Spread Of Conspiracy Theories Research Articles

Internet Usage, YouTube, and Conspiracy-Mindedness in the United States

Abstract The spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation poses substantial threats to democracy around the world. In the United States, entrenched political polarization is both a consequence and a ramification of the spread of biased and false information. Much of this misinformation is spread online, especially on social media. Of all the social media networks in existence, the video-sharing platform YouTube is the most significant incubator of right-wing conspiracist thinking. To what extent has internet usage affected conspiracy-mindedness in the U.S. during the Trump era? I analyze data from five waves of the Pew Research Center’s “American Trends Panel” to test the hypotheses that (1) being perpetually online, (2) keeping many social media accounts, and (3) relying on YouTube for news will increase perceptions of ‘fake news’, stoke conspiracist thinking, and help make democracy’s status in the U.S. ever more precarious. Findings indicate that reliance on YouTube for news is an especially powerful predictor of noticing fake news about COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. presidential election; attitudes about voter fraud, Donald Trump’s challenges to the election results, and the January 6, 2021, insurrectionists; and deciding to stop talking to someone because of politics.

The Position of Humanities and Social Sciences in European Education and their Role in the Fight against Disinformation and Propaganda

In the European area, we have recently noticed an increase in the spread of conspiracy theories and propaganda. Several crises (especially the crisis associated with the Covid-19 pandemic) have reduced the credibility of European/Western institutions in the eyes of many young people. In addition, some states are weakened by the rise of Pan-Slavism and nationalist ideas. In this context, is it necessary to reconsider the education of future European citizens? How to approach this if countries are facing multiple challenges atthe same time?

Slovak MPs’ response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in light of conspiracy theories and the polarization of political discourse

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine received widespread international condemnation. In Slovakia, the invasion became a subject of much political discussion with large number of MPs openly advocating Russian interests. This study investigates Slovak political discourse on Facebook in the weeks before and after the invasion began. We examine the discourse through the lens of Discourse Network Analysis, combining qualitative content analysis of MPs’ Facebook posts with quantitative bipartite social network analysis. During the two weeks, we retrieved all (n = 1880) posts from all (n = 117) MPs who had an active public Facebook page. We manually coded all posts and created a bipartite discourse network consisting of MPs connected to each other via shared discourse codes in two timepoints. We performed a series of exploratory analyses that identified the content of the political discourse, the structure of the political discourse network, and the mechanisms driving the change of the political discourse network. Our results show that the invasion dramatically changed political discourse in Slovakia, with the domestic coalition-opposition struggles losing prominence among the invasion-related topics. The structure of the political discourse network showed a strong coalition-opposition split. While coalition MPs had largely pro-Ukrainian sentiments, opposition MPs largely communicated pro-Russian propaganda. A cluster of opposition MPs consistently spread conspiracy theories both before and after the invasion began, supporting a “conspiracy singularity” theory—the tendency of actors to spread multiple different conspiracy theories and interconnect various conspiracy theories into one overarching narrative. The change of the discourse network at the beginning of the invasion was largely driven by the agenda setting of several parties, agenda reinforcement, and increasing political polarization. We discuss our findings in relation to the previous research on the spread of conspiracy theories among politicians and the polarization of political discourse during the invasion, and we suggest implications for future research.

Connecting the domains: an investigation of internet domains found in Covid-19 conspiracy tweets

AbstractConspiracy theories (CTs) have thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to spread on social media despite attempts at fact-checking. The isolation and fear associated with this pandemic likely contributed to the generation and spread of these theories. Another possible factor is the high rate of Twitter users linking to off-platform alternative news sources through URL sharing (Moffitt et al. 2021). In this paper, we compare URLs and their parent domains linked in CT and non-CT tweets. First, we searched the parent domains of URLs shared in conspiracy theory and non-conspiracy theory classified tweets for the presence of Google tracking codes. We then constructed meta-networks linking domains, tracking codes, and Twitter users to find connections between domains and evidence of an eco-system that may have contributed to the cultivation and spread of conspiracy theories during the pandemic.

