Fingerprints of Conspiracy Theories: Identifying Signature Information Sources of a Misleading Narrative and Their Roles in Shaping Message Content and Dissemination

Abstract

This study investigates the role of information sources in the propagation and reception of misleading narratives on social media, focusing on the case of the Chemtrail conspiracy theory—a false claim that the trails in the sky behind airplanes are chemicals deliberately spread for sinister reasons. We collected data from Facebook Pages and Groups discussing the conspiracy theory. We specifically focused on identifying and analyzing “signature” information sources, which are repeatedly used by online communities engaged in the discussion of a misleading narrative but are not widely used by other communities. The findings indicate that messages referencing signature sources contain more death-, illness-, risk-, and health-related words, convey more negativity, and elicit more negative reactions from users, compared with those without signature sources. The insights from this study could contribute to the development of effective strategies to monitor and counter the spread of misleading narratives in digital spaces.