Investigating offline harms of online misinformation through Anti-5G conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories claim that significant social events were caused by secret actions of malevolent groups, planned to disguise their own interests (Douglas, Sutton, & Cichocka, 2017; McCauley & Jaques, 1979). In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, several conspiracy theories surrounding coronavirus and measures taken to contain the pandemic flooded social media networks, prompting the WHO to declare an "infodemic" (WHO, 2020).

The proliferation of misinformation online is not without consequences: Strong conspiracy beliefs have been shown to be associated with reduced intentions to engage in behaviours (e.g. social distancing) which reduce the spread of Covid-19 (Biddlestone, Green, & Douglas, 2020), decreases in normative political engagement (Imhoff, Dieterle, & Lamberty, 2019), and increased justification, as well as intent, to engage in violent behaviour (Jolley, Douglas, Leite, & Schrader, 2019; Rottweiler & Gill, 2020).

In early 2020 the violent effects of online misinformation were brought to light in the UK as a series of arson attacks was carried out on phone masts, resulting in internet outage at a crucial time in the pandemic (Parveen & Waterson, 2020). The attacks were fuelled by beliefs in Anti-5G conspiracy theories which posits that coronavirus is caused by 5G waves (Bruns, Harrington, & Hurcombe, 2020).

Similarly, the 2021 insurrection of the US capitol, in which five people died and over 100 were injured, was strongly tied to supporters of the QAnon conspiracy (Barry, McIntire, & Rosenberg, 2021). The main aim of this PhD project is thus to investigate the offline harms that stem from online misinformation, focusing particularly on Anti-5G conspiracies. The project is funded by EPSRC iCASE grant and is in collaboration with BT.

Current research indicates that people are drawn to conspiracy theories to satisfy psychological needs, especially during times of great personal or social uncertainty (Douglas et al. 2019). However, although conspiracy beliefs are prevalent in society, the question of how some people get radicalised into sometimes violent, extremist communities prevails.

Drawing from literature of social identity theory, polarisation, moral panic and political radicalisation, the project focuses on the following questions: What are the structures of conspiracy online communities and how do they contribute to radicalisation? How do conspiracy narratives, particularly the Anti-5G narrative, change over time?

How does online engagement with conspiracy theories translate to offline behaviour?

The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from methodology from computational social science (e.g. social network analysis, computational linguistics) and traditional experimental psychology. Through the use of real social media data and insights from BT's network analysts, the effects of online misinformation on offline behaviour will be investigated in an ecologically valid environment at scale, providing insight into causal mechanisms of radicalisation and offline violent behaviour.