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Why trolls, extremists, and others spread conspiracy theories they don’t believe


Some just want to promote conflict, cause chaos, or even just get attention.

These people share conspiracy theories to promote conflict, cause chaos, recruit and radicalize potential followers, make money, harass, or even just to get attention. When researchers tracked down the 12 people primarily responsible for the vast majority of anti-vaccine conspiracies online, most of them had a financial investment in perpetuating these misleading narratives. For instance, conspiracist Alex Jones bragged that his fans would “ buy anything.” Fox News and its on-air personality Tucker Carlson publicized lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election to keep viewers engaged, while behind-the-scenes communications revealed they did not endorse what they espoused.

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