Immigration, vaccines, child trafficking in a pizzeria: although they have been refuted many times, old conspiracy theories are resurfacing in the United States in the run-up to the presidential election, what observers call “zombies”, false information recycled over and over in a very polarized country.
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And this misinformation could influence voters on November 5, the day they will have to vote to decide between outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden and his great Republican rival Donald Trump.
Especially since they proliferate on social networks which have limited their moderation, in the name of freedom of expression advocated by the boss of X (ex-Twitter) Elon Musk but also because of a policy of cost reduction.
“This kind of misleading statement is repeated so often that it ends up becoming gospel for those who believe it,” Mike Rothschild, a specialist in conspiracy theories, told AFP.
“The same clichés are recycled endlessly, and it works because they always attract a certain type of person,” he observes.
The topic of immigration remains a major source of misinformation, as the United States has seen a record number of arrivals from the border with Mexico. Some, like Elon Musk himself, claim that the Democrats are recruiting these migrants to win the election.
However, immigrants do not have immediate access to citizenship and therefore the right to vote.
But, in a campaign where anti-immigration positions are commonplace, this theory continues to flourish with part of the electorate, especially on the right.
“Pizzagate”
Other conspiracy theories concern, for example, vaccines, deemed harmful or ineffective according to a thesis which resurfaced with the Covid-19 pandemic and yet has been largely denied by scientists.
The latest burst of false information on the subject came during the campaign of an independent candidate, Robert Kennedy Junior, aka “RFK Junior.” This member of the famous Kennedy dynasty has been spreading repeatedly denied allegations about vaccination for years.
The anti-vaccine community “is stronger than it was before the pandemic,” notes Kolina Koltai, researcher at the online investigative group Bellingcat.
“RFK is gaining a lot of popularity,” she told AFP. “He is a well-known anti-vaxxer. It’s not nothing”.
For analysts, growing distrust of institutions favors the spread of “zombie” false information. Like “pizzagate”: a conspiracy theory that links a pizzeria in the capital Washington to an underground child sex trafficking network involving Democratic officials.
This theory, completely denied since 2016, has nevertheless transformed into a famous conspiracy nebula called QAnon. Internet users, starting with Elon Musk, continue to relay it.
“Confirmation bias”
Playing on deep fears, “zombie” allegations are often more powerful than their denials, because the latter come from authorities considered by conspiracy theorists to be part of a corrupt system, or of the “establishment,” notes Mert Bayar , specialist in conspiracy theories at the University of Washington.
Another baseless accusation, repeatedly refuted: Donald Trump lost the 2020 election because of fraud. The former president, however, rarely misses an opportunity to mention an alleged “theft” of the last presidential election.
The spreaders of false information do not only have a political aim, analysts say, and often have a financial motivation. According to them, X’s advertising revenue system encourages extremist content intended to stimulate Internet user participation.
And they tend to follow accounts that reinforce their beliefs. “This can often be attributed to a cognitive bias known as confirmation bias,” says Mert Bayar. Because beyond political and financial interests, many also “sincerely believe” in the “zombie” theories that they spread.
