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1 / A lot of people ask me about Bill Gates, 5G, and QAnon conspiracy theorists: how can people believe this stuff?

I asked the best conspiracy theory expert I know, Pitzer College professor Brian Keeley, how people can believe such sensational lies.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
2 / In times of crisis, some people cling to the comfort of far-fetched — ultimately simple — answers for complex problems.

That means mortal, recognizable boogeymen.

Know how nice it would feel if COVID went away — if we only we could beat one bad guy?

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
3 / “People are looking for these kinds of explanations to control something in their lives," Keeley told me.

Blaming Bill Gates or 5G gives conspiracy theorists hope, agency, power in a time of chaos.

In reality, they're a scapegoat for an act of God.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
4 / In 1999, Keeley wrote that conspiracy theorists "are the last believers in an ordered universe."

“By supposing current events are under the control of nefarious agents, conspiracy theories entail that such events are capable of being controlled."

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
5 / I've been covering this stuff for a while now, and I always think about Keeley's paper.

Not all of these conspiracy theorists are inherently vicious trolls.

Many are trying to find meaning in chaotic times.

Some are merely duped for power—or profit.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
6 / As @wphillips49 told me, these conspiracy theories work because "it isn't just one narrative that you can debunk":

"The reason conspiracy theories are impervious to fact-checking is that they have become a way of being in the world for believers."

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
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Ben Collins
@oneunderscore__
New from me:

'What are we doing this for?': Doctors are fed up with conspiracies ravaging ERs

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
I think a lot of people presume that there is no real human cost to pushing lies about Bill Gates and 5G.

But I talked to doctors who are feeling the real-world impact of algorithmically preferred lies that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter won't stop.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
After a shift treating COVID patients, Dr. Hadi Halazun went on Facebook to see a man telling him that “no one’s dying” and the "hospitals are empty."

One tried to prove he wasn't a real doctor by trawling through his pictures and posting concert photos.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
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Ben Collins
@oneunderscore__
I keep thinking about people going down YouTube rabbitholes because of quarantine, and how notorious disinformation peddlers have been waiting for this moment for their whole lives, and how these two things together might create a potentially unprecedented mental health problem.
I have a story coming today about probably the most vicious real-world effects of this phenomenon, but I think we're at the very beginning of a sad and supercharged case of mainstreamed anti-science and anti-government extremists, fueled largely by Satanic Panic.
When reality is too dark, and there are no easy answers or even rewarding mythology to assuage fears, people historically resort to dark mythology. Blaming witches, Satan, new technology.

It's nothing new — but algorithm-driven rabbit holes that make extremism lucrative are.
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Ben Collins
@oneunderscore__
New from me: Did you get a text from a friend who has a “close friend with incredibly reliable information,” “a source who works for DHS” or "the mayor's office" warning of martial law?

It isn't true—but academics are warning against "hidden viral" texts.
nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
"Hidden viral" texts are ones with massive reach via text message that are impossible to quantify, since they're privately to small groups, like chain letters.

They're even more effective, because they're sent from a friend with an emotional appeal.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Don't shame friends family members for sending along these plausible (but wrong) texts that claim to be from "a friend's dad in the secret service" in a time of great uncertainty.

It's human.

Just check the news first before you send them along.

nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
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