.</p>
<p>As scholars who research how to counter science misinformation and conspiracy theories, we believe there is also value in exposing the rhetorical techniques used in “Plandemic.” As we outline in our <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a> and <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/how-to-spot-covid19-conspiracy-theories/">How to Spot COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories</a>, there are seven distinctive traits of conspiratorial thinking. “Plandemic” offers textbook examples of them all.</p>
<p>Learning these traits can help you spot the red flags of a baseless conspiracy theory and hopefully build up some resistance to being taken in by this kind of thinking. This is an important skill given the current <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-heres-how-to-stop-them-spreading-136564">surge of pandemic-fueled conspiracy theories</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334497/original/file-20200512-82361-1hb74ss.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The seven traits of conspiratorial thinking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Cook</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Contradictory beliefs</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists are so committed to disbelieving an official account, it doesn’t matter if their <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10634516.pdf">belief system is internally contradictory</a>. The “Plandemic” video advances two false origin stories for the coronavirus. It argues that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab in Wuhan – but also argues that everybody already has the coronavirus from previous vaccinations, and wearing masks activates it. Believing both causes is mutually inconsistent.</p>
<h2>2. Overriding suspicion</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists are <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2564659">overwhelmingly suspicious toward the official account</a>. That means any scientific evidence that doesn’t fit into the conspiracy theory must be faked.</p>
<p>But if you think the scientific data is faked, that leads down the rabbit hole of believing that any scientific organization publishing or endorsing research consistent with the “official account” must be in on the conspiracy. For COVID-19, this includes the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, Anthony Fauci… basically, any group or person who actually knows anything about science must be part of the conspiracy.</p>
<h2>3. Nefarious intent</h2>
<p>In a conspiracy theory, the conspirators are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611434786">assumed to have evil motives</a>. In the case of “Plandemic,” there’s no limit to the nefarious intent. The video suggests scientists including Anthony Fauci engineered the COVID-19 pandemic, a plot which involves killing <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">hundreds of thousands of people so far</a> for potentially billions of dollars of profit.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335446/original/file-20200515-138615-16n12qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conspiratorial thinking finds evil intentions at all levels of the presumed conspiracy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dr-anthony-fauci-director-of-the-national-institute-of-news-photo/1211277535">MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Conviction something’s wrong</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists may occasionally abandon specific ideas when they become untenable. But those revisions tend not to change their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-016-1198-6">overall conclusion that “something must be wrong”</a> and that the official account is based on deception.</p>
<p>When “Plandemic” filmmaker Mikki Willis was <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/im-an-investigative-journalist-these-are-the-questions-i-asked-about-the-viral-plandemic-video">asked if he really believed</a> COVID-19 was intentionally started for profit, his response was “I don’t know, to be clear, if it’s an intentional or naturally occurring situation. I have no idea.”</p>
<p>He has no idea. All he knows for sure is something must be wrong: “It’s too fishy.”</p>
<h2>5. Persecuted victim</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists think of themselves as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.443">victims of organized persecution</a>. “Plandemic” further ratchets up the persecuted victimhood by characterizing the entire world population as victims of a vast deception, which is disseminated by the media and even ourselves as unwitting accomplices. </p>
<p>At the same time, conspiracy theorists see themselves as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662510393605">brave heroes taking on the villainous conspirators</a>.</p>
<h2>6. Immunity to evidence</h2>
<p>It’s so hard to change a conspiracy theorist’s mind because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2008.00325.x">their theories are self-sealing</a>. Even absence of evidence for a theory becomes evidence for the theory: The reason there’s no proof of the conspiracy is because the conspirators did such a good job covering it up. </p>
<h2>7. Reinterpreting randomness</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists see patterns everywhere – they’re all about connecting the dots. Random events are reinterpreted as being caused by the conspiracy and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1583">woven into a broader, interconnected pattern</a>. Any connections are imbued with sinister meaning.</p>
<p>For example, the “Plandemic” video suggestively points to the U.S. National Institutes of Health funding that has gone to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. This is <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/05/the-falsehoods-of-the-plandemic-video/">despite the fact</a> that the lab is just one of many international collaborators on a project that sought to examine the risk of future viruses emerging from wildlife.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rban0JGEimE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Learning about common traits of conspiratorial thinking can help you recognize and resist conspiracy theories.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Critical thinking is the antidote</h2>
<p>As we explore in our <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a>, there are a variety of strategies you can use in response to conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>One approach is to inoculate yourself and your social networks by <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/how-to-spot-covid19-conspiracy-theories/">identifying and calling out the traits of conspiratorial thinking</a>. Another approach is to “cognitively empower” people, by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.006">encouraging them to think analytically</a>. The antidote to conspiratorial thinking is critical thinking, which involves healthy skepticism of official accounts while <a href="https://doi.org/10.23811/52.arg2017.lew.llo.bro">carefully considering available evidence</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding and revealing the techniques of conspiracy theorists is key to inoculating yourself and others from being misled, especially when we are most vulnerable: in times of crises and uncertainty.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138483/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sander van der Linden has consulted on fake news for the UK and US government, European Commission, and Google. He receives funding from WhatsApp for research on misinformation. He also receives funding from the Trust and Technology initiative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephan Lewandowsky consults for, and collaborates with, the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the ESRC (via CREST), and the Volkswagen Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ullrich Ecker receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theories about COVID-19, such as those advanced in the video ‘Plandemic,’ tend to pull from the same playbook. Recognizing that can help keep you from falling for this kind of thinking.John Cook, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason UniversitySander van der Linden, Director, Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab, University of CambridgeStephan Lewandowsky, Chair of Cognitive Psychology, University of BristolUllrich Ecker, Associate Professor of Cognitive Science, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1366642020-04-20T11:21:06Z2020-04-20T11:21:06ZWhy are there so many coronavirus conspiracy theories? Listen to part six of our expert guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329062/original/file-20200420-152558-10v9zkl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthcare-workers-dealing-new-coronavirus-crisis-1689412909">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A number of conspiracy theories <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-heres-how-to-stop-them-spreading-136564">have sprung up</a> in relation to the coronavirus pandemic. The false idea that the virus is somehow <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-5g-conspiracy-theories-prosper-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-136019">linked to the rollout of 5G technology</a> has led to a number of attacks on broadband infrastructure and engineers. We explore this and many other strange interpretations of the pandemic in the sixth and final part of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill Podcast</a>. </p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-6-coronavirus?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p>Media expert Marc Tuters talks us through the main coronavirus conspiracy theories that are doing the rounds and how they differ on various social media platforms. He tells us how some started to circulate back in January on the fringe message board website 4chan but others have been more prominent on mainstream sites like Twitter. We also discuss what social media companies are doing to limit the spread of this misinformation – and how effective it can be.</p>
<p>Psychologist Karen Douglas is also on hand to explain why the different coronavirus conspiracy theories gained so much traction, so quickly. She outlines the three main psychological reasons why people find solace in these alternative explanations for what’s going on. And what research tells us about how dangerous these conspiracy theories are for public health and society.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>PODCAST: We explore the strange interpretations of where the coronavirus came from and why people are drawn to them in the final episode of The Anthill’s Expert guide to conspiracy theories.Annabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1365642020-04-20T08:56:38Z2020-04-20T08:56:38ZCoronavirus conspiracy theories are dangerous – here’s how to stop them spreading<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328506/original/file-20200416-192744-1ef5yfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Conspiracy theories increase the likelihood that people won't follow expert advice.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/family-kids-face-mask-shopping-mall-1641857584">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to rise <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries">at an alarming rate</a>, reminding us that this crisis is far from over. In response, the global scientific community has thrown itself at the problem and research is unfolding at an unprecedented rate. </p>
<p>The new virus <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130">was identified</a>, along with its <a href="https://www.govexec.com/technology/2020/04/genomic-study-points-natural-origin-covid-19/164463/">natural origins</a>, and tests for it <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41587-020-00002-2">were rapidly developed</a>. Labs across the world are racing to develop a vaccine, which is estimated to be still <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronavirus-vaccine#when-will-it-be-ready">around 12 to 18 months</a> away. </p>
<p>At the same time, the pandemic has been accompanied by <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation">an infodemic</a> of nonsense, disinformation, half-truths and conspiracy theories that have spread virally through social networks. This damages society in a variety of ways. For example, the myth that COVID-19 is less dangerous than the seasonal flu was deployed by US president Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-fox-news-virtual-town-hall/">as justification for delaying mitigation policies</a>. </p>
<p>The recent downgrading of COVID-19 death projections, which reveal the success of social-distancing policies, has been falsely used to justify <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/09/lesson-revised-death-toll-estimates-shouldnt-be-that-distancing-was-an-overreaction/">premature relaxing</a> of social distancing measures. This is the logical equivalent of <a href="https://crankyuncle.com/critical-thinking-about-covid-19-downgraded-death-toll/">throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm</a> because it’s kept you dry until then.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The new conspiracy theory that blames COVID-19 on the 5G broadband system is one of the most bizarre pieces of misinformation. There are <a href="https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/coronavirus-and-5g-a-case-study-of-platforms-content-moderation-of-conspiracy-theories">several strains of this theory</a>, ranging from the claims that 5G alters people’s immune systems to the idea that 5G changes people’s DNA, making them more susceptible to infection. Then there’s the idea that <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/5g-coronavirus-20-note/">secret messages about 5G and coronavirus</a> were hidden in the design of the new £20 note in the UK. In reality, 5G relates to viruses and bank notes as much as the tooth fairy relates to zoology – not at all.</p>
<p>The 5G conspiracy theory originated in early March when an American physician, Thomas Cowan, proposed it in a YouTube video (which has since been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFN5LUaqxOA">taken down by YouTube</a> according to their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-delete-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-2020-4?r=US&IR=T">new policy</a>). Some people have taken this conspiracy theory so seriously that it led to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52164358">people setting 5G towers in the UK on fire</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/03/broadband-engineers-threatened-due-to-5g-coronavirus-conspiracies">threatening broadband engineers</a>. </p>
<p>The conspiracy theory has begun to penetrate mainstream society. Among other celebrities, UK TV personality <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/13/eamonn-holmes-says-5g-coronavirus-claims-may-not-be-false">Eamonn Holmes</a> and US actor Woody Harrelson have <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/coronavirus-5g-conspiracy-theory-explained">given fuel to the idea</a>.</p>
<h2>Inoculating against conspiracy theories</h2>
