ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 considers the key characteristics of Covid-19 conspiracy theories. The aim of the chapter is to identify what, if anything, is new about Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Some of these features concern the form and content of the conspiracy theories and some relate more to their social function. In terms of the former, the chapter considers how several conspiracy narratives have converged around the Covid story; how ready-made conspiracy narratives are assembled in a modular way; how pre-existing conspiracy narratives, like QAnon, incorporated Covid-19; and how superconspiracies that try to explain everything have become prominent. In terms of social function, the chapter examines how we might read Covid-19 conspiracy theories symptomatically; how they are enmeshed in the contemporary information ecosystem, distributed across different nodes; and how some online Covid-19 theories have mobilised people to take real-world action. It also looks at the appeal of Covid-19 conspiracy theories to ethnic minorities and women as well as the role that celebrities and superspreaders play in the proliferation of theories. Finally, it examines how extremist groups have opportunistically used Covid-19 conspiracy theories to recruit new supporters and how lockdown protests have brought together unlikely bedfellows.
