Aug 7, 2026 · 10 min · 9 segments
Conspiracy theories are everywhere. They come up in everyday conversation, online, and increasingly in mainstream debate. We have seen claims that COVID vaccines were being used to implant tracking…
Binna KandolaGuestGraceHostIn a world of social media and interconnectedness, we have so much information at our fingertips, and there are, I think, on TikTok alone, 23 to 34 million videos going live every single day.
Something that's on the rise at the moment, or seems to be, is access to conspiracy theories.
I know you've been looking at some research into this, Binna.
This is, this is actually taken from a special edition of the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, and the editors, Linden, Thompson, and Rozenbeek, actually did a very useful summary of the key theories at the start of that edition.
Okay.
So, I mean, maybe the most obvious thing to start with, what is a conspiracy theory?
Well, a conspiracy theory is usually defined as an attempt to explain major social or political events as the result of secret coordinated actions by powerful and malicious groups.
Yeah.
So you've got complex events happening in the world, but this provides a very simple explanation for what's going on.
Mm.
And of course, we had-- you talked about things on TikTok, but, you know, people have talked about conspiracies related to COVID.
Mm.
Before that, that, uh, 9/11 and the Twin Towers attacks were actually, was an inside job.
And then before that, in my lifetime, that the, uh, NASA Moon landings was all a conspiracy, and they never really happened.
Mm.
So where do these conspiracy theories come from? Why do people start to share them? Why do people start to believe in them?
In a world of social media and interconnectedness, we have so much information at our fingertips, and there are, I think, on TikTok alone, 23 to 34 million videos going live every single day.
Something that's on the rise at the moment, or seems to be, is access to conspiracy theories.
I know you've been looking at some research into this, Binna.
This is, this is actually taken from a special edition of the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, and the editors, Linden, Thompson, and Rozenbeek, actually did a very useful summary of the key theories at the start of that edition.
Okay.
So, I mean, maybe the most obvious thing to start with, what is a conspiracy theory?
Well, a conspiracy theory is usually defined as an attempt to explain major social or political events as the result of secret coordinated actions by powerful and malicious groups.
Yeah.
So you've got complex events happening in the world, but this provides a very simple explanation for what's going on.
Mm.
And of course, we had-- you talked about things on TikTok, but, you know, people have talked about conspiracies related to COVID.
Mm.
Before that, that, uh, 9/11 and the Twin Towers attacks were actually, was an inside job.
And then before that, in my lifetime, that the, uh, NASA Moon landings was all a conspiracy, and they never really happened.
Mm.
So where do these conspiracy theories come from? Why do people start to share them? Why do people start to believe in them?
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