<p>As we document in our recent <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a>, there is a great deal of scientific research into why people might be susceptible to conspiracy theories. When people suffer loss of control or feel threatened, it makes them more vulnerable to believing conspiracies. Unfortunately, this means that pandemics have <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/coronavirus/2020/04/why-pandemics-create-conspiracy-theories">always been breeding grounds for conspiracy theories</a>, from antisemitic hysteria during the Black Death to today’s 5G craze.</p>
<p>An effective strategy for preventing conspiracy theories from spreading through social networks is, appropriately enough, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0175799">inoculation</a>. As we document in the <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a>, if we inoculate the public by pre-emptively warning them of misleading misinformation, they develop resilience and are less likely to be negatively influenced. Inoculating messages can take several forms. As well as giving people the right facts, inoculation can also be logic-based and source-based.</p>
<h2>Questioning the sources</h2>
<p>The source-based approach focuses on analysing the people who push the conspiracy theory and the cultural infrastructure from which they emerged.</p>
<p>For example, the 5G theory began with Thomas Cowan, a physician whose <a href="https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/8002/G/86923/681efde9c99ad1775263afbc39c180b8">medical licence is on a five-year probation</a>. He is currently prohibited from providing cancer treatment to patients and supervising physician assistants and advanced practice nurses. So we can question his credentials.</p>
<p>His 5G video was from a talk he presented at a pseudo-scientific <a href="https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/Media-Files/Health---Human-Rights-Summit-Flyer_2.pdf">conference featuring a who’s who of science deniers</a>. One of the headliners was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield">Andrew Wakefield</a>, a debarred former physician and seminal figure in the anti-vaccination movement who promotes highly damaging misinformation about vaccination based on data that he is known to have falsified. </p>
<p>Another attendee of this meeting was the president of <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Doctors_for_Disaster_Preparedness">Doctors for Disaster Preparedness</a>, an organisation famous for bestowing awards onto <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html">fossil-fuel funded climate deniers</a> and for giving a platform to a speaker who <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-01-20/what-kind-of-man-spends-millions-to-elect-ted-cruz-">denied the link between HIV and AIDS</a>, claiming that the link was invented by government scientists who wanted to cover up other health risks of “the lifestyle of homosexual men.”</p>
<p>For the public to be protected against the 5G conspiracy theory, it is important to understand its emergence from the same infrastructure that also supports AIDS denial, anti-vaccination conspiracies and climate denial.</p>
<p>It is therefore unsurprising that the rhetorical techniques that are deployed against the seriousness of climate change <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/04/coronavirus-doubters-follow-climate-denial-playbook/">are similar to those</a> used to mismanage the COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328460/original/file-20200416-192693-non0l1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/04/coronavirus-doubters-follow-climate-denial-playbook/">Yale Climate Connections</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Questioning the logic</h2>
<p>Another way to neutralise conspiracy theories is through logic-based inoculation. This involves explaining the rhetorical techniques and tell-tale traits to be found in misinformation, so that people can flag it before it has a chance to mislead them. In the <a href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a>, we document seven traits of conspiratorial thinking. Spotting these can help people identify a baseless theory.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328459/original/file-20200416-192703-1a72j3a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-theory-handbook/">Conspiracy Theory Handbook</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One trait that is particularly salient in the 5G conspiracy theory is re-interpreting randomness. With this thought pattern, random events are re-interpreted as being causally connected and woven into a broader, interconnected pattern.</p>
<p>For example, the introduction of 5G in 2019 coincided with the origin of COVID-19 and hence is interpreted to be causally related. But by that logic, other factors that were introduced in 2019 – say, <a href="https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a30112938/baby-yoda-meme-gif-explained/">the global phenomenon of Baby Yoda</a> – could also be interpreted as a possible cause of COVID-19. Correlation does not equal causation. The 5G conspiracy theory is also immune to evidence, <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/5g-and-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-came/">despite having been debunked extensively</a>. To illustrate, some of the countries <a href="https://uk.pcmag.com/healthandfitness/125264/no-5g-is-not-causing-coronavirus-or-anything-else">worst affected by the pandemic (such as Iran) do not have any 5G technology</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, 5G has nothing to do with a virus. In the US, T-Mobile’s low-band 5G data is transmitted using <a href="https://uk.pcmag.com/healthandfitness/125264/no-5g-is-not-causing-coronavirus-or-anything-else">old UHF TV channels</a>. UHF TV did not cause coronavirus and neither does 5G.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328462/original/file-20200416-192715-y8yfgx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://crankyuncle.com/">John Cook</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The crucial role of social media platforms</h2>
<p>Social media platforms contribute to the problem of misinformation by providing the means for it to quickly and freely disseminate to the general public. Given that <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jaids/Fulltext/2008/12010/Estimating_the_Lost_Benefits_of_Antiretroviral.10.aspx">330,000 lives were lost</a> in relation to AIDS in South Africa during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, when denying the disease’s link to HIV was official state policy. Given that people in the UK are now vandalizing potentially life-saving communication infrastructure, social media companies should not aid and abet the life-threatening disinformation that is spewed by a nexus of science deniers and conspiracy theorists.</p>
<p>To their credit, these firms are making an effort to be part of the solution to the problem of misinformation. For example, YouTube <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-delete-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-2020-4?r=US&IR=T">has announced that it will take down any video</a> that espouses the 5G conspiracy theory. This is a move in the right direction.</p>
<p>There is considerable room for improvement, however. A recent <a href="https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/coronavirus-and-5g-a-case-study-of-platforms-content-moderation-of-conspiracy-theories">test by the non-profit Disinfo.eu laboratory</a> found much conspiratorial content on various social media platforms, and we were able to find hundreds of YouTube videos promulgating the 5G nonsense with a few keystrokes.</p>
<p>Much remains to be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephan Lewandowsky receives funding from Australian Research Council, Volkswagen Foundation and ESRC (via CREST). He consults for and works with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theories and misinformation about coronavirus damage society in a number of ways.Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair of Cognitive Psychology, University of BristolJohn Cook, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1357252020-04-14T10:57:21Z2020-04-14T10:57:21ZCoronavirus: rumours and remedies from Black Death and other plagues show how little people have changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325820/original/file-20200406-96913-1skiq2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C1255%2C708&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The people of Tournai bury victims of the Black Death.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pierart dou Tielt (c1353)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Black Death swept across Asia and Europe in the 1340s, the upheaval was extraordinary. Up to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/the-plague/">half the population of Europe died</a> over the course of four years, and bubonic plague continued to wrack the globe <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/206309#1">in the centuries that followed</a>. The fear and confusion felt by communities prompted a range of reactions, and forced governments to take drastic measures in a bid to control the disease. </p>
<p>Some responses to the epidemics were pragmatic, others heartbreakingly inhumane. What is striking, though, is that as the globe faces a new pandemic in COVID-19, some of our actions are eerily similar to those of our ancestors.</p>
<p>Since the outbreak of coronavirus, there have been rumours of people intentionally spreading the disease. Some of these reports appear to be true: for example, several people in Britain have been arrested for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52003543">maliciously coughing on others</a>, especially the old and vulnerable. </p>
<p>Confirmed cases like these have given way to other rumours, including that post workers and delivery drivers have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-delivery-worker-appears-spit-package-caught-on-ring-2020-3?r=US&IR=T">intentionally spitting on packages</a> to spread the virus. Many, if not all, have since <a href="https://mothership.sg/2020/03/audio-spit-postmen-fake/">turned out to be fake</a>, but that hasn’t stopped these tales spreading across the world like wildfire. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325793/original/file-20200406-125671-sp5my7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The early modern equivalent to a Hazmat suit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though unnerving, fear of people maliciously spreading disease is not new. During a bout of plague in 16th-century Geneva, a rumour broke out that house-clearers and carers were <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8564956/W.G._Naphy_Plagues_Poisons_and_Potions_Plague-Spreading_Conspiracies_in_the_Western_Alps_1530_1640">trying to spread plague</a> through the city. The method was different to now – and more disturbing. They were thought to be smearing the fat of plague victims over doorknockers and handles, hoping that homeowners would get infected as they entered and left. </p>
<p>There were two theories behind why anyone would do this. Some worried that carers resented putting their lives at risk – others were paranoid that workers were profiteering from the infection, by raiding the victims’ houses after they died.</p>
<h2>Publishing death tolls</h2>
<p>The news cycle has rarely headlined anything but COVID-19 since it was declared a pandemic. A morbid fascination has developed around the rate of infection: Johns Hopkins University is keeping a <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/">tally of global infections</a>, and the BBC has launched an interactive page where people can check <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274">infections in their area</a>. </p>
<p>These are strikingly similar to a popular broadsheet that circulated across England’s capital in 1665. Alongside documenting previous bouts of plague, <a href="https://www.escj.org/article/lord-have-mercy-us-broadsides-and-london-plague-life">Lord Have Mercy</a> broadsheets supplied up-to-date figures of London’s running death toll for the year, and what proportion had died of plague. They sometimes even showed the number of deaths in each parish.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325721/original/file-20200406-79380-1m799l5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Broadsheets were published weekly recording death tolls in London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vanderbilt University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Besides demonstrating an all-absorbing fascination with epidemics, these broadsheets had a practical function. They helped gauge how virulent the outbreak was compared to previous ones, and could also act as a guide on which parts of the city to avoid. The Lord Have Mercies also tried to be helpful (and drive up sales) by publishing home remedies to help protect from the disease: some of which are still doing the rounds today. One iteration offered “A cheap Medicine to keep from infection”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Take a pint of new Milk, and cut two cloves of Garlick very small, put it in the milk, and drink it mornings fasting [(or breakfast], and it preserveth from infection. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similar advice on the immune-boosting properties of garlic is being shared across social media platforms and <a href="https://thetruthersjournal.home.blog/2020/02/17/1575/">health forums</a> as we speak. </p>
<h2>Blaming minorities</h2>
<p>Acute stress can sometimes bring out the worst in humanity. Fear and panic brings pre-existing suspicions and vendettas to the surface, and can eventually boil over in devastating ways. Historically, plague outbreaks marked a spike in persecutions of already vulnerable and marginalised communities. </p>
<p>A frequent rumour across medieval and early modern Europe was that Jewish communities – already shunned in most Christian states – were to blame for plague, prompting <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/jewish/1348-jewsblackdeath.asp">mass arrests and executions</a>. There was no evidence to support this theory – all confessions were given under torture – but scapegoating minorities continued throughout the period. Expelling Jews and other marginalised groups such as beggars and prostitutes from towns became common, making the most vulnerable even more so.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we are seeing history repeat itself during the coronavirus pandemic. There have been reports of racially motivated attacks in the UK and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/cameronwilson/racism-coronavirus-media-chinese-australians">across the world</a>, particularly targeting people with an “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/09/chinese-in-uk-report-shocking-levels-of-racism-after-coronavirus-outbreak">Asian appearance</a>”, due to the origin point of COVID-19 in Hubei province in China. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Everyday heroism</h2>
<p>Despite the panic, some of the best in humanity is shining through, too. Like the <a href="https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/plague">Peak District village</a> which chose to shut itself off from the wider world to stop plague spreading in 1665, an Italian village is now in full quarantine and acting as a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52159316/coronavirus-quarantined-italian-village-turned-into-human-laboratory">human laboratory</a>” for scientists to understand the coronavirus. </p>
<p>In the past, neighbours would drop food through the windows of quarantined houses and many doctors, priests and gravediggers risked their lives to deliver essential services. Today, the same selfless attitude can be seen in the community groups appearing across the world an organising via social media as well as and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52058013">national services</a> working round the clock to save lives. </p>
