By invading the world this year, the coronavirus pandemic has given rise to a number of conspiracy theories everywhere in its path. A sociological study, published in the British journal Royal Society Open Science, explored the content of these theories and the consequences for their followers.
The results show that the issue of vaccination is at the heart of these misconceptions. "We found a clear link between believing in conspiracy theories and reluctance towards a future vaccine," said one of the authors of this study, Sander van der Linden, a researcher in social psychology at the University of Cambridge, England.
Between 13 and 22% of study participants believe that Covid-19 "is part of a plan to impose global vaccination"
This study is based on opinion polls carried out in the United Kingdom (two successive waves of around 1,000 participants), the United States, Ireland, Mexico and Spain (700 participants each time). Based on responses, researchers estimate that up to a third of the population in some countries is likely to believe in false information and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which has the effect of increasing distrust of the vaccination.
The false theory that participants adhere to the most is that the coronavirus was deliberately manufactured in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the epidemic started. Some 37% of Spanish participants and 33% of Mexican participants consider this theory "reliable", same for 22 and 23% of respondents in the United Kingdom and the United States. And the false claim that the Covid-19 pandemic "is part of a plan to impose global vaccination" is believed to be reliable by 22% of Mexican participants, 18% of Irish, Spanish and American participants, and 13% of participants British.
The people who took part in the survey were questioned both on the reliability they place on these different theories and on their intentions regarding a future vaccine, each time responding with a number on a scale of 1 to 7 According to the researchers, even a small increase in belief in these theories results in a significant drop in confidence in vaccines among respondents.
Digital media education must develop alongside vaccine potential
The major problem with these findings is that these theories are being propagated on social media. Last week, Facebook announced the withdrawal of all accounts linked to the conspiratorial movement "QAnon", as the number of followers of this far-right pro-Trump movement exploded in the run-up to the US presidential election. But tracking down conspiracy theories propagated in each private group or by individual accounts is painstaking work that is almost impossible for the internet giants.
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So they are automatically reading text within images. So I took a screenshot of the Virology Journal website to see what happened and that one did go through.