Why are spreading deceptive political conspiracy theories ethically wrong?

Conspiracy theories in expert circles generally have a bad reputation, which is conditioned by the fact that according to some studies, the spread of conspiracy theories has a number of negative consequences: it increases society's indifference to politics, distrust of science etc. However, there are some other researchers who believe that the spread of conspiracy theories has positive effects: it increases the accountability of authorities, contributes to the disclosure of hidden conspiracies, and, in general, is an indicator of the transparency of society. Therefore, attempts by state institutions to prevent the spread of such theories can lead to even more negative consequences. This article analyzes these two approaches to the problem and argues that the dissemination of conspiracy theories is ethically wrong mainly in cases when we are dealing with deceptive political conspiracy theories. These are deceptive, misleading theories that certain political groups use to serve their political agenda. From an ethical point of view, the wrongness of spreading deceptive political conspiracy theories is based on the fact that as a kind of fake news, they mislead and harm society, are mainly used by populist and authoritarian politicians to polarize various social groups, justify their illegitimate actions, and reject the principle of equality among members of society.

The Effects of conspiracy theory spread by leaders during times of war: The role of gender on follower perceptions of leader effectiveness and warmth

This paper investigates whether the spread of conspiracy theories by leaders during times of war has an effect on perceived leader effectiveness and warmth by followers additionally takes into account the role of gender in this exchange. Analysis demonstrates that the gender of the leader had no significant effect on followers’ perceived effectiveness or warmth in all the conditions. Furthermore, conspiracy spread did not have a significant interaction with perceived effectiveness, however, conspiracy-spreading leaders were perceived as less warm compared to neutral leaders. The results led to the conclusion that based on our sample taken from the Armenian population, the leader’s gender does not play a role in perceived effectiveness when delivering bad news during times of crisis.

Distribution and Reception of Conspiracy Theories and Mobilization Calls on Telegram. Combining Evidence from a Content Analysis and Survey During the Pandemic

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to an “infodemic” characterized by the widespread dissemination of conspiracy theories and calls for resistance against measures to combat the virus. Despite increased academic attention’s focus on conspiracy theories on Telegram, existing research has two major limitations: (1) a lack of combined examination of the distribution and reception of conspiracy theories, and (2) insufficient understanding of the relationship between the reception of conspiracy messages and political attitudes, conspiracy beliefs, or political engagement. To address these gaps, our study adopts a two-pronged approach, linking the distribution and reception of conspiracy theories and mobilization calls on Telegram while exploring the implications for recipients’ conspiracy beliefs and protest behavior. Our research design includes a manual content analysis of 3,162 Telegram posts from German conspiracy-related channels (Study 1), and a survey of 318 Telegram users in these channels and 320 traditional media users (Study 2). Our results reveal characteristics of Telegram fringe group users that make them susceptible to conspiratorial and mobilizing content, such as anti-system attitudes and a readiness for protest behavior. These findings have broader implications for understanding the role of digital media in the spread of conspiracy theories and the mobilization of resistance during crises, as well as the importance of continued research on the relationship between digital media use, political attitudes, and engagement to mitigate the negative impacts of conspiracy theories and preserve democratic values.

Religion, conspiracy theory and consumer ethics: a moderated mediation analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to show that the spread of conspiracy theories has resulted in many tragic incidents, such as January 6 Insurrection at the US Capitol Building. Interestingly, many of the conspiracy theory followers are religious individuals. In response to this phenomenon, this study will investigate the impact of religious (un)beliefs on consumer ethics. Secondly, this study will investigate the mediating role of conspiracy theory on consumer ethics. Finally, this study will investigate the moderating role of ethical ideology (i.e. relativism) on the relationship between consumers’ (un)belief (e.g. religiosity and atheism) and consumer ethics.Design/methodology/approachOverall, 328 participants living in the USA (32% female and 68% male) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in exchange for financial compensation.FindingsThe results show the negative impact of a belief in a conspiracy theory. These conspiracy beliefs can skew any individual irrespective of their beliefs or unbelief. Religious leaders, policymakers and educators need to keep this in mind when designing a campaign to reduce unethical behavior. Everyone is prone to conspiracy theories.Originality/valueThis is one of the first few studies exploring the impact of belief in conspiracy theories on consumers’ ethical beliefs. There are still limited studies investigating whether conspiracy beliefs lead individuals to engage in unethical behavior.

