We speak to an expert on conspiracy theories who tells us why people hold onto unfounded beliefs even when presented with the facts.
From the moment Coronavirus swept across the world, killing thousands of people each day and paralysing life for weeks, another kind of outbreak began to emerge: conspiracy theories. They are proving just as contagious as the virus itself.
Many fantastic and unproven claims have been made about COVID-19, such as the virus being produced as a biological weapon in a lab in China, that it is spread by 5G wireless technology, and even that billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates created the disease himself. Some of these conspiracies have had real-life consequences. Dozens of radio towers, assumed to be carrying 5G technology, have been attacked and damaged in Britain and the Netherlands.
