Articles By

Matthew D. Kearney

COVID-19

The Twitter origins and evolution of the COVID-19 “plandemic” conspiracy theory

Matthew D. Kearney, Shawn C. Chiang and Philip M. Massey

Tweets about “plandemic” (e.g., #plandemic)—the notion that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned or fraudulent—helped to spread several distinct conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. But the term’s catchy nature attracted attention from anti-vaccine activist filmmakers who ultimately created Plandemic the 26-minute documentary.

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