Conspiracy

Parents are furious at a man who charged them as much as £35 (around $44) per ticket for a Willy Wonka-themed family event in Glasgow, Scotland this weekend. That’s because the “immersive” experience sold to them by a sketchy company called House of Illuminati turned out to be little more than a few set props and unprepared actors in a mostly barren warehouse — with no chocolate whatsoever. Customers, some of whom traveled from afar and waited in a long line with their children, were incensed enough to call the…

Distribution of the percentage of anti-vaccine information spreading accounts in the friend list. Credit: Journal of Computational Social Science (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s42001-023-00241-8 Heightened use of social media during the coronavirus pandemic brought with it an unprecedented surge in the spread of misinformation. Of particular significance were conspiracy theories surrounding the virus and vaccines made to combat it.…

Cellular towers are shown on February 22, 2024 in Redondo Beach, California.Photo: Eric Thayer/Getty Images (Getty Images)AT&T issued a statement Thursday night to explain that the telecom’s widespread network outage earlier in the day wasn’t caused by a cyberattack. Countless conspiracy theories emerged online Thursday morning as people naturally wondered why they’d lost service—theories that will hopefully be put to rest as AT&T investigates the exact cause of the service disruption.How to Prep for a Power…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain With Taylor Swift pulling in over half-a-million audience members on her Australian tour, we've been thinking a lot about fans. In this series, our academics dive into fan cultures: how they developed, how they operate, and how they shape the world today. For years, people have claimed Elvis Presley is alive and…

Wireless customers with AT&T, Cricket Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon all reported outages across the country this morning. And just like clockwork, some folks online pounced on the disruption as evidence of a global conspiracy. What Drew Noomi Rapace to Constellation?Alex Jones, arguably America’s most popular conspiracy theorist, believes the telecom outage is a direct result of Chinese hackers.“Is it a cyber attack? AT&T is being very tight-lipped,” Jones insisted in a web broadcast on Thursday in his typical…

If you’ve ever donated blood, you know part of the process is a lengthy — and slightly invasive — questionnaire regarding your medical, travel, and even sexual history. It’s a bit annoying, but helping maintain the national blood supply for medical emergencies is worth it. In 2021 the Red Cross issued guidelines that allow those who have received the Covid-19 vaccine to donate so long as they’re not actively experiencing symptoms from the vaccination. Right-wing influencers have apparently just become aware of the…

Many people believe at least one conspiracy theory. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing – conspiracies do happen.To take just one example, the CIA really did engage in illegal experiments in the 1950s to identify drugs and procedures that might produce confessions from captured spies.However, many conspiracy theories are not supported by evidence, yet still attract believers.For example, in a previous study, we found about 7 percent of New Zealanders and Australians agreed with the theory that visible trails behind…

Plot of trajectories over time. Panels display percentage of participants in each trajectory group (columns), for each item (rows). Plotted lines represent agreement with item over time for individual participants. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51653-z From 9/11 to COVID, researchers including La Trobe University's Dr. Mathew Marques, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, surveyed just shy of 500…

Apple TV Plus has announced a brand-new thriller called “Prime Target,” starring Quintessa Swindel and SAG Award winner Leo Woodall.Leo Woodall is the talk of the town at the moment, recently starring in Netflix’s critically acclaimed One Day based on David Nicholls' bestselling book. You’ll also recognize Woodall from the second series of Emmy award-winning White Lotus, where he portrayed Jack, a boy caught up in the mafia.Will Prime Target be prime viewing?Prime Target follows Edward Brooks, played by Woodall, as he…

The Kansas City Chiefs became back-to-back Super Bowl champions on Sunday. The victory solidified Taylor Swift’s status as chief right-wing anti-hero.  For weeks now, conservatives have been floating unhinged conspiracy theories accusing Swift of dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce as part of a deep-state plot to help President Joe Biden win the 2024 general election in November. It’s certifiably insane, but as with most conspiracy theories believers are able to twist reality into a confirmation. For some…