It is easy to believe scientific evidence, but have you tried questioning everything around you? Conspiracy theories have been whispered through society for ages, yet believers seem more vocal in recent times. Through social media, such theories can be spread easily and quickly (Min, 2021). Believing in conspiracy theories and falling for misinformation has been associated with social media usage by many authors (Enders et al., 2021). The so-called “echo chamber” is often blamed, as it efficiently places individuals in silos of like-minded others, purposely feeding them information that suits their ideological beliefs (Sunstein, 2017). As such, social media has shamelessly promoted conspiracies and misinformation, facilitating it to spread substantially in the process (Enders et al., 2021).
Conspiracy theories have a top-down (e.g., covid is a hoax to vaccinate everyone with 5G-chips), bottom-up (e.g., capitol riots) or event-driven shape (e.g., the moon landing)(Stuttaford, 2021). While some theories seem harmless, others have real societal impacts. The “anti-vax” movement or the storming of the U.S. capitol at the beginning of 2021 are examples of those real-life repercussions (Min, 2021). Perhaps the most troubling development is the decreasing institutional trust through active social media usage (Mari et al., 2021). However, social media alone does not appear to be capable of starting a certain belief system, there has to be a hospitable environment beforehand (Enders et al., 2021).
Epistemic (understanding and certainty), existential (control), and social needs are argued as the forces behind believing in conspiracy theories (Douglas et al., 2017, Cherry, 2020). Lower levels of education have also been related to believing in conspiracy theories (Cherry, 2020), which may stem from epistemic needs. A higher level of uncertainty avoidance, feelings of disempowerment or anxiety and vulnerable population segments are ingredients for conspiracy development or acceptance (Mari et al., 2021). Enders et al. (2021) argue that when one sees conspiracy theories in all types of events, the likelihood increases for believing, or even seeking out, dubious ideas online.
Moderating conspiracy theories is argued as a mitigation strategy for social media platforms (Min, 2021). Auto-detection through machine learning is getting more accurate every day and is employed frequently on such platforms to combat the spread of conspiracies and misinformation (Marcellino, 2021). Even though platforms pledge to improve regulation and moderation, their effectiveness is doubted as theories and misinformation continue to dominate (Grimes, 2020). Social media regulation cannot be ignored longer and might require legal obligation as well as public pressure to oblige platforms to effectively combat this very real threat (Grimes, 2020).
Sources:
Cherry, K. (2020, September 19). Why Do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/why-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-4690335#explanations
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417718261
Enders, A. M., Uscinski, J. E., Seelig, M. I., Klofstad, C. A., Wuchty, S., Funchion, J. R., Murthi, M. N., Premaratne, K., & Stoler, J. (2021). The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation. Political Behavior, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09734-6
Grimes, D. R. (2020). Health disinformation & social media. EMBO Reports, 21(11). https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202051819
Mari, S., Gil De Zúñiga, H., Suerdem, A., Hanke, K., Brown, G., Vilar, R., Boer, D., & Bilewicz, M. (2021). Conspiracy Theories and Institutional Trust: Examining the Role of Uncertainty Avoidance and Active Social Media Use. Political Psychology. Published. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12754
Marcellino, W. (2021). Detecting Conspiracy Theories on Social Media Improving Machine Learning to Detect and Understand Online Conspiracy Theories. RAND CORP SANTA MONICA CA.
Min, S. J. (2021). Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories? Network Diversity, Political Discussion, and Conservative Conspiracy Theories on Social Media. American Politics Research, 1532673X211013526.
Stuttaford, A. (2021, March 2). ‘The Nature of Conspiracy Theories’ Review: The Truth Is Out There. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-nature-of-conspiracy-theories-review-the-truth-is-out-there-11614640961
Sunstein, C. R. (2017). #Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media. Princeton University Press.
Hi Roos,
What a very interesting post!
I think fake news and conspiracy theories spread through social media are a really relevant and important thing to discuss and combat. I think the deadly insurrection of the US Capitol following the 2020 US Presidential Election has truly shown the world how conspiracies and fake news can turn into an actual deadly riot. This also opened my eyes, as I could have never imagined fake news and conspiracies to actually lead to deaths. I feel it is time for social media to take a more active stance and attitude towards mitigating the situation.
