Re: Next up on social media:
people just choose to believe whatever nonsense they encounter
Particularly if others challenge it. That's the appeal of conspiracy theories. They give the believers 1) a sense of being in the know, in a special group; 2) a feeling of being smarter, more aware, better informed than their interlocutors; and 3) social capital, because they have something controversial to inject into the conversation.
Less-controversial claims lack those features, which makes them less valuable to anyone who doesn't assign innate value to internal metrics such as rationality, critical thinking, and correspondence truth.1
That's also why conspiracy theories are particularly popular with those who feel relatively powerless and oppressed by "elites", and by bored members of the middle class who are looking for diversion and some way to gain attention in their social circles. And why they proliferate on social media, where the attention market is extremely fast and cutthroat.
1All of which are, of course, problematic six ways from Sunday and full of their own psychological traps. But they're the best we've got.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
