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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• conspiracy theories
• covid-19
• platform regulation
• social media
• twitter