<p>As history repeats itself through this new pandemic, there are some important lessons we can learn from the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tabitha Stanmore previously received funding from the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Rumours, conspiracy theories, the blame game: sound familiar?Tabitha Stanmore, Honorary Research Fellow, Early Modern Studies, Department of History, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1360702020-04-13T11:42:29Z2020-04-13T11:42:29ZHow dangerous are conspiracy theories? Listen to part five of our expert guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326947/original/file-20200409-165427-2pyuhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/vaccination-children-injection-selective-focus-1066303739">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conspiracy theories might be entertaining but they can also be dangerous. Sadly, what often starts off as a bit of fun can turn sour quite quickly – even if it’s laughing about the idea that Rihanna or Katy Perry are part of the Illuminati. We find out how in our latest episode of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a>, a series from The Conversation’s Anthill podcast.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-5-how-dangerous-are?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p>This episode delves into some of the psychology behind what makes conspiracy theories dangerous. It also explores the relationship between conspiracy theories and the radicalisation of extremists. And we find out the best ways to talk to people who believe in conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>Psychologist Steve Lewandowsky tells us there is a strong link between people who endorse conspiracy theories and reject climate science. What makes this dangerous is the way that conspiracy theories are used by climate change deniers to justify not acting to reduce carbon emissions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When you ask climate change deniers: “Well, if you don’t think this is happening, why do you think all the scientists are agreeing?” Then they will deploy this conspiratorial rhetoric as a way of justifying to themselves why they don’t believe it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Psychologist Daniel Jolley has also found that conspiracy theories that climate change is made up can influence how people respond to the issue. He says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It makes you less likely to want to reduce your carbon footprint because you feel disillusioned. You feel powerless. If it’s all a conspiracy, why would I bother trying to reduce my carbon footprint?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also find out more about the links between conspiracy theories and extremism. Political scientist Eirikur Bergmann tells us how populist politicians use conspiracy theories to their advantage, particularly one called the Great Replacement theory. This is the idea that white people in the west are at threat of invasion and being replaced by non-white immigrants.</p>
<p>Politicians don’t need to believe in a conspiracy theory themselves, or to convince others to fully believe the conspiracy theory they invoke. Bergmann says their main aim is to spread fear – and this is effective in rallying support. The problem is, politicians can’t always control how people interpret their rhetoric. We hear how attacks by white supremacists in Norway, the UK and New Zealand were all committed by people who took a threat of invasion literally. </p>
<p>We also learn how to engage with conspiracy theorists and how difficult it is to convince hardline believers that they are wrong. Psychologist Karen Douglas tells us that it’s easier to inoculate people against believing in conspiracy theories in the first place:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you present people with the scientific correct information before they’re exposed to the conspiracy theory, then that theory doesn’t have as much impact on people’s attitudes. Whereas if you do it the other way around, and you present people with the conspiracy theory and then the correct information, the conspiracy belief tends to stay there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anthropologist Ela Drazkiewicz also shares insights from her research into attitudes toward HPV vaccination in Ireland. She explains how mistrust of the health authorities led to a dramatic 30% fall in vaccination uptake between 2014 and 2017. But she also offers hope, describing how the Irish health service managed to turn this around and restore trust in the vaccine.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>PODCAST: In part five of The Anthill’s expert guide to conspiracy theories we find out the best ways to talk to people who believe in them.Annabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1338912020-04-07T09:40:07Z2020-04-07T09:40:07ZHow conspiracy theories spread online – it’s not just down to algorithms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325066/original/file-20200402-74904-dt9ss9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=667%2C0%2C4282%2C1274&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thumbnails from "Alt-Right" YouTube channels. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/AltRightOpenIntelligenceInitiative">Digital Methods Initiative, 2017</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Debate has grown in recent years over the role that social media algorithms play in spreading conspiracy theories and extreme political content online. YouTube’s recommender algorithm has come under particularly severe scrutiny. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html">number of exposés</a> have detailed how it <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0894439314555329">can take viewers</a> down a radicalisation rabbit hole. </p>
<p>While YouTube has certainly extended the reach of conspiracy theorists, it’s difficult to assess the objective role of algorithms in these radicalisation processes. But my own research has observed the way certain radical communities which congregate at the fringes of the web have managed to essentially manufacture conspiracy theories. These have, in turn, trended on social media. </p>
<p>In 2019, YouTube dramatically cleaned up its platform after coming under <a href="https://gijn.org/2019/10/28/how-they-did-it-exposing-right-wing-radicalization-on-youtube/">pressure from journalists</a>. It removed lucrative ad revenue and deleted entire channels – most notoriously the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExFSpWI0xE">Infowars channel</a> of the US talk-radio host Alex Jones. </p>
<p>While a <a href="https://farid.berkeley.edu/downloads/publications/arxiv20.pdf">recent research paper</a> on this topic noted a corresponding overall decrease in conspiracy theory videos on YouTube, it also observed that the platform continued to recommend conspiratorial videos to viewers who had previously consumed such material. The findings indicate that plenty of potentially objectionable content remains on YouTube. However, they don’t necessarily support the argument that viewers are guided by algorithms down rabbit holes of ever-more conspiratorial content.</p>
<p>By contrast, another <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1912.11211.pdf">recent study</a> of YouTube’s recommender algorithm found that conspiracy channels seemed to gain “zero traffic from recommendations”. While this particular study’s methodology generated <a href="https://twitter.com/random_walker/status/1211262124724510721">some debate</a> <a href="https://medium.com/@anna.zaitsev/response-to-critique-on-our-paper-algorithmic-extremism-examining-youtubes-rabbit-hole-of-8b53611ce903">back</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@anna.zaitsev/response-to-further-critique-on-our-paper-algorithmic-extremism-examining-youtubes-rabbit-hole-af3226896203">forth</a>, the fact is that an accurate understanding of how these social media algorithms work is impossible. Their inner workings are a corporate secret known only to a few – and possibly even to no humans at all because the underlying mechanisms are so complex. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a>, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<h2>Not just cultural dopes</h2>
<p>The presumption that audiences are the passive recipients of media messages – that they are <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Studies_in_Ethnomethodology.html?id=OuwDc3vZ8OoC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">“cultural dopes”</a> easily subject to <a href="https://books.google.nl/books/about/Swift_Viewing.html?id=tCxD8qvjuowC&redir_esc=y">subliminal manipulation</a> – has a long popular history in the field of media and communications studies. It’s an argument that’s often popped up in conservative reactions to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNT4DikDdQw">heavy metal music</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j1dKluNZT8">video game violence</a>. </p>
<p>But by focusing on audiences as active participants rather than passive recipients we arguably gain greater insights into the complex media ecosystem within which conspiracy theories develop and propagate online. Often these move from <a href="https://podtail.com/en/podcast/intellectual-explorers-club/marc-tuters-the-deep-vernacular-web-and-the-great-/">the subcultural fringes of the deep web</a> to a more mainstream audience.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theories are an increasingly important method of <a href="https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/research/state-of-hate-reports/state-of-hate-2020/">indoctrination and extremist radicalisation</a>. At the same time, their adversarial logic also maps onto a populist style of political rhetoric that pits the general will of the people against a corrupt and ageing establishment elite. </p>
<p>A much more extreme version of this dynamic is also characteristic of right-wing anger against the perceived dominance of a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=globalist+elite&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi5yp2v4tXoAhVKlKQKHZjeBaoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=globalist+elite&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAA6BggAEAgQHjoGCAAQBRAeOgQIABAYUNM9WLNCYNBHaABwAHgAgAFEiAGfApIBATWYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=jyiMXvnGHcqokgWYvZfQCg&bih=925&biw=1919&safe=off">“globalist liberal elite”</a>. Such anger galvanised parts of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330021744_LARPing_Liberal_Tears_Irony_Belief_and_Idiocy_in_the_Deep_Vernacular_Web_Online_Actions_and_Offline_Consequences_in_Europe_and_the_US">trolling subculture</a> associated with certain forums, message boards and microblogging social networks, in support of the presidential candidacy of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=god+emperor+trump&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiIzKP74tXoAhWDr6QKHdK_CQcQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=god+emperor&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoECAAQQzoGCAAQBRAeOgYIABAIEB5Q6bYDWODlA2Dh7QNoA3AAeAGAAY0BiAGcCpIBBDE5LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=LimMXoj9OoPfkgXS_6Y4&bih=925&biw=1919&safe=off">Donald Trump</a>. </p>
<p>A common rhetorical technique used on the far-right political discussion forum of the anonymous message board 4chan has been to lump together all manifestations of this liberal, globalist elite into <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444819888746">a singular nebulous “other”</a>. Whether a perfidious individual, a shadowy organisation, or <a href="https://krisis.eu/nl/cultural-marxism/">a suspect way of thinking</a>, this conspiracy is imagined as something which undermines the interests of the ultra-nationalist community. These interests also tend to coincide with those of Trump as well as of the white race in general. </p>
<p>This far-right online community has an established record of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003026433/chapters/10.4324/9781003026433-18">propagating hatred</a>, and it has also produced two extremely bizarre and extremely successful pro-Trump conspiracy theories: Pizzagate and QAnon. </p>
<h2>Pizzagate</h2>
<p>Unlike the black boxes of corporate social media algorithms, 4chan datasets are easily captured and analysed, which has allowed us to study these conspiracy theories in order to identify the processes that brought them about. In both cases these conspiracy theories can be understood as the product of collective labour by amateur researchers congregating within these fringe communities who build up a theory by a process of referencing and citation. </p>
<p>Pizzagate was a bizarre theory connecting the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton to a child sex ring supposedly run out of a pizza parlour in Washington DC. <a href="http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1422">It developed on 4chan</a> in the course of a single day, shortly before the November 2016 US election. What made Pizzagate new and unusual was how it seemed to emerge from the fringes of the web, at a safe distance from Trump’s own campaign. </p>
<p>Algorithms surely did play a part in spreading <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%23Pizzagate&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjC8uiv6dXoAhWP_KQKHU07ADAQ_AUoAXoECGoQAw&biw=1919&bih=925">#Pizzagate</a>. But more crucial to legitimising it was the <a href="https://books.google.nl/books?id=MVRuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA233&dq=The+Propaganda+Pipeline:+Hacking+the+Core+from+the+Periphery&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXzdOt_MvoAhXBjKQKHf13AWQQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Propaganda%20Pipeline%3A%20Hacking%20the%20Core%20from%20the%20Periphery&f=false">way</a> elements of the story filtered through popular social media channels on Twitter and YouTube, including the Infowars channel of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=x_iixejTugc&feature=emb_title">Alex Jones</a></p>
<h2>QAnon</h2>
<p>A year later, at the outset of the investigation by Robert Mueller into alleged Russian collusion in the Trump campaign, a new conspiracy theory <a href="https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/QAnon-ScientometricsofConspiracyCreationTracingConspiracymakingon4Chan">once again emerged from 4chan</a>. It reworked some elements of the Pizzagate narrative and combined it together with <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=deep+state&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbiPLS6tXoAhVQ_qQKHQssBMUQ_AUoAXoECGsQAw&biw=1919&bih=925">“deep state”</a> conspiracy theories. What would in time simply become known as QAnon initially grew from a series of 4chan posts by a supposed government official with “Q level” security clearance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325069/original/file-20200402-74904-1eptolx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Citation network that started the QAnon conspiracy theory on 4chan/pol/</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/QAnon-ScientometricsofConspiracyCreationTracingConspiracymakingon4Chan">Andrea Beneddti</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Often referred to by readers as “breadcrumbs”, these posts tended to simply ask open ended questions – such as “who controls the narrative?” “what is a map?” and “why is this relevant?”. Like medieval scholars engaged in interpretation of metaphysical texts, readers have constructed elaborate <a href="https://www.greatawakeningmap.co/news">illuminated manuscripts</a> and narrative compilations. One of these is currently an Amazon #1 bestseller in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/QAnon-Invitation-Great-Awakening-WWG1WGA-ebook/dp/B07PJZQ8PQ/ref=msx_wsirn_v1_2/140-3063620-6776660?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07PJZQ8PQ&pd_rd_r=138e4ccc-6ae5-42bb-a1b2-196d3242bedf&pd_rd_w=c0bvn&pd_rd_wg=9CZIW&pf_rd_p=3187ad9b-122f-43f5-9fd5-75b35f775d85&pf_rd_r=18VMJTR0VS8SPM7CDB2G&psc=1&refRID=18VMJTR0VS8SPM7CDB2G">the category of “censorship”</a>.</p>