Coronavirus meets the clash of civilizations

Conspiracy Theories (CTs) are a global phenomenon, but some societies are better equipped than others to resist them. This article discusses the characteristics of the China-related COVID-19 CTs in the Brazilian Facebook, based on 28,312 posts published from January 2020 to June 2021. We argue that, in Brazil, the spread of CTs was facilitated by a widespread political and knowledge institutions’ legitimacy crisis. The rise of the extremist politician Jair Bolsonaro to the Presidency provides evidence in this regard. In consequence, the boundaries between fringe and mainstream politics become porous. This article discusses which agents disseminate China-related COVID-19 CTs, and which topics receive more attention. We found a significant presence of actors belonging to mainstream politics and the media among the CTs’ main disseminators. Additionally, the CTs circulating in the Brazilian social media environment reproduce concerns about China’s growing presence in the global arena, which originate elsewhere. Still, they add a specific emphasis on the Communist threat. We sustain that this emphasis relates as much to Brazil’s internal politics as to China itself.

‘Just another story that was prepared in advance’ - political distrust, Islamism, and conspiratorial thinking in Arab public opinion on the Islamic State

ABSTRACT In many Arab countries, political and media discourse about the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) tended to blend discussions of root causes with conspiratorial narratives about the perceived malign actions and motives of external actors. Investigating the role which conspiratorial narratives play in (de)stabilizing political order across the Arab world, this analysis demonstrates that distrust in the political system and support for Islamist ideas are associated with the willingness to blame external actors such as the United States and Israel for the creation of the Islamic State. The results thus demonstrate how closely intertwined the production and spread of conspiracy theories are with the crisis of Islamist ideology and authoritarian governance in the Arab world.

Measuring the diffusion of conspiracy theories in digital information ecologies

Digital platforms and media are fertile breeding grounds for disinformation and conspirational views. They provide a variety of communication venues for a mixed set of actors and foster the diffusion of content between actor groups, across platforms and media, and across languages and geographical spaces. Understanding those diffusion processes requires approaches to measure the prevalence and spread of communicative acts within and across digital platforms. Given the increasing access to digital data, computational methods provide new possibilities to capture this spread and do justice to the interrelated nature and hybridity of online communication. Against this background, the paper focuses on the spread of conspiracy theories in digital information ecologies. It provides a review of recent methodological approaches to measuring conspiracy-related content online regarding the (a) prevalence and (b) diffusion of conspiracy theories. To that end, the paper differentiates between social network analysis approaches and computational techniques of automated text classification. It further discusses how far these and related computational approaches could facilitate studying the diffusion of conspiracy theories across different actor types, languages, topics and platforms. In doing so, it takes the specific nature of online communication and challenges in the field of conspiracy-related content into account.

Effect of Social Networking on Real-World Events

The articles in this special issue focus on the emerging effects that social media can have on the real world. Social media has quickly become not just ubiquitous, but also integral to society. A large portion of social media's quick ascent was due to its modeling of real-world relationships, meaning the offline world informed the development and adoption of the online world. Recently, however, it has become apparent that this effect is not a one-way street. For example, the spread of mis- and disinformation, the spread of conspiracy theories, and the rise of extremism can all be attributed, in part, to social media. Most previous research has studied the real world and social media in isolation. However, these worlds are interconnected with each world having a substantial impact and influence on the other. For instance, hateful rhetoric disseminated via social media can encourage physical meetings that can quickly transform rhetoric into violent actions. Overall, it is of paramount importance, as a research community, to devote research resources into understanding and analyzing the exogenic effects of social media to the real world with the goal to further improves our lives.

