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UrduDonald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate JD Vance repeatedly avoided confirming that Trump lost the 2020 election during a recent New York Times interview. …
Tag: Conspiracy Theories
Americans are bad at recognizing conspiracy theories when they believe they’re true
New research shows this was true both for people who self-identified as liberal and conservative
Anti-vaccine conspiracies fuel divisive political discourse
Heightened use of social media during the coronavirus pandemic brought with it an unprecedented surge in the spread of misinformation.
Rise of malicious bots: how automatons shake up Twitter with earthquake conspiracies
In light of the growing dominance of social media and the spread of misinformation, a new paper reveals how bots contribute to the dissemination of conspiracy theories surrounding earthquakes.
Conspiracy Theorists May Not Always Think Rationally, but They Don’t Generally Believe Contradictory Claims
It’s easy to characterize conspiracy theorists as people who will believe just about anything. However, it’s not true that conspiracy theorists commonly believe contradictory conspiracies, such as the claim that Diana, Princess of Wales, both was murdered and is still alive after faking her own death.
There’s no evidence that U.S. aid money sent to Ukraine was then used to invest in FTX as a money laundering scheme
The news that FTX, the cryptocurrency company, filed for bankruptcy protection amid news it was short billions of dollars has spawned many conspiracy theories being shared on social media.
Considering COVID a hoax is ‘gateway’ to belief in conspiracy theories
Belief that the COVID-19 pandemic was a hoax – that its severity was exaggerated or that the virus was deliberately released for sinister reasons – functions as a “gateway” to believing in conspiracy theories generally, new research has found.
COVID-19 conspiracy theories could be a “gateway” to belief in more conspiracies
In a new analysis, people who more strongly believed in COVID-19 conspiracy theories were more likely to subsequently develop an increased tendency to believe in conspiracy theories in general.
Why do COVID-19 conspiracy theories persist on social media?
IIASA researchers have analyzed the discussion on eight different conspiracy theories that was spread widely on Twitter during the pandemic.
180 million Parler posts show discussion dominated by Trump, conversative topics, conspiracy theories
Article title: A Large Open Dataset from the Parler Social Network Authors: Max Aliapoulios, Emmi Bevensee, Jeremy Blackburn, Barry Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou From the authors: “This paper presents a dataset of 183M Parler posts made by…
A Contagion of Institutional Distrust
The aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol has led to the emergence of a new broad, anti-government conspiracy theory spreading on social media that is dovetailing with anti-vaccination and anti-public health extremism, according to a new report by Rutgers’ Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience.
University of Northern Colorado Immunology Expert Discusses COVID-19 Vaccines, Debunks Misinformation
Nick Pullen, Ph.D., an associate professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado, shares his expertise on the COVID-19 vaccines and debunks some of the myths surrounding them.
“Fake News” Went Viral After the Death of King James I
Alastair Bellany, chair of Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s history department, discusses how the death of one early-modern English king spurred a viral conspiracy theory that, through pamphlets and word of mouth, contributed to the execution of the next king – and whether parallels can be drawn to our own age of QAnon-fueled and politically driven lies about everything from vaccines to election integrity.
COVID-19 Crisis Communication Expert Available
In a world where conspiracy theories and political polarization abound, how does one effectively pull off double duty at battling against both the spread of COVID-19 and misinformation about it? For answers, we turned to Rebecca Rice, a UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs professor who specializes in crisis communication.
Men are more likely than women to endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories
In a new study, men were more likely than women to endorse conspiracy theories connected to COVID-19. This important research will help debunk potentially dangerous falsehoods regarding the pandemic and enhance public health practices.
Psychological Science and COVID-19: Conspiracy Theories
Expert commentary from Karen Douglas, professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, UK, whose research focuses on beliefs in conspiracy theories. Why are conspiracy theories so popular? Who believes them? Why do people believe them? What are some of…
COVID-19 conspiracy theories: Expert discusses the psychology and danger
Conspiracy theories have been the gasoline on the fire that has sparked resistance to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines and doubts over the danger of the disease. That resistance has escalated into protests in several states. Conspiracy theory expert Joanne Miller, an…
DePaul University experts available to discuss recovery, life after the COVID-19 pandemic
Recovery. Reentry. Reopen. Return. A new normal. Faculty experts at DePaul University are available for news media interviews about what comes next — after the COVID-19 pandemic. Does the world return to normal or will there be fundamental changes to how we live our lives, work, and travel; and how we are governed?
COVID-19 provides fertile breeding ground for conspiracy theories
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the spread of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus threatens to undermine legitimate efforts to combat the disease and cause lasting harm, warn researchers at Texas State University.
How can we be more sure social media posts about coronavirus are accurate?
As COVID-19 has increasingly isolated us from each other, we’re relying more and more on social media for a sense of connection and as a source of information about the virus and it’s spread. But how can we be more confident that what we’re seeing is accurate?
.@UNLV Expert Available: Aliens & Area 51
He’s somewhere out there: That is, Michael Ian Borer, a UNLV sociologist and pop culture expert who’s available to offer context to media stories about the swelling interest in aliens and the Area 51 military base in Nevada. Items that Borer…