Breeding conspiracy thinking? Investigating the longitudinal relationship between media use and conspiracy mindset

Over the last decade, conspiracy theories and beliefs in them have become a more pressing social and political problem. Despite different media being the main channels through which conspiracy theories are circulated, our knowledge of the linkages between media use and conspiracy thinking is however still limited. This holds in particular with respect to the linkage between media use and conspiracy mindset, in contrast to beliefs in specific conspiracy theories. To remedy this, this study investigates the longitudinal relationship between media use and conspiracy mindset, taking into account the use of social media as well as mainstream news media and political alternative media. Empirically, the study draws upon a four-wave panel study from Sweden. Among other things, the results suggest that there is a mutual longitudinal relationship between conspiracy mindset and use of right-wing alternative media and to some extent social media, and that use of mainstream news media might mitigate conspiracy mindset. This suggests a development where the demand for conspiracy theories (conspiracy mindset) has become more easily matched with the supply of conspiracy theories (on right-wing alternative and social media), which might have far-reaching societal implications.