Dealing with conspiracy theories: debunking works
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A Chinese biological weapon! Bill Gates! 5G! Asterix and Obelix! Five years ago, the coronavirus pandemic saw followers of conspiracy theories going more than a little crazy: they competed to explain who or what was “really” behind it, and who had “invented” Covid-19.
During the pandemic, almost all the journalists in Switzerland who reported on the coronavirus experienced external pressure and influence on their work. According to the 2022 “Yearbook Quality in the Media”, this was due to the “widespread circulation” of conspiracy theories during that time.
Conspiracy theories: persistent and dangerous
One in four people in German-speaking Switzerland and Germany are thought to have believed in either some or all of the conspiracy theories that were flying around during the pandemic. Some 26 percent of the German-speaking Swiss population believed that the government and politicians wanted to spread fear and had bad intentions. These findings were revealed by a new large-scale study by the Institute of Communication and Media Studies (IKMB) at the University of Bern covering the period of the pandemic period and its aftermath.
More on the study
Between 2020 and 2024, the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern carried out a representative study entitled “Preparing the mainstream media for the next pandemic” using online tracking, surveys and an experiment. A total of over 3,000 people from German-speaking Switzerland and Germany took part. The Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases funded the study.
A conspiracy theory is “a statement which makes an accusation that someone, usually an elite group, is involved in an malevolent scheme which aims to harm a large community,” explains Tobias Rohrbach, media scientist at the IKMB.
It is a self-perpetuating system, resistant to facts and arguments. A lack of evidence is seen as proof that something is being covered up. Conspiracy theories – or conspiracy narratives, narratives, myths, ideology – are often persistent. And they can cause massive harm to individuals and societies, erode trust, and fuel violence and incitement. Among others, climate-change deniers, anti-vaccination activists, anti-state anarchists and anti-Semitic groups thrive in this milieu.
Content retrieved from: https://www.uniaktuell.unibe.ch/2025/dealing_with_conspiracy_theories_debunking_works/index_eng.html.
