Spreaders of conspiracy theories: belief or opportunism? - MediaTalks on Facto News

London – The motivation of those who spread conspiracy theories is not always related to a true belief in these ideas, but rather to specific interests, which makes it even more difficult to combat them with traditional strategies of just pointing out errors without explaining well what could be wrong. behind misinformation and fake news.

Social psychology professor H. Colleen Sinclair of the University of Louisiana, one of the authors of the book Taking Conspiracies to Extremeshighlights that many disseminators of these theories are opportunists.

According to Sinclair, they seek to generate conflict, chaos, recruit followers, profit or simply attract attention, without necessarily believing in what they propagate, and end up creating a legion of what she called “useful idiots”, people who help to spread conspiracies without foundation.

In an article about the book on the portal The Conversation, the professor warns that even opportunists can end up believing the lies they spread.

The professor details five types of conspiracy theory spreaders, present both on social networks and in traditional media.

Meet the spreaders of conspiracy theories without real belief in what they propagate

‘Attention-seeking’ conspiracists

Among them are “attention-seeking conspiracists,” who often don’t even read what they share.

She states that between 7% and 20% of social media users share content that they know or suspect is false.

Typical phrases of his posts include questions like “is it true?” or statements like “it could be something close to reality”.

The goal is to participate in discussions or gain likes and shares, explains Sinclair.

Commercial conspiracists – the opportunists

Another group highlighted by Sinclair is people who use conspiracy theories to make money, through direct sales or by increasing influence and followers on social media.

When researchers tracked the origins of most anti-vaccine posters during the Covid crisis, many had a financial interest in perpetuating these narratives.

Alex Jones, for example, a famous American conspiracist who was ordered to pay millions in damages for lying about the Sandy Hook school massacre, boasted that his followers would “buy anything” he tried to sell.

And he sells: books, courses and much more on his internet channels and radio program.

Sinclair also recalled that media companies, like Fox News, perpetuated lies about election fraud in 2020 to keep their viewers engaged, even if they didn’t believe in what they were promoting.

And social networks, according to the professor, are reluctant to combat conspiracies because they know that they attract more clicks.

Chaos conspiracyists – the trolls

The psychology professor also points out that people with a high “need for chaos” are more likely to share conspiracy theories indiscriminately, without necessarily believing in them.

These are the trolls who, according to the researcher, share false content with malicious intentions.

One example was after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, in which a troll invented the name and used the photo of an Italian blogger to create a false narrative that was viewed more than 300,000 times.

The aim was apparently to harass the blogger whose photo was stolen.

Combative conspiracists – the disinformers

Governments are also known for creating and spreading conspiracy theories. Sinclair mentions how Russia, in 1903, fabricated the false document “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which promoted the idea of a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world.

In a more recent example, China used artificial intelligence to create a conspiracy theory about the fires on Maui in 2023.

Sinclair also points out that Russia, famous for manipulating both sides of controversial issues, uses lies to polarize and destabilize.

Recently, digital platforms have taken down disinformation networks identified as supported by countries such as Russia, China and Iran targeting the US election campaign.

Radical conspiracyists – the extremists

There are also members of radical movements, who use conspiracy theories as “bait” to attract new members.

According to Sinclair, they experiment with various theories until they find one that works as a “portal” to radicalization.

According to data from the company Blackbird.AI, during protests against lockdown in 2020, extremists published millions of conspiratorial posts, often with the aim of inciting violence.

The group Boogaloo Bois, for example, generated more than 610 thousand tweets, of which 58% aimed to provoke and radicalize. Despite this, the members themselves admitted that they did not believe in the conspiracies they spread.

Members of the group participated in the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and admitted that they did not actually endorse the conspiracy that the election had been stolen, but were there to “cause problems with the federal government.”

The dangers of spreading conspiracy theories without realizing it

The social psychology professor warns of the importance of being cautious with what you read and share, trying to understand the motivation behind the post.

“These opportunists don’t believe everything they say, but they want you to believe it,” he points out.