False allegations that COVID-19 vaccines turn children gay or trans are spreading rapidly on Telegram, the messaging-based social-media app. Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian, an Iranian cleric who is known for spreading false medical claims, appeared to be the first to popularize…[Continue Reading...]
A recent study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology reveals that people who struggle to distinguish between different negative emotions are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. Additionally, these individuals often engage in rumination, a maladaptive strategy for emotion regulation.…[Continue Reading...]
Pioneered by digital literacy experts, the "Sift" strategy is a technique for spotting fake news and misleading social media posts, says Amanda Ruggeri. It's no secret that misinformation is rampant on social media. And it's even more so in some…[Continue Reading...]
Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and they can involve just about anything. People believe false conspiracy theories for a wide range of reasons – including the fact that there are real conspiracies, like efforts by the Sackler family to profit by…[Continue Reading...]
Conspiracy theories describe what adherents believe to be secret plots by powerful and malevolent groups to control, impoverish or harm hard-working people. Many conspiracy theorists share the conviction that information is being concealed from them by “elites” or “the deep…[Continue Reading...]
The Oklahoma grandmother accused of masterminding a scheme to kill two women over a custody battle realting to her grandkids posted increasingly disturbing messages on her now-defunct Facebook page before the murders. Tifany Adams is “unhinged,” acccording to Leanne Webb,…[Continue Reading...]
Conspiracy theorists get a bad rap in popular culture, yet research has shown that most Americans believe conspiracy theories of some sort. Why then, if most of us believe conspiracies, do we generally think of conspiracy theorists as loony? New…[Continue Reading...]
When we think about a person who believes one or multiple conspiracy theories, we tend to think of someone with relatively stable and fixed beliefs. In the public imagination, this is one of the things that makes dealing with conspiracy…[Continue Reading...]
The pain of the parents who lost their children, first grade students at Sandy Hook Elementary School, still feels fresh nearly 12 years after the shooting. In a new documentary about the tragedy, Mark Barden says that as he and…[Continue Reading...]
During the COVID pandemic, social media platforms were swarmed by far-right and anti-vaccination communities that spread dangerous conspiracy theories. These included the false claims that vaccines are a form of population control, and that the virus was a “deep state”…[Continue Reading...]
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