<p>The message here is that by focusing on the role of algorithms in amplifying the reach of conspiracy theories, we should be careful not to fall back on a patronising framework that imagines people as passive relays rather than <a href="https://books.google.nl/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-eTbAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA381&dq=active+audiences+ang&ots=DcTTqcSKPl&sig=eMB1LMzEODXIWbs0wNvaeh5suCE#v=onepage&q=active%20audiences%20ang&f=false">active audiences</a> engaged in their own kind of research which propagates radically alternative interpretations of events. </p>
<p>The theory that social media algorithms lure people into conspiracy theories is difficult to definitively prove. But what’s clear is that a conspiratorial subculture with roots extending into the deep web now increasingly appears just below the surface of average people’s seemingly <a href="http://salhagen.nl/dmi19/normiefication">“normal” media consumption</a>. In the end, the real problem is less one of manipulation by algorithms than of political polarisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author received funding from the ODYCCEUS Horizon 2020 project, grant agreement number 732942.</span></em></p>Researchers have been able to track how radical communities on the fringes of the web essentially manufacture conspiracy theories.Marc Tuters, Department of Media & Culture, Faculty of Humanities, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1355962020-04-06T13:30:30Z2020-04-06T13:30:30ZHow conspiracy theories spread – listen to part four of our expert guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331932/original/file-20200501-42956-1fxeyt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/pop-art-style-comic-book-panel-1176184318">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Part four of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill podcast</a> explores whether the internet has been a game changer in helping conspiracy theories go viral. First, though, we find out how conspiracy theories spread before platforms like Facebook and YouTube came along and gave everyone the power to broadcast their thoughts to the world. </p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-4-how-they-spread?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p>It’s important to differentiate between the producers of conspiracy theories and the consumers, which philosopher Quassim Cassam talked about in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-one-133802">part one of the series</a>. The producers often push a political ideology. They are also very good at dressing up their theories in academic language. This can make it difficult for the non-expert to recognise a conspiracy theory as bogus and is important for their initial spread.</p>
<p>But what makes these ideas really take hold is the people that buy into them – the consumers. Annika Rabo, an anthropologist from Stockholm University in Sweden, tells us how people enjoy spreading conspiracy theories because it can make them seem funny or clever. Most people don’t just spout a conspiracy theory as they hear it, they will often adapt it to their situation – and their audience.</p>
<p>Michael Butter, American studies scholar at the University of Tübingen in Germany, gives us some insight into the history of how conspiracy theories spread in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some were preached from pulpits and incited riots. Then, advances in printing technology made it easier for conspiracy theories to spread. Publishers made money selling fanciful stories – some that were openly fictional, others that were fake exposés. Butter says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Very much like today, [conspiracy theories] were definitely also driven by financial incentives because [the perpetrators] made a lot of money then from books and from speaking engagements off the back of them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also delve into the world of conspiracy theories as entertainment. Clare Birchall, reader in contemporary culture at King’s College London, talks us through literature in the 1960s, 70s and 80s that engages with conspiracy theories in a playful way and uses them as a device to tell stories. We find out how The X-Files did something similar in the 1990s.</p>
<p>The internet has changed the game for communication in terms of how quickly information travels and how it gives everyone a platform to broadcast their views. But Stef Aupers, professor of media culture at the University of Leuven in Belgium, explains that this doesn’t necessarily mean conspiracy theories reach more people. In large part, this is because most people end up in echo chambers online:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Spaces like 4chan and 8chan, where people develop alternative ideas in the fringes, are potentially creating communities where people are just confirming to one another what they already believe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So the internet makes it easier for conspiracy theorists to connect and these echo chambers help solidify their views. Some conspiracy theories give rise to stronger communities than others. Aupers says that the more social and political the issue, the more likely it will spill out of an online forum into real life.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: This podcast refers to the 2019 mass shooting targeting Mexicans in El Paso, Texas as happening in El Paso, New Mexico.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>PODCAST: How the internet has and hasn’t changed the game for the spread of conspiracy theories.Annabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1354752020-04-06T11:47:42Z2020-04-06T11:47:42ZWhy pandemics are the perfect environment for conspiracy theories to flourish<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325321/original/file-20200403-74243-kcyh93.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coronavirus-sick-man-corona-virus-looking-1669051054">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A bioengineered virus, a genetic mutation induced by 5G technology, a big pharma conspiracy, a plot single-handedly masterminded by Bill Gates or Georges Soros. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, conspiracy theories <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-breeding-ground-for-conspiracy-theories-heres-why-thats-a-serious-problem-132489">have spread like the virus itself</a>.</p>
<p>The whiff of conspiracy that inevitably seems to trail pandemics is nothing new. When the 1918 flu pandemic hit the Americas, it was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/23/spanish-flu-chinese-virus-trump/">blamed on German submarines spreading the virus</a>. During the 1630 plague in Milan, the combination of folk superstitions and widespread anxiety led to the trial, torture and execution of two citizens falsely accused of spreading the pestilence – a case minutely examined by the Italian novelist <a href="http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_8/t229.pdf">Alessandro Manzoni</a>. </p>
<p>In his work on witchcraft, Carlo Ginzburg tells of <a href="https://www.adelphi.it/libro/9788845932168">persecutions against lepers and Jews in 14th century France</a>. According to some chronicles, rumour had it that the Jews, acting on behalf of the Muslim prince of Grenada, had bribed the lepers so they would contaminate public fountains and wells in order to kill the Christians. Clearly, contemporary tales of viral bioweapons build upon a very old theme.</p>
<p>Like conspiracy theories, pandemics are about an invisible and powerful enemy hiding among us. Like pandemics, conspiracy theories are contagious or, as we say today, “viral”. But beyond these superficial similarities, they are connected by deeper affinities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325323/original/file-20200403-74243-1pzsk0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The great plague of Milan in 1630 spawned talk of conspiracy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/f24fumfe">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Apocalypse now</h2>
<p>Pandemics are surrounded by a sense of impending apocalypse. Throughout history, they have been understood as final tribulations, a sign of the end time. In 1523, during a plague outbreak, while the richest inhabitants of Florence had scrambled for their countryside villas, those who had remained in the city were barricaded in their homes and trying to make sense of their predicament. </p>
<p>Florentine statesman Niccolò Machiavelli, who witnessed the episode first hand, <a href="http://www.storiaeletteratura.it/catalogo/epistola-della-peste/8530">observed</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many are looking for the cause behind this affliction, some say the predictions of the astrologists threaten us, others that the prophets had predicted it; there are those who remember some prodigy … so that everyone concludes that not only the plague, but an infinite number of other calamities are to befall us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Today, only religious fundamentalists interpret the coronavirus pandemic as an omen of the final judgement or end times. Yet, apocalyptic thinking does not necessarily have to be religious or to countenance the end of earthly existence. </p>
<p>Italian anthropologist Ernesto de Martino proposed the idea of “<a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_ASSR_161_0127--apocalyptic-issues-in-italian.htm">cultural apocalypses</a>” to designate the sense that a specific historical world is ending. For de Martino and his contemporaries in the mid-20th century, this manifested itself in the sense of existential crisis permeating post-war culture and in the actual possibility of atomic annihilation, but he intended the notion to apply to a wide range of historical situations. </p>
<p>We are living through such a cultural apocalypse today, as it becomes increasingly clear that the world as we know it is fast becoming a thing of the past and that whatever lies ahead will be utterly different. We have become the quarantined spectators of an unfolding catastrophe that underscores the frailty of the world we took for granted and of our own presence in it. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a>, a series by The Conversation’s Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>When paranoia prevails</h2>
<p>The impression that the world is dissolving and our impotence to stop this can make us feel a paralysing anxiety, incompatible with any productive form of social and cultural life. For de Martino, ancient mythologies, religions and even progressive secular cultures have contained this risk by emphasising a future around which a community could exist.</p>
<p>Without this, the apocalyptic experience becomes totally alienating. When all the certainties grounding our existence are shaken, it is easy to feel paranoid. Or, <a href="https://www.einaudi.it/catalogo-libri/antropologia-e-religione/antropologia/la-fine-del-mondo-ernesto-de-martino-9788806143565/">as de Martino put it</a>, to sense hostile forces and feel victim of “conspiracies, machinations, curses”. Conspiracy theories and paranoid visions are the flipside of a cultural crisis in which the idea of a shared future has collapsed.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bollatiboringhieri.it/libri/ernesto-de-martino-il-mondo-magico-9788833917771/">an earlier work</a>, de Martino observed that extreme situations of “suffering and deprivation” could trigger such existential crises. He mentioned wars, but he might as well have added pandemics. Self-isolation and quarantine epitomise the idea of being removed from the world and any sense of community. In these conditions it is easy to succumb to paranoia, especially if it is stirred up by cynical and reactionary politicians. </p>
<p>Unlike religious ideas of apocalypse, the secular version of conspiracy theories offers no element of redemption. Conspiracy theories perpetuate the paranoid sense of disaffection and powerlessness – the idea that evil forces are at work, which one has little power to stop. They further isolate people and deprive them of feeling that they can shape their own world, let alone make it a better one. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3075-nine-lives-of-neoliberalism">political culture of the past 50 years</a> has failed to offer the vast majority of people a sense of their own worthiness and to protect them against the existential risk of losing their livelihoods – indeed, their world. The current pandemic pushes us into the terminal phase of this crisis. The only way out consists of turning apocalyptic ideas on their head and ensuring that the end we are witnessing will not be an endless agony but a new beginning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolas Guilhot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Like conspiracy theories, pandemics are about an invisible and powerful enemy hiding among us.Nicolas Guilhot, Senior Research Associate, CNRS and Visiting Professor, City College of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1346352020-03-31T12:10:02Z2020-03-31T12:10:02ZSimonini’s letter: the 19th century text that influenced antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Illuminati<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323987/original/file-20200330-146724-eglgej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C14%2C875%2C513&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How a conspiracy theory about the origins of the French Revolution became steeped in antisemitism. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Octobre_1793%2C_supplice_de_9_%C3%A9migr%C3%A9s.jpg">Nine émigrés executed by guillotine, from La Guillotine in 1793 by H. Fleischmann/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A French Catholic priest called Augustin Barruel is generally regarded as one of history’s most famous conspiracy theorists. His multi-volume 1797 book, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tD8EQB61TFkC&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism</a>, about an alleged conspiracy that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution, has been reprinted many times and translated into several languages. </p>
<p>Not long after the publication of his work, Barruel was sent a letter by a man called Jean Baptiste Simonini, who alleged that the Jews were also part of the conspiracy. This letter – the original of which has never been found – continues to shape antisemitic conspiracy thinking to this day.</p>
<p>Even before the revolution, Barruel had become famous in France as a conservative writer and journalist. The trainee Jesuit priest strongly opposed the new philosophy of the time – the convictions of Diderot, d'Alembert or even Voltaire – which he regarded as radical. </p>
