ANZCA 2021

From the Fringes to the Mainstream: How COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Spread across Social and Mainstream Media

Axel Bruns, Edward Hurcombe, Stephen Harrington, and Nadia Jude

• 9 July 2021 – paper presented at the Australia New Zealand Communication Association conference, online

Alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation has recognised an ‘infodemic’ of mis- and disinformation, generating doubt and fear about the causes, spread, and remedies of coronavirus. Using the example of a prominent conspiracy theory relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper uses large-scale social and mainstream media datasets to investigate the spread of such content through social and mainstream media, paying particular attention especially to the processes by which conspiracy theories move from small-scale conspiracist communities to wider social media circulation, and from there to mainstream media coverage and substantial societal impact.

In doing so, we highlight the role of celebrities and entertainment media as potential conduits for conspiracist material from fringe spaces to much greater circulation, and point to a pronounced lack of critical coverage and societally responsible journalistic gatekeeping in such ‘soft news’ coverage; we also identify a disconnect between the entertainment newsbeats in which celebrity engagement with conspiracy theories circulates from the political and actuality newsbeats that may carry official statements, fact-checks, and other responses from political, medical, and other established stakeholders. This disconnect means that material debunking mis- and disinformation is largely unlikely to be encountered by the same audiences who saw the original conspiracist material.

Building on this analysis, we formulate a number of key recommendations to political, media, and industry stakeholders seeking to combat the spread of mis- and disinformation. These address in particular the need to consider the appropriate mode, forum, and time for responding to conspiracy theories and other mis- and disinformation, and thus to increase public safety from such damaging material.

Video of the Presentation

Presentation Slides