Conspiracy theoryDon’t (Just) Blame Echo Chambers. Conspiracy Theorists Actively Seek Out Their Online Communities
Why do people believe conspiracy theories? Is it because of who they are, what they’ve encountered, or a combination of both? The answer is important. Belief in conspiracy theories helps fuel climate change denial, anti-vaccination stances, racism, and distrust of the media and science. Our research shows that people who engage with conspiracy forums actively seek out sympathetic communities, rather than passively stumbling into problematic beliefs.
Why do people believe conspiracy theories? Is it because of who they are, what they’ve encountered, or a combination of both?
The answer is important. Belief in conspiracy theories helps fuel climate change denial, anti-vaccination stances, racism, and distrust of the media and science.
In a paper published today, we shed light on the online world of conspiracy theorists, by studying a large set of user comments.
Our key findings are that people who eventually engage with conspiracy forums differ from those who don’t in both where and what they post. The patterns of difference suggest they actively seek out sympathetic communities, rather than passively stumbling into problematic beliefs.
We looked at eight years of comments posted on the popular website Reddit, a platform hosting millions of individual forums called subreddits.
Our aim was to find out the main differences between users who post in r/conspiracy (a subreddit dedicated to conspiracy theories) and other Reddit users.
Using a technique called sentiment analysis we examined what users said, and where they said it, during the months before their first post in r/conspiracy.
We compared these posts to those of other users who started posting on Reddit at the same time, and in the same subreddits, but without going on to post in r/conspiracy.
We then constructed a network of the subreddits through which r/conspiracy posters travelled. In doing so, we were able to discover how and why they reached their destination.
Seeking the Like-Minded
Our research suggests there is evidence for the “self-selection” of conspiracy theorists. This means users appear to be seeking communities of people who share their views.
Users followed clear pathways to eventually reach r/conspiracy.
For example, these users were over-represented in subreddits focused on politics, drugs and internet culture, and engaged with such topics more often than their matched pairs.
We were also surprised by the diversity of pathways taken to get to r/conspiracy. The users were not as concentrated on one side of the political spectrum as people might expect. Nor did we find more anxiety in their posts, compared with other users.
Our previous research also indicated online conspiracy theorists are more diverse and ordinary than most people assume.
