Why Conspiracy Theories Take Hold on Social Media

Social media is unparalleled when it comes to the speed at which information spreads. It’s not just the BuzzFeed articles, or the woman that was fired before she even landed on the continent she insulted. Conspiracy theories spread pretty quickly too, and their accuracy doesn’t really factor into their virality.

It only takes a spark of weirdness to fire up the conspiracy machine. The missing flight MH370 spawned dozens of theories, and within hours of the Sandy Hook school shooting, it was called a ‘false flag operation.’