The Few, The Loud: Platform-Mediated Articulation of Conspiratorial Discourse by Political Elites

Abstract

Presenter: Piotr Marczyński (Université Libre de Bruxelles) Conspiracy theories, once niche, have become central to public discourse. The role of political elites in facilitating this process has been receiving growing attention from scholars, with the crux of research identifying far-right parties as key players. This paper intends to advance this debate by outlining how a narrow set of actors – ‘elite conspiracy entrepreneurs’ – disproportionately disseminates conspiratorial discourse. Then the analysis turns to identifying features that differentiate ‘conspiracy entrepreneurs from their peers, focusing on the engagement they generate and the overall frequency of posting. Lastly, this paper explores how conspiratorial discourse is communicated differently on X and Facebook by tracking divergent communication patterns of actors disproportionately active on both platforms. In doing so, this paper intends to contribute to the existing scholarship on the conspiracist supply by pinpointing the exact sources of conspiracist communication, while offering the first steps of understanding how elite conspiracy amplifiers adapt their communication across social media platforms.