<p>In his book, Barruel’s conspiracy theory had three component parts. First, he assumed that radical philosophers in Voltaire’s circle had stirred up society. Second, he complained about the multitude of Freemasons in France. Third, he introduced the Illuminati. </p>
<p>The Illuminati <a href="https://www.lewismasonic.co.uk/the-secret-school-of-wisdom-the-authentic-rituals-and-doctrine-of-the-illuminati.htm">was a real secret group, founded</a> in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt in 1776. Around the time of the Illuminati’s discovery in 1784, a conspiracy theory was stirred up by its staunch enemies accusing the group of wanting to overthrow all thrones and altars and to completely transform society. Even though the Illuminati was eventually disbanded before the outbreak of the French Revolution, many conspiracy theorists believed that its ideas, which were considered radical, had been carried to France by an important member.</p>
<p>For Barruel these three connected conspiracies ultimately led to the rise of the the Jacobins – the most influential political club during the French Revolution. </p>
<p>European conspiracy theories until this point had <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429452734/chapters/10.4324/9780429452734-3_8">long presented Jews</a> as evil and disruptive figures. However, Jews played no role in the conspiracy theory Barruel set out in his book. But then he was sent the letter from Simonini. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>The Simonini letter</h2>
<p>Barruel <a href="https://books.google.at/books?id=8DjSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT864&lpg=PT864&dq=le+contemporain+1878+simonini&source=bl&ots=TDUl255se7&sig=ACfU3U3efkutXlTd5FKOYqlj9QakHPylGQ&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5sI_L3b_oAhXCpIsKHd_EDfMQ6AEwAHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=le%20contemporain%201878%20simonini&f=false">received</a> a letter from the unknown Jean Baptiste Simonini from Florence on 20 August 1806, written on August 1.</p>
<p>Very little is known about Simonini, but he was not an invention or imagination of Barruel. He <a href="https://www.torrossa.com/en/catalog/preview/2949209">held the rank of captain</a> in the Piedmontese army and from 1815 lived in Lilianes in the Aosta Valley. </p>
<p>In his letter, Simonini first congratulated Barruel on his book, but alleged that behind the Freemasons and Illuminati were the Jews. Simonini wrote that he realised this must seem like an exaggeration to Barruel, and so he tried to convince him of his theory by recounting his personal experience. In fact, in Piedmont, Simonini told Barruel, Jews had initiated him into their plans. It’s important to stress here that this is all a conspiracy theory.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323983/original/file-20200330-146671-1x9pv5i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Augustin Barruel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augustin_Barruel_par_Auguste_Pidoux.png">Auguste Pidoux, after Desrosiers via Wikimedia.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Barruel was irritated because he hadn’t come across this connection himself. He tried to verify the authenticity of the letter by writing to various personalities, including important bishops. After being told that Simonini could be trusted, Barruel began to study the Jewish history of his conspiracy theory intensely. </p>
<p>In the Jesuit archives in Vanves, just outside Paris, for example, I’ve <a href="https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-21394">seen a copy of his book</a> accompanied by notes written by him after 1806. At various points in these notes, Barruel wrote Simonini’s name over a passage about Jews and remarked that it was probably Jews who were pulling the strings. </p>
<p>But Barruel didn’t choose to regard Jews as the main conspirators. He sent Simonini’s letter to some of his Jesuit friends and wrote his opinion of the great conspiracy as a postscript underneath. A variant of such a letter was <a href="https://books.google.at/books?id=8DjSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT864&lpg=PT864&dq=le+contemporain+1878+simonini&source=bl&ots=TDUl255se7&sig=ACfU3U3efkutXlTd5FKOYqlj9QakHPylGQ&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5sI_L3b_oAhXCpIsKHd_EDfMQ6AEwAHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=le%20contemporain%201878%20simonini&f=false">written shortly before his death</a> in 1820. In it, Barruel made clear that he was now much more convinced that a Freemason conspiracy started the revolution, and that although many Jews were Freemasons, they alone were not to blame for the conspiracy. He wrote that he wanted to prevent a massacre against Jews. </p>
<h2>Feeding into antisemitism</h2>
<p>But it was too late – copies of Simonini’s letter were already circulating secretly within conservative elites at the beginning of the 19th century and causing damage. It was the letter’s first publication in 1878 in a conservative magazine called <a href="https://books.google.at/books?id=ZUol2E5h3awC&pg=PA54&dq=le+contemporain+barruel&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZwOWX37_oAhUFHHcKHRxQAaAQ6AEIQjAD#v=onepage&q=le%20contemporain%20barruel&f=false">Le Contemporain</a> that led it being quoted in various antisemitic conspiracy theory texts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-how-the-origins-of-historys-oldest-hatred-still-hold-sway-today-87878">Antisemitism: how the origins of history’s oldest hatred still hold sway today</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Today, Simonini’s letter is regarded as an influence in the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake transcript of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders plotting world domination. This widely read <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/new-german-critique/article-abstract/35/1%20(103)/83/33011/The-Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion-Between?redirectedFrom=fulltext">conspiracy theory</a> was first published in Russian in 1903. </p>
<p>Even though Simonini’s letter and the publication of the Protocols were ultimately a century apart, the conspiracy theory formed in 1806 was the starting point of a renewed debate about the role of Jews in European society. The conspiracy theories that emerged as part of this debate in the 19th and 20th centuries led to modern antisemitism and all its disastrous consequences.</p>
<h2>Questions of origin</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.torrossa.com/en/catalog/preview/2949209">researchers believe</a> that Simonini’s letter could well be an invention from the 1870s – a time when antisemitism was rising in Europe and when it first appeared publicly in Le Contemporain.</p>
<p>Others assume that Barruel could have written the letter himself. Yet <a href="https://www.torrossa.com/en/catalog/preview/2949209">others believe</a> that Simonini’s letter was fabricated by the French police and sent to Barruel owing to his prominence.</p>
<p>My own research has documented how various copies of the letter from the early 1800s have been <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Routledge_Handbook_of_Conspiracy_Theorie.html?id=8DjSDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">discovered</a> in Western and Eastern European archives in recent years. This means that the letter is certainly not a product of the 1870s. Nor is it conceivable, based on Barruel’s comments, that he invented it himself. </p>
<p>The problem is that the original copy of the Simonini letter has never been found. It’s believed to be somewhere in the Vatican Apostolic Archive – but so far this has not been verified.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claus Oberhauser received funding from the FWF (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung)</span></em></p>The dangerous legacy of a letter received by Augustin Barruel, a French Catholic priest and famous conspiracy theorist, in the early 1800s.Claus Oberhauser, Professor of History Didactics, University College of Teacher Education TyrolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1343052020-03-30T11:20:07Z2020-03-30T11:20:07ZA short history of conspiracy theories – listen to part three of our expert guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322033/original/file-20200320-22606-1hg1l5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/allseeing-eye-on-one-dollar-new-442353652">By Nosyrevy / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How are the origins of the French Revolution connected with Beyoncé, Jay Z and Rihanna? The answer lies with one of the world’s most mysterious – and misunderstood – secret societies, the Illuminati. </p>
<p>The strange evolution of the conspiracy theory surrounding this short-lived secret society, mirrors the modern history of conspiracy theories. We find out how in part three of our podcast series.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-3-their-history?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p>The Illuminati was a real secret society of intellectual elites in the late 18th century. Michael Butter, professor of American literary and cultural history at the University of Tübingen in Germany, tells us their goal was to promote Enlightenment thinking – ideas such as rational thought and the separation of church and state.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Their goal was to transform society. Not violently by causing a revolution. But by educating people. By planting ideas in the minds of people over a very, very long period of time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The society only lasted a few years before being forced to disband by the conservative authorities of the tine. But conspiracy theorists say the Illuminati never really disappeared. </p>
<p>They were accused of orchestrating the French Revolution, which started in 1789. Andreas Önnerfors, associate professor of intellectual history at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, says it was such a violent revolution and caused so much upheaval across Europe that people looked for someone to blame.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Within a couple of years, you were going from an absolutist monarchy that is underpinned by Catholicism as a state ideology to a secular republic where religion is completely wiped out as the foundation of statehood. So it is a radical change.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Önnerfors explains how the Illuminati conspiracy theory emerged as part of a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315745916/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315745916-20">conservative backlash against the revolution</a>. Politicians in Britain were afraid the upheaval would spread across the Channel and there were people in France who wanted to turn the clock back on the revolution. They started pushing the idea that there were nefarious forces at work behind the scenes and blamed the Illuminati for masterminding the whole outcome of the revolution.</p>
<p>We find out how the Illuminati became the bogeyman for dark forces at work in the world. Then, how the conspiracy theory dramatically morphed in the 20th century. </p>
<p>First, following the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake transcript of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders plotting world domination. The document was quickly proven to be a piece of fiction but nonetheless became a powerful piece of political propaganda. Grouping Jews together with the pre-existing ideas of the Illuminati made for a toxic mix.</p>
<p>Then, after the second world war, we discover how the Illuminati conspiracy theory was picked up by conservatives in the US and played a part in fuelling anti-communist witch hunts. And researcher Lindsay Porter explains how things <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/979274.Who_Are_the_Illuminati_">took a weird turn in the 1960s</a> when elements of the counterculture began to parody the conspiracy theory. </p>
<p>Two Playboy editors published an 800-page work of fiction called The Illuminatus! Trilogy. It accused everyone they could think of – including Martian invaders – of being part of the Illuminati. But instead of killing the conspiracy theory, people started quoting the book as if it was a real exposé.</p>
<p>Finally, we reach the present day and find out how various pop stars are now accused of being part of this secret society that rules the world. In many ways it’s highly entertaining. As Porter tell us, however, it also has dark undertones, often incorporating sexism and racism.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>We explore the birth of modern-day conspiracy theories.Annabel Bligh, Co-host, The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1338542020-03-23T16:12:54Z2020-03-23T16:12:54ZHow a gender conspiracy theory is spreading around the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322319/original/file-20200323-112672-19iti5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pride parade in London 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anemoneprojectors/35819619055/">Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gender identity cannot be fluid, according to the Catholic church. Its first <a href="https://zenit.org/articles/new-vatican-document-provides-schools-with-guidance-on-gender-issues/">extensive document</a> on so-called “gender ideology”, published in June 2019, stated that there are only two genders which are constituted biologically and cannot be “individually chosen”. It also warned that flexible ideas about gender may pose a threat to traditional Catholic values.</p>
<p>Even though many Catholics <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/world/europe/vatican-francis-gender-identity-sexuality.html">were concerned</a> about the document’s potential to promote transphobia and homophobia, it resonated with many people’s fears of what we can call a gender conspiracy. This is a broader conviction that gender theory and gender studies represent an ideology that is a threat to society – an idea that is becoming increasingly widespread around the world.</p>
<p>Our new research gives insights into this conspiracy theory and how it relates to religion. It is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2019.1586637?journalCode=vsoc20">based on a survey from Poland</a>, where there’s plenty of support for the conspiracy theory and the Roman Catholic church holds a strong position. Right now, there’s even a debate about whether the coronavirus pandemic <a href="https://rzeszow.wyborcza.pl/rzeszow/7,34962,25796873,koronawirus-to-kara-za-gender-i-lgbt-pyta-fanow-profil-miasto.html?disableRedirects=true">is a punishment for gender theory</a>.</p>
