Covid Conspiracies

 

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is one of the leading public figures in the fight against coronavirus pandemic, but also a target of several conspiracy theories. 

Conspiracy theories and misinformation linking Bill Gates to the coronavirus' origins were mentioned 1.2 million times on television and social media between February and April this year, according to an analysis by the New York Times and media analytics company Zignal Labs. Several theories linking the Microsoft co-founder to coronavirus have flooded social media ever since the pandemic broke.

So, how did Bill Gates become the voodoo doll of COVID conspiracies?

The genesis of these distorted tidings dates back to 2015 when an unassuming-looking Gates issued a dire warning from the stage of TED conference in Vancouver saying that "if anything kills over 10 million people over the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than war."

The fact that he has been quite vocal about the bigger danger a global pandemic could pose for many years ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic has been lapped up by conspiracy theorists with some of them alleging it as proof that Gates appeared to have known beforehand about coronavirus. While some are of the view that he is leading a class of global elites, others believe Gates is at the forefront of efforts to depopulate the world. Several others accuse him of making vaccines a requisite or even trying to implant microchips into people.

What people believe:

As conspiracies are the quickest to stem from people's united belief at large, measuring the odds of this one doesn't seem like such a lousy idea. Using a representative survey of U.S. adults fielded March 17-19, 2020 (n=2,023), we examine the prevalence and correlates of beliefs in two conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

29% of respondents agree that the threat of COVID-19 has been exaggerated to damage President Trump's reputation and elevate his inability to tackle a full-blown pandemic; 31% agree that the virus was purposefully created and spread.

Conspiracy beliefs, especially those regarding science, medicine, and health-related topics — are widespread and capable of prompting people to eschew appropriate health-related behaviours. These inactions can result in negative societal consequences that reach beyond the individual conspiracy believer (e.g., failing to vaccinate one's children can contribute to a resurgence in once eradicated diseases). A primary step in any initiative to correct harmful beliefs is to understand their characteristics and sources. 

We find that the psychological predisposition to reject expert, authoritative information (denialism), the tendency to view major social and political events as the product of conspiracies (conspiracy thinking), and partisan motivations are the strongest explanatory factors behind COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs.