When Did News Reports Turn Into Conspiracies?

Conspiracy theories have played a significant role in conflicts from the 17th century Indian wars to the Gilded Age labor battles, the American Revolution, and the War on Terror. Katharina Thalmann’s account of conspiracy theory research builds on earlier work by Jack Bratich and Mark. QAnon is an unfounded theory that claims President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping.

Conspiration theories began circulating online around June 2020 but gained significant traction later in the year. The term “conspiracy theory” is itself the subject of a conspiracy theory, which posits that the term was popularized by the CIA to discredit conspiratorial believers. Conspiracy theories are abundant in social and political discourse, yet a coordinated research agenda to grapple with their causes and consequences has only developed in the last decade.

The unexplained suicide of Jeffrey Epstein has given rise to conspiracy theories. People sometimes seek simplistic answers when confronted by complex, complex issues. A subreddit called r/The_Donald was created where participants created discussions and memes in support of U.S. president Donald Trump. The study proposes studying “participatory conspiracy culture”, the everyday, mundane online debates about conspiracy theories.

Conspiration theories have always served as dark counter programming to the events and people they describe. President Trump, viewed as a hero by the movement, has stopped short of endorsing the conspiracy theory but has described QAnon activists as “… A popular Reddit board dedicated to promoting and discussing the QAnon conspiracy theory was banned from Reddit on Wednesday for repeated violations of the rules”.