Rise of Conspiracy Theories in the Pandemic Times

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic occurred as an unexpected experience affecting all countries around the globe. In addition to the obvious health, economic and political effects, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered immense changes in the social spheres. People and institutions were forced to adjust to the new circumstances, change habits and move most or all of their activity online. In the completely virtual world, pandemic became a fertile ground for the bloom of the conspiracy theories already existing, but struggling for the global attention. The aim of the paper is to present three main conspiracy theories rapidly gaining popularity during the pandemic (the QAnon, anti-vaccination movements and anti-5G movements) and to analyse how they developed since the pandemic had been announced. In particular, the rising activity of the representatives of the movements will be analysed, as well as its acceleration in connection with pandemic and the resulting influence on social and political life. Finally, the paper will try examine whether the rapid development of conspiracy theories within societies has had any relations to the level of trust towards government-made decisions. The thesis being verified hereto is that pandemic accelerated the development of conspiracy theories due to the diminishing level of trust towards governments operating in the most difficult period in recent history. There are variety of reasons for the belief in conspiracy theories and they depend on the specificity of the theory and specificity of group of people it originates from. In general, it can be noted that all kind of conspiracies are developed by either (1) people who actually believe in them and are sharing them with good intentions (to warn other about the dangers hidden behind certain actions or institutions) or (2) malignant individuals whose aim is to discord or discredit an opponent or critic or, alternatively, distract attention from misconduct or lack of competence.

Did we trust in science during the COVID‐19 pandemic? Modeling the relationship between trust, awareness, and conspiracy theories

“…With the outbreak of the pandemic, we were faced with a serious proliferation of conspiracy theories. Basically, conspiracy theories arise either from a lack of information or from ideas put forward by truly malicious people (Kużelewska & Tomaszuk, 2022). This situation leads to the information gap being filled by information that has no scientific basis, and the behavior that should be demonstrated in reality is claimed to be contrary (Jolley & Douglas, 2014).…”

Politicizing COVID-19 Lingua in Western and Arab Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis

“…According to Kużelewska and Tomaszuk “misinformation or conspiracy theories are not just a problem of content, they are rather problem of transmission. Even state officials are able to activate emergency alerts systems across mobile phones and radio to reach the public, no such emergency protocols exist for social media” [ 26 , p.2]. This, in turn, has led others to invent a mammoth of conspiracy theories with the help of media platforms [ 26 ].…”

“…Even state officials are able to activate emergency alerts systems across mobile phones and radio to reach the public, no such emergency protocols exist for social media” [ 26 , p.2]. This, in turn, has led others to invent a mammoth of conspiracy theories with the help of media platforms [ 26 ]. In fast and wired virtual we live in “pandemic became a fertile ground for the bloom of the conspiracy theories already existing, but struggling for the global attention” [ 26 , p.1].…”

“…This, in turn, has led others to invent a mammoth of conspiracy theories with the help of media platforms [ 26 ]. In fast and wired virtual we live in “pandemic became a fertile ground for the bloom of the conspiracy theories already existing, but struggling for the global attention” [ 26 , p.1]. Lockdowns and curfews will in total affect.…”

“Be honest and gain trust”: A mixed methods study to understand factors associated with building trust in local government related to COVID-19 and vaccination in three historically disinvested neighborhoods in New York City

“…Simultaneously, misinformation and conspiracy theories related to SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 vaccines grew, and gained traction on social media platforms. (12) Anti-vaccination groups actively worked to develop distrust, capitalizing on the fear and worry of vaccine side effects. ( 13) Believers of conspiracies tend to distrust government and scienti c messaging and use conspiracies to create explanations for occurring problems.…”