<p>People who believe in the gender conspiracy theory think that a gender ideology is a secret plot by powerful people to hurt their in-group – for example, the Catholic church. This is in fact how most conspiracy theories work. In line with this reasoning, academics and activists who emphasise that gender is not only a biological phenomenon, but also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/14/the-pansexual-revolution-how-sexual-fluidity-became-mainstream">a psychological one</a>, are seen as enemies of human nature.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em> </p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-2?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p>Together with feminists and the broader LGBTQ movement, they are perceived as strategically and purposefully <a href="https://qz.com/807743/conservatives-have-created-a-fake-ideology-to-combat-the-global-movement-for-lgbti-rights/">seeking to deny the importance</a> of the traditional differentiation of men and women. This alleged denial has been blamed for triggering conflict between the sexes. Proponents of the conspiracy theory also believe that it is <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/20/how-americas-woman-dominant-sexual-dynamic-is-destroying-marriages-and-families/">destroying the family unit</a>, which is one of the most important values for Catholics.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322321/original/file-20200323-112700-1nm7cjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dariusz Oko.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While researchers aren’t entirely sure where and how this conspiracy theory started, the view has now spread around the world. <a href="https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/cm-exclusive-fr.-dariusz-oko-on-the-homoheresy">Dariusz Oko</a> — a Catholic priest and a professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Poland — has presented some of the most extreme opinions on the matter. According to him, “genderists <a href="http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2013/01_02/2013_02_18_RorateCaeli_FrDariusz.htm">like to act secretly</a>, in silence, like a mafia. They want to do their revolution top-down, by taking the centres of power and the media. They prey on citizens’ ignorance to bypass democratic procedures and forcefully impose their ideologies”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/25/freedom-party-austria-poll-hope">Barbara Rosenkranz</a>, an Austrian politician, has also expressed conspiratorial claims about gender. She has warned against a totalitarian conspiracy of gender activists that allegedly aim to create a new type of human being – “a genderless person”. She has argued such plans are pursued secretly by an “elite” <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306319323_Review_of_Barbara_Rosenkranz_MenschInnen_Graz_Ares_Verlag_2008">blinded by ideology</a>, ignorant of the laws of nature and tradition.</p>
<p>Similar views were voiced by Michel Schooyans, a Belgian priest in his 2001 book entitled <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7454">The Hidden Face of the United Nation</a>. They have <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-anti-gay-marriage-tea-party-french-style">also been backed</a> by representatives of the <a href="https://humanistfederation.eu/radical-religious-lobbies/la-manif-pour-tous/">La Manif Pour Tous</a> movement in France, which claims to defend the “traditional family”. </p>
<p>All of these authors, activists and religious officials seem to put forward similar messages, which are typical for conspiracy theories in general. One is to warn people of the threats posed by gender theory, which allegedly aims to secretly destroy the Catholic church. The other is that <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/polish-archbishop-apologizes-for-comment-he-made-about-pedophilia-by-priests">they promote actions</a> to stop the conspiring enemies from executing their nefarious plan, such as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-sexeducation/poland-plans-bill-to-criminalize-promoting-underage-sex-idUSKBN1WV1IW">banning sex education</a> in schools.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/gayropa-challenges-and-hopes-of-europes-lgbt-refugees-in-pictures">idea of “Gayropa</a>,” used in Russia pejoratively to refer to Western ideas about gender and Russia’s special role in resisting them, comes with similar messages.</p>
<h2>Religion v threat</h2>
<p>Poland is a country where political parties often warn voters of gender ideology. It is no wonder that the gender conspiracy theory has really taken hold there. And it is having real effects. Recently, “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/poland-lgbt-free-zones-homophobia-hate-speech-law-justice-party-a9013551.html">LGBT ideology-free zones”</a> were declared by local governments in certain areas of Poland. While this is symbolic rather than enforceable, it illustrates just how dangerous such ideas can be.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322322/original/file-20200323-112688-1q17luy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">LGBT free zones in Poland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our project, we conducted a survey with a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 people. We found that around 30% of Polish Catholics believed in a gender conspiracy. This was defined as a secret plan to destroy Christian tradition partly by taking control over public media.</p>
<p>We also found that these beliefs were not related to the mere strength of one’s religiosity. Rather, they were stronger among those Catholics who believed that their religious group <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2019.1586637?journalCode=vsoc20">was deserving of special treatment</a>, being chronically undermined by different groups. This suggests that gender conspiracy beliefs are not a necessary consequence of strong religious devotion. Rather, they are more likely to flourish when one’s religion is portrayed as being under threat.</p>
<p>We also found that “gender conspiracy beliefs” were linked to keeping a social distance from gay people, and harbouring hostile intentions towards them. For example, we found that 70% of the participants who believed in a gender conspiracy theory would not accept a gay family member.</p>
<p>Overall, the results of our project suggest that portraying gender studies and gender activists as a part of a conspiracy theory can have serious consequences – leading to hostility towards those who do not conform to traditional gender roles. This hostility even extends to those who simply take scientific interest in issues of gender. </p>
<p>So given that conspiracy theories can be so damaging, how do you stop them from spreading? Sadly, this has turned out to be incredibly difficult to figure out, as they are very <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-and-how-to-change-their-minds-82514">hard to debunk efficiently</a>. But we are hoping that the better we understand the details of what makes people believe in conspiracy theories, the better we will get at stopping their spread.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Click here to <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">read more articles</a> tied to our Expert guide to conspiracy theories.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One in three Polish people believe in a ‘gender conspiracy’, according to new reserach.Marta Marchlewska, Adjunct assistant professor, Head of the Political Cognition Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of SciencesAleksandra Cichocka, Senior Lecturer in Political Psychology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1341702020-03-23T12:44:23Z2020-03-23T12:44:23ZWho believes in conspiracy theories and why? Listen to part two of our expert guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321650/original/file-20200319-22636-17rmtaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/denver-august-26-conspiracy-theorists-911-16617376">Frontpage / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/23/study-shows-60-of-britons-believe-in-conspiracy-theories">Polls</a> <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2018/11/22/almost-60-percent-of-americans-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-about-jfk-heres-why-that-might-be-a-problem/">show</a> that most people believe in at least one conspiracy theory. Considering the number of conspiracy theories there are, perhaps this isn’t surprising. But research shows that people who believe in one conspiracy theory are more likely to believe in others. </p>
<p>Part two of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">Expert guide to conspiracy theories</a>, a series from The Conversation’s Anthill podcast, discovers who these people are. We find out what psychological factors influence whether you believe in conspiracy theories or not. And how things like the time and place in which you live, who your friends are and who holds political power makes you more open to certain conspiracy theories. </p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-2?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p>Jan-Willem van Prooijen, associate professor of psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, explains his theory that humans are hardwired to believe in conspiracy theories. He says the circumstances of hunter gatherer life meant that our ancestors adapted to be overly suspicious:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We think that there is an evolved basis for the human tendency to easily distrust other groups, which I think is at the heart of conspiracy thinking. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Times have changed but humans are stuck with this hangover from hunter gatherer times that we sometimes struggle to shake. We speak to psychologists Karen Douglas and Aleksandra Cichocka at the University of Kent in the UK to find out why certain people today are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than others. </p>
<p>We find out how political beliefs influence whether or not people believe in conspiracy theories. Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist at the University of Miami in the US, talks us through his theory that people who vote for the losing side in an election are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than those on the winning side. Uscinski studied every US election since 1890:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We looked over time to see who was accusing who of conspiring. And what we saw was that as the presidency shifted back and forth between Republican and Democrat, the conspiracy theorists did too. So whoever was in the White House, their side received the brunt of the accusations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For a slightly different perspective on who believes in conspiracy theories, we talk to anthropologist Annika Rabo from Stockholm University in Sweden. She did fieldwork for many years in Syria and tells us how talk about conspiracies permeates society – it’s unavoidable. There are all sorts of conspiracy theories and they relate to the US, to Israel but also their own government. </p>
<p>Jovan Byford, a social psychologist at the Open University, explains why it’s important to understand the historical context in which certain conspiracy theories emerge and flourish. He points out that the status conspiracy theories are given in society influences how popular they are. And why we need to recognise that not everyone engages with them in the same way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some do it in a fun way. Some don’t take it particularly seriously. Others consider them to be an explanation to which they don’t subscribe, but nevertheless, as one that other people legitimately believe in, and so on.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>We find out what psychological factors influence whether you believe in conspiracy theories or not.Annabel Bligh, Co-host, The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321172020-03-16T15:24:45Z2020-03-16T15:24:45ZThere’s a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term ‘conspiracy theory’ – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320154/original/file-20200312-111300-1l7bg40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/united-states-capitol-building-silhouette-us-113389501">Orhan Cam / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conspiracy theories have a long history, but the actual term “conspiracy theory” emerged much more recently. It was only a few decades ago that the term took on the derogatory connotations it has today, where to call someone a conspiracy theorist <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Conspiracy-Culture-From-Kennedy-to-The-X-Files-1st-Edition/Knight-Knight/p/book/9780415189781">functions as an insult</a>. </p>
<p>So it may come as no surprise that there is even a conspiracy theory about the origins of the label. This conspiracy theory claims that the CIA invented the term in 1967 to disqualify those who questioned the official version of John F Kennedy’s assassination and doubted that his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, had acted alone.</p>
<p>There are even <a href="https://www.coreysdigs.com/c-i-a-3-letter-agencies/cia-coined-weaponized-the-label-conspiracy-theory/">two versions</a> of this conspiracy theory. The more extreme version claims that the CIA literally invented the term in the sense that the words “conspiracy” and “theory” had never been used before in combination. A more moderate version acknowledges that the term existed before, but claims that the CIA intentionally created its negative connotations and so turned the label into a tool of political propaganda.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The more moderate version has been particularly popular in recent years for two reasons. First, it is very easy to disprove the more extreme claim that the CIA actually invented the term. As a search <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=conspiracy+theory&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cconspiracy%20theory%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cconspiracy%20theory%3B%2Cc0">on Google Books</a> quickly reveals, the term “conspiracy theory” emerged around 1870 and began to be more frequently used during the 1950s. Even die-hard conspiracy theorists have a hard time trying to ignore this. Second, the more moderate version received a big boost in popularity a few years ago when American political scientist Lance DeHaven-Smith propagated it in <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/dehcon">a book published</a> by a renowned university press.</p>
<h2>Smoking gun</h2>
<p>Although they make differing claims about the origin and development of the term, the proponents of both versions invariably point to an official CIA document called <a href="http://www.jfklancer.com/CIA.html">Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report</a> as their smoking gun. It was released in 1976 after The New York Times requested it under the Freedom of Information Act. </p>
<p>The document expresses concern about the considerable number of people who doubted the official investigation into Kennedy’s murder, the Warren Commission, which found that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. It also aims to equip CIA contacts with arguments against those who challenge the findings and the official version of the event. For example, it emphasises that nobody in their right mind would have chosen someone as unstable as Oswald as a pawn in a larger plot. And it points out the <a href="http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/conspiracytheories.html">logical fallacies of these alternative accounts</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320157/original/file-20200312-111277-gsmqrn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The CIA document.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/cia/russholmes/104-10406/104-10406-10110/html/104-10406-10110_0002a.htm">History Matters Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One may find the CIA’s attempt to influence public opinion problematic. But there is not a single sentence in the document that indicates the CIA intended to weaponise, let alone introduce the term “conspiracy theory” to disqualify criticism. In fact, “conspiracy theory” in the singular is never used in the document. “Conspiracy theories” in the plural is only used once, matter-of-factly in the third paragraph:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organisation, for example, by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The authors of the document deploy the term in a very casual manner and obviously do not feel the need to define it. This indicates that it was not a new term but already widely used at the time to describe alternative accounts. At no time do the authors recommend using the label “conspiracy theory” to stigmatise alternative explanations of Kennedy’s assassination. This suggests that the term had not yet acquired the same level of negativity it possesses today.</p>
