From Watergate to Covid, this is why so many of us vanish down rabbit holes

What do we mean when we talk about conspiracy theories? It isn’t simply about holding the idea that there are sinister, secret forces doing shady things.

- Nicky Woolf

From Watergate, to Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s Prism phone-hacking programme, to cover-ups of dossiers that led to the Iraq war, it is not in itself wrong to believe in the possibility that those in power are not on the level.

But as of 2017, more than half of Americans believe there was a second gunman in the Kennedy assassination. More than a third think global warming is a hoax. And as of 2021, 30% believe Covid was purposely created and 10% that the moon landing was faked — almost twice as many as in 1995, according to a 2022 paper in the journal PLOS One.

This kind of conspiracyism isn’t a facts problem. As the Epstein story rollercoaster shows, it’s a network effect problem: the story takes on a life of its own, and then it is often in someone’s interests to control it, for political or financial gain. Stories have power, and that is often an attractive proposition to harness.