CONSPIRE ONLINE SERIES

That might seem relatively low, but when researchers asked less specific questions, up to 50 percent of American believed aspects of the QAnon conspiracy, like the existence of a 'deep state' or elite sex traffickers. In August of 2019, 5 percent of respondents in the US said they believed in QAnon. QAnon is another recent conspiracy theory explored by researchers. In fact, several of these COVID-19 conspiracies fell out of popularity over time, like the one that argues Bill Gates is behind the global pandemic. When it came to five conspiracies regarding COVID-19, researchers found no evidence of increased beliefs in repeated polls between March 2020, June of the same year, and May 2021. The first set of surveys compared the American public's belief in conspiracies that were less than a year old, like those regarding COVID-19, versus older conspiracies, like those regarding the Pearl Harbor attack. 'We examine beliefs in dozens of specific conspiracy theories, perceptions of who is likely to be involved in conspiracy theories, and the general predisposition to interpret events and circumstances as the product of conspiracy theories – in no case do we observe an average increase in conspiracy beliefs.' 'Despite popular claims about America slipping down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole into a state of post-truth, we do not find that conspiracism has increased over time,' says political scientist Adam Enders from the University of Louisville. When researchers compared national surveys on both recent and old conspiracy theories, they found no evidence of increasing beliefs in the modern age. The good news is that it doesn't look like social media or online news outlets are necessarily to blame. While they might spread misinformation, and dangerously so, it seems conspiracy theories are not necessarily attracting more believers than they did in decades gone by. The new study instead suggests conspiracy theories are a 'more persistent and ubiquitous feature of human society' than commonly thought.īut it's not all bad news.

CONSPIRE ONLINE SERIES

That's the conclusion of a new series of surveys conducted in the United States and six European countries. To date, there is little systematic evidence to suggest that conspiracy theories are increasing in popularity, despite what many journalists, scholars, and policymakers say. Whether or not that's actually true is another matter, and it's a serious one that merits consideration.

Conspire online