I do indeed see that social media is making some effort to combat fake news and conspiracy theories. However in my opinion, the algorithms at the core of social media platforms do not always help the situation. Although it is true that the algorithms delete part of the fake news and conspiracy theories posted, they also reinforce the echo chamber. This creates the filter bubble, i.e. the phenomenon of users only seeing feed of like minded other users due to filtering by algorithms. Hence, conspiracy theorists mostly see messages from other conspiracy theorists but not from opposing parties. Changing this algorithm would I think not be impossible, but do you think people would still use social media when they see more mixed messages (and not just messages that fit their own believes)? Do you think it is okay for social media companies to filter out messages? And if yes, where is the line between free speech and going too far?
It was also really interesting to read what causes people to believe in conspiracy theories. It is now more clear to me what drives these people. Besides the fact that conspiracy theorists are to an extent indoctrinated by conspiracy theories through social media, which further enforces their own believes, do you think these people would even be able to change their minds when presented with hard evidence of the opposing side?
Hi Roos,
I enjoyed reading your interesting post. It was interesting to get an insight in the science behind why one person falls for conspiracy theories easier than another person.
I do agree with you that in certain cases, a large group of people believing blatant misinformation can have serious negative effects for society. The most dangerous effect in my opinion being polarisation of demographic groups and a sense of mistrust between these groups. Yet, I don’t see why social media platforms are always called upon to battle misinformation. They usually don’t have the manpower and knowledge to battle conspiracy theories effectively. Adding to that, danger of incorrectly keeping out users from social media platforms lurks. Someone not being able to use a certain service, based upon his personal opinion just doesn’t sit well with me. I think legislature has to be developed on conspiracy theories, making the spreading of seriously dangerous misinformation illegal and for the police to combat.
Hey Roos, Thank you for your post, I found it very thought provoking
There were two main points you made that I felt like responding to;
Firstly the point that “Even though platforms pledge to improve regulation and moderation, their effectiveness is doubted as theories and misinformation continue to dominate”
It’s a bit of a minor detail but I took issue with the fact that you stated that “theories” continue to dominate. Why I raise this point is that I find the discussion of censorship and “conspiracies” very sensitive due to the large hegemonic media control that exists in the scope of large corporations and organizations. One of the very essential pillars for productive discourse is theorizing and testing theories through debates of opposing viewpoints. This relates to my second point of discussion which is the definition of a conspiracy. A lot of the times conspiracies can be dangerous, grounded in very fake assumptions/research, and a consequence of echo chambers (5G being a good example). However, the term scares me because it is often used to refer to opinions that are unconventional and challenge the “norm” of a social perspective. Conspiracies are a necessary aspect of continuing to question things that are often propagated as fact without much backing. Conspiracy theories exposed a lot of undemocratic political actions by the US government, they helped expose Jeffrey Epstein, and although often misguided they represent a human pursuit of truth.
(Just re-commenting because I wasn’t signed in earlier and don’t know if it counted)
Hey Roos, Thank you for your post, I found it very thought provoking
There were two main points you made that I felt like responding to;
Firstly the point that “Even though platforms pledge to improve regulation and moderation, their effectiveness is doubted as theories and misinformation continue to dominate”
It’s a bit of a minor detail but I took issue with the fact that you stated that “theories” continue to dominate. Why I raise this point is that I find the discussion of censorship and “conspiracies” very sensitive due to the large hegemonic media control that exists in the scope of large corporations and organizations. One of the very essential pillars for productive discourse is theorizing and testing theories through debates of opposing viewpoints. This relates to my second point of discussion which is the definition of a conspiracy. A lot of the times conspiracies can be dangerous, grounded in very fake assumptions/research, and a consequence of echo chambers (5G being a good example). However, the term scares me because it is often used to refer to opinions that are unconventional and challenge the “norm” of a social perspective. Conspiracies are a necessary aspect of continuing to question things that are often propagated as fact without much backing. Conspiracy theories exposed a lot of undemocratic political actions by the US government, they helped expose Jeffrey Epstein, and although often misguided they represent a human pursuit of truth.