编辑“陰謀論”（章节）

==流行度==
陰謀论信念遍佈世界各地<ref name="van ProoijenDouglas2018"/>。在非洲农村地区，阴谋论的常见目标有社会精英、敌方部落、西方世界。支持者往往認為阴谋家透過術法來實施阴谋，還有就是指責現代技術本身就是一種邪術，用以傷害或控制人民<ref name="van ProoijenDouglas2018"/>。在[[中华人民共和国|中国大陸]]，則廣為流傳着針對[[罗斯柴尔德家族]]的阴谋论。該一說法認為希特拉掌權、[[亞洲金融風暴]]、[[全球变暖]]都為罗斯柴尔德家族一手策劃。它有可能影響了大眾對於通貨政策的討論<ref name="SunsteinVermeule2009"/><ref name="Byford2011">{{cite book |author=J. Byford |title=Conspiracy Theories: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m5Er9ELOwQkC |date=2011-10-12 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-34921-6 |pages=7–8 |access-date=2020-12-21 |archive-date=2014-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125180033/http://books.google.com/books?id=m5Er9ELOwQkC&printsec=frontcover |dead-url=no }}</ref>。

阴谋论的傳播曾经只流于边缘受众，不過到了現代則因[[大眾媒體]]而能夠更貼近主流，成为20世纪末21世纪初美國的一种[[從眾效應|文化现象]]{{sfn|Barkun|2003|p=58}}<ref name="Camp 1997"/><ref name="Goldberg 2001"/><ref name="Fenster 2008"/>。相信阴谋论的倾向跨越了党派和意识形态。陰謀論思維跟反政府取向和低政治效能感相关，陰謀論支持者认为政府對個人權利構成威胁，並會懷疑投票給誰是否真的重要<ref>Adam M. Enders, "Conspiratorial Thinking and Political Constraint." ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' 83.3 (2019): 510–533.</ref>。

世界上不少人支持阴谋论，當中部分甚至成為大多數人的信念<ref name="van ProoijenDouglas2018"/><ref name="SunsteinVermeule2009"/><ref name="Brotherton2015-i"/>。美國有很多人或多或少相信一些陰謀論<ref>{{cite book |last1=West |first=Harry G. |last2=Sanders |first2=Todd |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeMdeV_LvAMC&pg=PP9 |title=Transparency and conspiracy: ethnographies of suspicion in the new world order |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-3024-0 |page=4 |access-date=2016-08-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122093329/https://books.google.com/books?id=HeMdeV_LvAMC&pg=PP9 |archive-date=2017-01-22 |deadurl=no }}</ref>。比如一項於2016年進行的研究發現，有10%美國人相信[[化学尾迹阴谋论]]「完全正確」，20-30%則認為其「有几分道理」<ref name=Gizearth />。這「相当于美国人當中有1.2亿人相信『化学尾迹是真的』」<ref name=Gizearth>{{cite news|last= Kahn|first= Brian|date= 2017-11-02|title= There's a Damn Good Chance Your Neighbor Thinks Chemtrails Are Real|url= https://earther.gizmodo.com/theres-a-damn-good-chance-your-neighbor-thinks-chemtrai-1820077077|work= Gizmodo Earther|access-date=  2019-03-05|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190307173758/https://earther.gizmodo.com/theres-a-damn-good-chance-your-neighbor-thinks-chemtrai-1820077077|archive-date= 2019-03-07|deadurl=no }}</ref>。

網絡上有着不少阴谋论，它們以[[網誌]]、[[YouTube]]视频、[[社会化媒体|社交媒体]]的形式流傳。但互聯網是否使陰謀論更為流行則仍待研究探討<ref>{{cite journal |author= Wood, M. |title= Has the Internet been good for conspiracy theorising? |journal= Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG) Quarterly |year= 2015 |number= 88 |pages= 31–33 |url= http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf |access-date=2015-09-13 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150813062541/http://www.psypag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Issue-88.pdf |archive-date= 2015-08-13 |deadurl=no }}</ref>。已有研究探討了[[网络搜索引擎|搜索引擎]]上的陰謀論結果，结果显示不同主题的阴谋论存在显著差异。陰謀論結果的連結普遍缺乏信誉，而且质量較低<ref>{{cite journal |author= Ballatore, A. |title= Google chemtrails: A methodology to analyze topic representation in search engine results |journal= First Monday |year= 2015 |volume= 20 |number= 7 |url= http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5597 |doi= 10.5210/fm.v20i7.5597 |access-date= 2015-09-12 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924102123/http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5597 |archive-date=  2015-09-24 |deadurl=no }}</ref>。

在奧巴馬在位期間，不少有關他的陰謀論開始流傳，其中一個有關其出生地的陰謀論<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Enders|first1=Adam M.|last2=Smallpage|first2=Steven M.|last3=Lupton|first3=Robert N.|date=2018-07-09|title=Are All 'Birthers' Conspiracy Theorists? On the Relationship Between Conspiratorial Thinking and Political Orientations|journal=British Journal of Political Science|volume=50|issue=3|pages=849–866|doi=10.1017/s0007123417000837|issn=0007-1234}}</ref>稱他不是在夏威夷出生，真正的出生地點反而是肯尼亞<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sweek|first=Joel|date= 2006|title=Michael Barkun, . A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xii+243 pp. $24.95 (cloth).|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-religion_2006-10_86_4/page/691|journal=The Journal of Religion|volume=86|issue=4|pages=691–692|doi=10.1086/509680|issn=0022-4189}}</ref>。阿肯色州前州长、奥巴马的政治对手[[麥克·赫卡比]]及一眾[[共和黨 (美國)|共和黨]]人一再质疑奥巴马的公民身份，使此事於2011年成為頭條<ref>{{Cite news|last=News|first=Albert R. Hunt {{!}} Bloomberg|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/us/04iht-letter04.html|title=Republicans Ride Theories of the Fringe|date=2011-04-03|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-23|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408044013/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/us/04iht-letter04.html|archive-date= 2011-04-08|deadurl=no}}</ref>。

谷歌前工程師紀堯姆·查斯洛特指出[[YouTube]]的推薦算法為了將用戶更久地在網站看視頻，偏向推薦陰謀論的視頻。查斯洛特和他的團隊進行了18個月的研究，每項研究都發現YouTube在系統性地放大各類型的陰謀論視頻<ref>{{cite news |author1=Paul Lewis |title='Fiction is outperforming reality': how YouTube's algorithm distorts truth |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/02/how-youtubes-algorithm-distorts-truth |accessdate=2021-09-19 |work=[[衛報]] |date=2018-02-02 |language=en |archive-date=2020-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407024503/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/02/how-youtubes-algorithm-distorts-truth |dead-url=no }}</ref>。