Risk-Perception Change Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine's Side Effects: The Role of Individual Differences.

The COVID-19 vaccine appears to be a crucial requirement to fight the pandemic. However, a part of the population possesses negative attitudes towards the vaccine. The spread of conspiracy theories and contradictory information about the pandemic have altered the population’s perception of risk. The risk-perception of the vaccine’s side effects may be affected by individual differences. The complex relationship between risk-perception and individual differences is relevant when people have to make decisions based on ambiguous and constantly changing information, as in the early phases of the Italian vaccination campaign. The present study aimed at measuring the effect of individual differences in risk-perception associated with the COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects in a context characterized by information ambiguity. An online survey was conducted to classify a sample of Italian pro-vaccine people into cognitive/behavioral style groups. Furthermore, changes in vaccine risk-perception after inconsistent communications regarding the vaccine’s side effects were compared between groups. The results showed that “analytical” individuals did not change their perception regarding the probability of vaccine side effects but changed their perception regarding the severity of side effects; “open” and “polarized” individuals neither changed their perception regarding the probability nor of the severity of side effects, showing a different kind of information processing, which could interfere with an informed decision-making process.

National Narcissism predicts the Belief in and the Dissemination of Conspiracy Theories During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From 56 Countries.

Conspiracy theories related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have propagated around the globe, leading the World Health Organization to declare the spread of misinformation an "Infodemic." We tested the hypothesis that national narcissism-a belief in the greatness of one's nation that requires external recognition-is associated with the spread of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. In two large-scale national surveys (NTotal = 950) conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, and secondary analysis of data from 56 countries (N = 50,757), we found a robust, positive relationship between national narcissism and proneness to believe and disseminate conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. Furthermore, belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories was related to less engagement in health behaviors and less support for public-health policies to combat COVID-19. Our findings illustrate the importance of social identity factors in the spread of conspiracy theories and provide insights into the psychological processes underlying the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries

While the role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories has received much attention, a key deficit in previous research is the lack of distinction between different types of platforms. This study places the role of social media affordances in facilitating the spread of conspiracy beliefs at the center of its enquiry. We examine the relationship between platform use and conspiracy theory beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the concept of technological affordances, we theorize that variation across key features make some platforms more fertile places for conspiracy beliefs than others. Using data from a crossnational dataset based on a two-wave online survey conducted in 17 countries before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we show that Twitter has a negative effect on conspiracy beliefs—as opposed to all other platforms under examination which are found to have a positive effect.

Social media and the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Nigeria

Background: Amidst the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there seems to be an avalanche of conspiracy theories that abound on social media platforms, and this subject attracted a lot of research interest. This study aimed to examine the "social media and the spread Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Nigeria" in light of the above. 
 Methods: The study adopted a qualitative design in order to explore the subject matter thoroughly. Thirty-five participants were conveniently sampled, and interviews were conducted to retrieved data from the participants.
 Results: Findings of this study revealed that there is a prevalence of conspiracy theories that have saturated social media ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also found that ignorance, religious fanaticism, lack of censorship, and insufficient counter information on social media platforms are some of the possible factors that aided the spread of Covid-19 conspiracy theories among Nigerian social media users.
 Conclusion: This study recommends, among other things, that there is a swift need to curtail the spread of conspiracy theories through consistent dissemination of counter-information by both individuals and agencies like the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Nigerian Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC).

Review of “Is That True?: Critical Thinking for Sociologists”

Reviewer: Gwen Sharp, Nevada State College, USA For decades, academics, politicians, and others have called for the US educational system to teach critical thinking skills (Dam & Volman, 2004), which they argue will turn students into informed citizens who critically evaluate candidates for office and proposed public policies. More recently, references to “alternative facts,” attempts to “unskew” political polls that do not predict someone’s preferred outcome, and the spread of conspiracy theories have increased these calls. Throughout Is That True? Joel Best makes the case for more critical thinking generally, and the application of those critical thinking skills within the field of sociology, specifically. He defines critical thinking as a mindset based on evidence and our ability to evaluate whether or not that evidence is persuasive. He also argues that sociologists are prone to the same cognitive biases as everyone else, and that more critical thinking and diversity...

“Those on the Right Take Chloroquine”: The Illiberal Instrumentalisation of Scientific Debates during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brasil

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brasilian government has undergone a significant political dispute over the use of hydroxychloroquine as a measure to confront the disease and contested scientific and healthcare organisations findings related to the drug's effectiveness. In this article, we seek to understand the manner in which an illiberal populist government and the supporters thereof refer to scientific discourse during the pandemic, with a focus on the debates on Brasilian far-right networks on Twitter. Using a mixed methodology with statistical methods, social media analysis, natural language processing and qualitative content analysis, this study seeks to investigate which sources and stakeholders were referenced and the narratives that structured the arguments of far-right supporters who defended the use of hydroxychloroquine. The results highlight the use of sources that are ideologically aligned to the right and a reconfiguration of scientific authority that was supported by illiberal values. Among the main discourses, we observed an epistemic challenge with a partisan bias, which led to the scientific authority legitimising some arguments and discrediting others. We also identified the spread of conspiracy theories that reflected the epistemic challenge, in addition to conservative, revivalist and individualistic postures.

Social Motives for Sharing Conspiracy Theories

The spread of conspiracy theories has significantly hindered our ability to deal with crises related to the pandemic, climate science, and many other political and social issues. Therefore, it is crucial to understand why people share conspiracy theories. Recent work suggests that people share misinformation because they are inattentive. Across three preregistered studies (total N=1,560 Prolific workers), we show that people also knowingly share misinformation to advance social motives. We find that when making content sharing decisions, people make calculated tradeoffs between sharing accurate information and sharing information that generates more social engagement. Even though people know that factual news are more accurate than conspiracy theories, they expect sharing conspiracy theories to generate more social feedback (i.e. comments and “likes”) than sharing factual news. Lastly, in an interactive multi-round content-sharing paradigm, we find that people are very sensitive to the social feedback they receive in the environment. Giving more positive social feedback for sharing conspiracy theories significantly increases people’s tendency to share these conspiracy theories that they do not believe in. Our findings substantially develop our understanding of why and when individuals are most likely to share conspiracy theories. These findings also make important contributions to understanding and curbing the spread of misinformation.

Semantic regulation of anxiety expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic: conspiracy trends

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with the spread of conspiracy theories, which are heterogeneous in terms of the structure of their views. The hypothesis is that the substrate for the spread of conspiracy trend is an increased level of anxiety, reduced due to the paralogical (conspiracy) interpretation of events. The purpose of this research was to study the prevalence of conspiracy trends during the preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic in Moscow (before the introduction of strict restrictive measures). Methods: 320 people, randomly selected from the general population, were asked if they agree or disagree with 9 statements regarding the conspiracy interpretation of events, compared with the level of anxiety/depression (using the HADS scale). There are 3 trends (COVID-conspiracy, COVID-skepticism, COVID-obscurantism). Results: 45.7% of respondents were ready to agree with one or the other conspiracy idea. I The level of anxiety in all adherents of conspiracy theory was found to be higher than in the rest of the sample. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics of adherents of different conspiracy tendencies are revealed. Among COVID skeptics, there are significantly fewer students and pensioners, and among COVID conspiracy theorists, the level of education received is lower, with unstable labor and family status. Discussion. Conspiracy trends were universal for all social groups in the background of increased anxiety among the population of Moscow in preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic. It is suggested that the mechanism for the development of conspiracy tendencies may be the process of rationalization of an increased level of anxiety as a protective response during a crisis.