<h2>Why people believe it</h2>
<p>The far more interesting issue, for me, is why this conspiracy theory emerged and why so many people believe in it. No scholar has yet fully charted the course of this particular theory, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it emerged. But it is safe to assume that it was during the 1980s or 1990s based on <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/nope-it-was-always-already-wrong/?%2Fspecialarticles%2Fshow%2Fnope-it-was-always-already-wrong%2F">cursory investigations</a>. </p>
<p>It was only in the 1980s that the term “conspiracy theory” began to really have the negative connotations <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/conspiracy-theories-and-the-people-who-believe-them-9780190844080?cc=de&lang=en&#">we associate with it today</a>. So the conspiracy theory about the term’s origins was likely a reaction to this growing negativity.</p>
<p>The reason why so many people believe in the idea that the CIA invented the term “conspiracy theory” relates to the role of the Kennedy assassination in the larger history of the concept and their popularity. It may seem that we are living in an age of conspiracy theory, but such theories were <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/248160?lang=en">even more popular in the past</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319961/original/file-20200311-116270-nrgfqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conspiracy theories swirled around Kennedy’s assassination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-nyusanovember-6-2013-1960s-1567682761">rblfmr / shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From at least the 17th century to the 1950s, conspiracy theories were a widely accepted way of understanding the world and often the official versions of events. They were articulated by elites and usually targeted external enemies or subversives who were allegedly trying to undermine the state. It was only during the late 1950s and early 1960s that conspiracy theories started to become <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Stigmatization-of-Conspiracy-Theory-since-the-1950s-A-Plot-to-Make/Thalmann/p/book/9781138346819">a stigmatised way of explaining big events</a>.</p>
<p>One side-effect of this move from the mainstream to the margins of society was that conspiracy theories started to primarily target societal and political elites. They are no longer concerned with alleged plots against the state but with those orchestrated by the state.</p>
<p>Another side-effect of this new stigma was that the label conspiracy theory or theorist became a pejorative term. The Kennedy assassination was the first major instance in which conspiracy theorists accused the state of secretly plotting evil and provided alternative accounts that were then labelled conspiracy theories, as in the 1967 CIA document. So it is hardly surprising that conspiracy theorists – who blame events on the intentional actions of evil people – retrospectively see the emergence of the term as a deliberate attempt to uphold the official version of the Kennedy assassination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132117/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Butter receives funding from the German Research Council, the Cooperation of Science and Technology in Europe (COST) and the European Research Council.</span></em></p>John F Kennedy’s assassination was a turning point in how conspiracy theorists became viewed.Michael Butter, Professor of American Literary and Cultural History, University of TübingenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1338022020-03-16T15:24:27Z2020-03-16T15:24:27ZHow to spot a conspiracy theory – Expert guide to conspiracy theories part one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320765/original/file-20200316-128059-1ydrn8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eye-triangle-painted-on-old-warehouse-1629190078">HollyHarry / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Welcome to part one of the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a new series from The Conversation’s Anthill podcast. Over six episodes we explore why people believe in conspiracy theories, how they spread and how dangerous they are.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-1?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<hr>
<p>There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there. Some are bizarre – like the idea that Elvis faked his own death. Or that Britain’s royal family are actually shape-shifting alien lizards. A growing number of people <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-watched-an-entire-flat-earth-convention-for-my-research-heres-what-i-learnt-95887">believe the world is flat</a>.</p>
<p>A lot of conspiracy theories relate to politics. That 9/11 was orchestrated by the US government so it could start wars in the Middle East. That powerful groups like the Illuminati are pulling the strings behind the scenes, plotting to establish a New World Order. Or that the new coronavirus is <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-breeding-ground-for-conspiracy-theories-heres-why-thats-a-serious-problem-132489">a bio-weapon engineered by the CIA</a>.</p>
<p>Part one of the series explores what these many different ideas have in common and grapples with what actually makes something a conspiracy theory. We speak to Peter Knight, professor of American studies at the University of Manchester. He says there are three important characteristics to conspiracy theories:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The three basic assumptions are first, that nothing happens by accident. The idea that in history, there are no coincidences, no cock-ups. The second idea is that nothing is as it seems. The suggestion that you need to look beneath the surface to detect the actions and the intentions of the evil conspirators. And the third idea is that everything is connected.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-83678">More from The Conversation’s Expert guide to conspiracy theories here.</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>One of the difficulties with defining conspiracy theories is the fact that history is littered with real plots and conspiracies. Jovan Byford, senior lecturer in social psychology at the Open University, tells us <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-when-you-see-one-133574">how to spot the difference</a>. </p>
<p>We also speak to Clare Birchall, reader in contemporary culture at King’s College London. She challenges us to consider who we label a conspiracy theorist and why. We find out how many conspiracy theories that sound outlandish make a lot more sense when you scratch beneath the surface of why people believe in them.</p>
<p>Andrew McKenzie-McHarg, senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University, explains how the term conspiracy theory evolved from simply being a neutral theory about a conspiracy to a more loaded term. And Quassim Cassam, philosophy professor at the University of Warwick, argues that conspiracy theories are always a form of political propaganda. He says we must be aware of what ideology they are pushing and we must differentiate between the producers of conspiracy theories and those that believe in them.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill podcast is produced by Annabel Bligh and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens, with original music from Neeta Sarl and audio from <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network (COST Action COMPACT) to make this podcast.</span></em></p>PODCAST: Part one of the Expert guide to conspiracy theories from The Conversation’s Anthill podcast.Annabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1335742020-03-16T15:24:25Z2020-03-16T15:24:25ZHow to spot a conspiracy theory when you see one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320194/original/file-20200312-111300-14ycnnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some conspiracy theorists believe contrails are chemicals being sprayed for nefarious purposes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/raf-fairford-gloucestershire-uk-july-10-1135161533">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone who engages critically with the phenomenon of conspiracy theories soon encounters a conundrum. Actual conspiracies occur quite regularly. Political assassinations, scandals and cover-ups, terrorist attacks and a lot of everyday government activity involves the collusion of multiple people in the attempt to bring about a desired outcome.</p>
<p>This poses a crucial question. How do we differentiate between genuine plots and conspiracies, and those that we usually associate with the term “conspiracy theory” – namely an erroneous or misguided way of thinking? How do we know, for example, when questions about the origins of coronavirus are legitimate concerns and when they should be dismissed as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-breeding-ground-for-conspiracy-theories-heres-why-thats-a-serious-problem-132489">conspiracy theory</a>?</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320763/original/file-20200316-128086-glagrj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series tied to the Expert guide to conspiracy theories, a series by The Conversation’s The Anthill podcast. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">Listen here</a>, on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g">Spotify</a>, or search for The Anthill wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>One approach is to rely on common sense. A precedent for this was set by the US supreme court judge Potter Stewart when, in 1964, he found himself having to define pornography. Faced with a tricky concept which lacks clearly defined parameters, and whose boundaries are abstract and disputed, Stewart <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1359/potter-stewart">simply said</a>: “I know it when I see it.” </p>
<p>Another approach is to embrace an agnostic position towards all claims of conspiracy. This involves arguing that while some conspiracy theories may currently sound implausible, there is always a chance, no matter how slim, that they could be proved to be true at some point in the future. For that reason, the argument goes, we should treat even the conspiracy theories we don’t believe as unproven rather than untrue. </p>
<p>Neither of these approaches is satisfactory, however. They are ways of sidestepping the problem of definition rather than solving it. Having researched conspiracy theories for many years, I would argue that we can do better. There are <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780230272798">fundamental differences</a> between the kind of conspiracies that do happen and that we do need to worry about, and the far-fetched claims typically expounded by conspiracy theorists. </p>
<h2>What actual conspiracies are like</h2>
<p>The first important difference is in the very nature of the alleged conspiracy. Consider the myriad political scandals that have rocked the United States over the past half century. From revelations about the CIA’s <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol20no2/html/v20i2a01p_0001.htm">domestic spying programme</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/watergate-14287">Watergate</a> scandal in the 1970s, to the more recent findings about <a href="https://theconversation.com/senate-cia-torture-report-release-expert-reaction-35276">extraordinary renditions</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/obamas-reformed-nsa-may-look-much-the-same-as-before-21984">mass surveillance</a> or Russia’s attempted <a href="https://theconversation.com/fbis-russia-probe-threatens-a-reckoning-for-team-trump-75002">interference in elections</a>. Comparable scandals are to be found in other countries around the world. </p>
<p>What these very real instances of secret collusion have in common is that they involved different actors, with disparate aims and goals, limited to certain locations and time frames. In other words, plots and cover-ups exist in the world, but they are multiple, and in most instances unrelated. They cannot be reduced to a single, common denominator. </p>
<p>More importantly, these conspiracies rarely work out according to plan. This is because between any one case of collusion and the wished-for outcome are all kinds of unforeseen and unforeseeable elements. It’s impossible to entirely prevent cock-ups, errors and betrayals. Or control the actions of other individuals and organisations with competing (and often concealed) goals and agendas. As the philosopher Karl Popper <a href="https://www3.canyons.edu/faculty/marianaj/Popper.pdf">argued</a>, the relevant question when explaining dramatic historical events is not “who wanted something to happen?” but “why did things not happen exactly in the way that somebody wanted?”.</p>
<h2>How conspiracy theories differ</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists, of course, see the world very differently. The premise of their argument is not that conspiracies happen, but that they are the motive force in history. Conspiracy theorists are not even interested in the multitude of conflicting conspiracies. Theirs is the quest for spurious connections between disparate historical actors or events. Their plots are overarching and are not limited by time or geography. And they supposedly explain absolutely everything.</p>
<p>This is one reason why conspiracy theorists are notoriously poor at <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780230272798">uncovering actual conspiracies</a>. Throughout history, most revelations of illegal activities and cover-ups came to light as a result of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part1.html">solid journalism</a>, official <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/investigations/ChurchCommittee.htm">state-sponsored inquiries</a>, or the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files">actions of whistleblowers</a>. The driving force behind many revelations about real conspiracies <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40712005?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">has been freedom of information acts</a> – a key institution of political transparency. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, not a single scandal has been brought to light by conspiracy theorists. They are too busy chasing the Illuminati, the New World Order, the “military industrial complex”, or supposed Jewish influence in world affairs. </p>
<p>In fact, conspiracy theorists are inherently ambivalent towards revelations <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780230272798">about actual conspiracies</a>. Conspiracy theorists see actual conspiracies as small and inconsequential, useful only as evidence that things are not as they seem and, therefore, as potential proof that a lot of other, much more sinister (albeit less plausible) claims might also be true. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the way that real cases of collusion are usually brought to light presents a problem for the conspiracy theorist. It undermines their overall argument, by providing evidence that politicians, large business corporations, or the intelligence agencies are not all-powerful and all-controlling. It highlights the importance in everyday life of mistakes and unintended consequences. </p>
