Early COVID-19 Government Communication Is Associated With Reduced Interest in the QAnon Conspiracy Theory.

ABSTRACT: Does inadequate risk communication during uncertain times trigger the rise of conspiratorial ideas? We hypothesize that, where government COVID-19 risk communication started early, as measured by the number of days between the start of the communication campaign and the first case in the country, citizens are less likely to turn to conspiratorial explanations for the pandemic, which typically assign blame to powerful actors with secret interests. In Study 1a, we find strong support for our hypothesis in a global sample of 111 countries, using daily Google search volumes for QAnon as a measure of interest in QAnon, which is a conspiracy theory contending, among other things, that COVID-19 is a conspiracy orchestrated by powerful actors and aimed at repressing civil liberties. The effect is

SUBMITTER: Chan HF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8438198 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature