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True Costs of Misinformation| Conspiracy Theories Harm Democracy


 
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1. Title Title of document True Costs of Misinformation| Conspiracy Theories Harm Democracy
 
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Nicole Curato; University of Birmingham; United Kingdom
 
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Sofia Tomacruz; Columbia University; United States
 
3. Subject Discipline(s)
 
3. Subject Keyword(s) conspiracy theory, deliberative democracy, disinformation, public sphere; the Philippines
 
4. Description Abstract

This article examines the harms of conspiracy theories to deliberative democracy. We begin by mapping the debate on the harms and potential contributions of conspiracy theories in the public sphere. We then extend this debate by grounding our argument in empirical research on the production and reception of conspiracy theories in the Philippines—the so-called “patient zero” in the global disinformation epidemic. We argue that conspiracy theories harm deliberative democracy in two ways. First, they corrupt deliberative norms by instrumentalizing their performance to secure commercial gains. More than simply mobilizing emotions, we find conspiracy theories to simulate deliberative norms of appealing to evidence and encouraging viewers to practice informed judgment. Second, we argue that conspiracy theories serve particular functions in the public sphere, including as placeholder explanations for issues people do not wish to discuss. We argue that besides worrying about the poor epistemic quality of conspiracy theories, of greater concern is their discursive power to evade difficult conversations and pursue plausible political projects on which people can pin their hopes.
 
5. Publisher Organizing agency, location USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
 
6. Contributor Sponsor(s)
 
7. Date (YYYY-MM-DD) 2025-06-09
 
8. Type Status & genre Peer-reviewed Article
 
8. Type Type
 
9. Format File format PDF
 
10. Identifier Uniform Resource Identifier https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/22799
 
11. Source Title; vol., no. (year) International Journal of Communication; Vol 19 (2025)
 
12. Language English=en en
 
13. Relation Supp. Files
 
14. Coverage Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.)
 
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