<h2>Approaches to evidence</h2>
<p>This brings us to what is probably the most important difference between conspiracy theories and investigations into actual conspiracies. For those interested in actual conspiracies – including investigative journalists, historians, prosecutors or judges – the existence of a plot is a testable hypothesis. The approach to evidence demands that sources are checked and claims verified. If there is an absence of proof or if evidence contradicts the hypothesis, this is not automatically considered to be part of a cover-up.</p>
<p>For the conspiracy theorist, the opposite applies. The idea of a plot is not a hypothesis, but a fundamental, unshakeable principle. The possibility that the basic premise of the conspiracy theory may be wrong, or that it might be proven wrong by new evidence, is not even entertained. </p>
<p>Conspiracy theories are essentially irrefutable: logical contradictions, evidence showing the opposite, even the complete absence of proof have no bearing on the conspiratorial explanation because they can always be accounted for in terms of the conspiracy. The lack of proof about a plot, or any positive proof against its existence, is turned around and taken as evidence of the craftiness of the secret cabal behind the conspiracy. It is seen as confirmation of the conspirators’ ability to conceal their machinations. </p>
<p>Awareness of the differences between inquiries into real conspiracies and conspiracy theories is important because contemporary conspiracy culture thrives on the perception that somehow this distinction is fuzzy, or even <a href="http://counterpoint.uk.com/trust-and-conspiracy-theories/">non-existent</a>. Yet the difference could not be more real – or socially and politically relevant. </p>
<p>Conspiracy theorists are traders in illusion. They offer a certain amount of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180124-the-enduring-appeal-of-conspiracy-theories">comfort</a>, which is what makes them appealing in the first place. But they invariably lead to a dead end, away from genuine solutions to societal problems, which are more diverse and more complex than any conspiracy theorist cares to imagine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jovan Byford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theorists are traders in illusion – here’s how not to fall for their tricks.Jovan Byford, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1332582020-03-09T13:47:49Z2020-03-09T13:47:49ZExpert guide to conspiracy theories: introducing a new podcast series<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319290/original/file-20200309-118960-1aarie6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-trailer?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321534/original/file-20200319-22606-q84y3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=182&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/265Bnp4BgwaEmFv2QciIOC?si=-WMr1ecDTsO_6avrkxZu8g"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321535/original/file-20200319-22606-1l4copl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="68"></a> </p>
<hr>
<p>Conspiracy theories no longer feel like a fringe phenomenon, with people claiming that Elvis isn’t dead or the royal family are shape-shifting alien lizards, put down as crackpots. Now presidents push them and major events are regularly followed by a slew of sinister ideas involving dark forces at work behind the scenes. Coronavirus is <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-breeding-ground-for-conspiracy-theories-heres-why-thats-a-serious-problem-132489">just the latest</a>.</p>
<p>Some conspiracy theories may be harmless entertainment or a sign of healthy scepticism, but others are dangerous because they can fuel racism, violence, terrorism and chaos. With the prominence of conspiracy theories seemingly on the rise, we set out to better understand them.</p>
<p>Over six episodes, we speak to dozens of academics. Most are part of the <a href="https://conspiracytheories.eu/">Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories</a>, an international network of conspiracy theory researchers, which supported the making of this podcast.</p>
<p>Psychologists tell us why some people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than others, and why there’s a spectrum ranging from the conspiracy curious to hardcore believers. Anthropologists explain why conspiracy talk is commonplace in some parts of the world but not others.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theories have evolved over the centuries, from ancient times to the present day. We discover how conspiracy theories were at the birth of the United States and how ideas of the Illuminati – a purported secret organisation pulling the puppet strings of major organisations and governments – have evolved from the French Revolution to the present day and now supposedly counts Jay-Z and Beyoncé among its members. </p>
<p>We find out how conspiracy theories spread and the extent that the internet has changed the game. We also investigate how dangerous conspiracy theories can be and why – whether it’s climate change denial, anti-vaxxers or political extremists.</p>
<p>All that and much more coming up on The Conversation’s expert guide to conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>You can listen on <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Conversation</a> or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from by clicking the links below.</p>
<p><em>Original music by Neeta Sarl and sound design by Eloise Stevens. The Anthill is produced by Gemma Ware, Annabel Bligh and Holly Squire. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.</em> </p>
<p><a href="https://pca.st/5Hul"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321533/original/file-20200319-22598-afljnr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1" alt="Listen on Pocket Casts" width="268" height="70"></a> <a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Anthill-id2625863?country=gb"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321531/original/file-20200319-22632-t8ds9t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="268" height="70"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL3VrL3BvZGNhc3RzL3RoZS1hbnRoaWxsLnJzcw%3D%3D"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/the-anthill"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/The-Anthill-p877873/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/the-anthill-GOJ1vz"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabel Bligh works for The Conversation, which received funding from the Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories research network to make this podcast.</span></em></p>PODCAST: A six-part series from The Conversation’s Anthill podcast exploring the world of conspiracy theories.Annabel Bligh, Host of The Anthill Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1324892020-02-28T10:55:27Z2020-02-28T10:55:27ZCoronavirus is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories – here’s why that’s a serious problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317605/original/file-20200227-24701-d2vk6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/coronavirus-china-novel-2019ncov-people-white-1629512083">Angelina Bambina / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The novel <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/coronavirus-5830">coronavirus</a> continues to spread around the world, with new cases <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-outbreak-a-new-mapping-tool-that-lets-you-scroll-through-timeline-131422">being reported all the time</a>. Spreading just as fast, it seems, are conspiracy theories that claim powerful actors are plotting something sinister to do with the virus. Our research into medical conspiracy theories shows that this has the potential to be just as dangerous for societies as the outbreak itself.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/infact/coronavirus-outbreak-conspiracy-theories-fake-news-china-wuhan-vaccine-a9308321.html">conspiracy theory</a> proposes that the coronavirus is actually a bio-weapon engineered by the CIA as a way to wage war on China. Others are convinced that the UK and US governments introduced the coronavirus as a way to make money from a potential vaccine. </p>
<p>Although many of these conspiracy theories seem far-fetched, the belief that evil powers are pursuing a secret plan is widespread in every society. Often these relate to health. A large <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2c6lta5kbu/YouGov%20Cambridge%20Globalism%20Project%20-%20Conspiracy%20Theories.pdf">2019 YouGov poll</a> found 16% of respondents in Spain believe that HIV was created and spread around the world on purpose by a secret group or organisation. And 27% of French and 12% of British <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2c6lta5kbu/YouGov%20Cambridge%20Globalism%20Project%20-%20Conspiracy%20Theories.pdf">respondents</a> were convinced that “the truth about the harmful effects of vaccines is being deliberately hidden from the public”.</p>
<p>The spread of fake news and conspiracy theories around the coronavirus is such a significant problem that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has created a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters">“myth busters” webpage</a> to try and tackle them.</p>
<h2>Spread of conspiracy theories</h2>
<p>Research shows that conspiracy theories have a tendency to arise in relation to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1750698017701615">moments of crisis in society</a> – like terrorist attacks, rapid political changes or economic crisis. Conspiracy theories bloom in periods of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.1922">uncertainty and threat</a>, where we seek to make sense of a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721417718261">chaotic world</a>. These are the same conditions produced by virus outbreaks, which explains the spread of conspiracy theories in relation to coronavirus. </p>
<p>Similar conditions occurred with the 2015-16 outbreak of Zika virus. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0243-8">Zika conspiracy theories</a> proposed that the virus was a biological weapon rather than a natural occurrence. <a href="https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/conspiracy-talk-on-social-media-collective-sensemaking-during-a-p">Research examining</a> comments on Reddit during the Zika virus outbreak found conspiracy talk emerged as a way for people to cope with the extreme uncertainty they felt over Zika. </p>
<p>Trust in the recommendations from health professionals and organisations is an important resource for dealing with a health crisis. But people who believe in conspiracy theories generally do not trust groups <a href="https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1864-9335/a000347">they perceive as powerful</a>, including managers, politicians and drug companies. If people do not trust, they are less likely to follow medical advice.</p>
<p>Researchers have shown that medical conspiracy theories have the power to increase <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089177">distrust in medical authorities</a>, which can impact people’s willingness to protect themselves. People who endorse <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ajps.12084">medical conspiracy theories</a> are less likely to get vaccinated or use antibiotics and are more likely to take herbal supplements or vitamins. Plus, they are more likely to say they would trust medical advice from nonprofessionals such as friends and family. </p>
<h2>Severe consequences</h2>
<p>In light of these results, people who endorse conspiracy theories about the coronavirus may be less likely to follow <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/">health advice</a> like frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap, or <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51506729">self-isolating</a> after visiting at-risk areas.</p>
<p>Instead, these people may be more likely to have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2569474/">negative attitudes</a> towards prevention behaviour or <a href="https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1864-9335/a000347">use dangerous alternatives as treatments</a>. This would increase the likelihood of the virus spreading and put more people in danger.</p>
<p>Already, we can see “alternative healing approaches” to coronavirus cropping up – some of them very dangerous. Promoters of the popular <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-qanon-guide-conspiracy-theory-taking-hold-among-trump-supporters-n897271">QAnon conspiracy theory</a>, for example, have said the coronavirus was planned by the so-called “<a href="https://www.govexec.com/feature/gov-exec-deconstructing-deep-state/">deep state</a>” and claimed the virus can be warded off by <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/trump-supporters-coronavirus-deep-state-qanon">drinking bleach</a>. </p>
<p>The spread of medical conspiracy theories can also have severe consequences for other sections of society. For example, during the Black Death in Europe, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/health/01plague.html">Jews were scapegoated</a> as responsible for the pandemic. These conspiracy theories led to violent attacks and massacres of Jewish communities all over Europe. The outbreak of the coronavirus has led to a worldwide increase in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/spate-of-anti-chinese-incidents-in-italy-amid-coronavirus-panic">racist attacks</a> targeted towards people perceived as East Asian. </p>
<p>It is possible to intervene and halt the spread of conspiracy theories, however. Research shows that campaigns promoting <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jasp.12453">counterarguments</a> to medical conspiracy theories are likely to have some success in rectifying conspiracy beliefs. Games such as <a href="https://www.getbadnews.com/#intro">Bad News</a>, in which people can take the role of a fake news producer, have been shown to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0279-9">improve</a> people’s ability to spot and resist misinformation. </p>
<p>Conspiracy theories can be very harmful for society. Not only can they influence people’s health choices, they can interfere with how <a href="https://theconversation.com/conspiracy-theories-fuel-prejudice-towards-minority-groups-113508">different groups relate to each other</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2019.1586637?journalCode=vsoc20">increase hostility</a> <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351800.001.0001/acprof-9780199351800">and violence</a> towards those who are perceived to be “conspiring”. So as well as acting to combat the spread of the coronavirus, governments should also act to stop misinformation and conspiracy theories relating to the virus from getting out of hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Jolley has received funding from the British Academy. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pia Lamberty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theories bloom in times of uncertainty and foster distrust of medical authorities.Daniel Jolley, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Northumbria University, NewcastlePia Lamberty, PhD Researcher in Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University of MainzLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.