Work

“I Am Not a Conspiracy Theorist, But . . .”: Communicative Norms in Conspiracy Theory Supporters’ Interactions With Other News Users in Germany, Israel, Sweden, and the United States

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Belief in conspiracy theories (CTs) has gained considerable public visibility, raising concerns about supporters’ antidemocratic attitudes and resistance to evidence-based arguments. While there is ample research documenting such tendencies among dedicated CT communities, however, it is less clear how well these findings generalize toward other CT supporters closer to the societal mainstream. In this study, we analyze user commentary responding to German, Israeli, Swedish, and U.S. news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine how CT-related ideas are presented and contested within mainstream public discourse. Based on a pragma-dialectic analysis of CT-related controversies in user-generated commentary, we study which political and epistemic norms are invoked and practiced by CT supporters. We find that most individuals expressing support for CTs remain broadly committed to democratic pluralism and evidence-based argument, even if they frequently violate these norms in practice; instead, CT supporters’ rejection of institutional validation emerges as a key distinction.

Source: International journal of communication

DOI: 10.65476/r7qcw994

Authors: Christian Baden, Nina Springer, Benjamin Krämer, Nina Steindl

Institutions: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Münster, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Language: English

Topic: Misinformation and Its Impacts

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W7141298408

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