With the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic in Italy, as in the rest of the world, there was the growth of numerous protest groups, within which conspiracy theories circulated and developed. Doubts about the vaccine and the rejection of the legitimacy of the Green Pass (the certificate of vaccination, used to gain access to almost all public places), to the creation of sophisticated narratives that saw the total rejection of the plausibility of the pandemic, led to the need to counter and refute the mainstream media and the main actors raising awareness about those themes. The exceptional nature of the pandemic situation and the need to find radical solutions to keep the contagion under control has heightened tensions and distance with the so-called "anti-vaxxers". In fact, in 2021 in Italy, there have been demonstrations organized by these individuals, sometimes resulting in acts of violence. In addition, due to the introduction of the Green Pass, the possibility to obtain fake certifications or other solutions to circumvent the law, sparkled among such radicalized groups, especially through Telegram.

Although vaccine controversies are nothing new (Jolley, Douglas 2014), this paper focuses on visuality in conspiracy culture, a topic that seems to be still under-researched (Eklund, Alteveer 2018) despite being recognized as a powerful tool for the diffusion of ideas (Caumanns, Önnerfors 2020). In order to do so, it was carried out a qualitative content analysis of screenshotted images, collected within Italian Telegram conspiracy channels.

In the wake of fears over rising disinformation and conspiracy theories on the internet, YouTube cracked down on a diverse range of 'disinformation" channels. Since then, deplatforming, or the removal of one's social media account for violating platform rules, has sparked much societal and academic debate. While deplatforming may curb the popularity of social media figures, there is increasing concern that it may pose unintended consequences, like facilitating the growth of alternative media outlets and even inciting violence. However, previous published studies are limited to evaluating the effectiveness of deplatforming and the movement of individuals online. To date, no study has investigated how deplatformed conspiracy producers make sense of and manage their exclusion from mainstream social media platforms. This is what this study sets out to investigate. The study relies on qualitative data, including twenty-two interviews and fifteen profiles of prominent U.S. conspiracy producers. The paper makes a major contribution to research on deplatforming and conspiracy theories by demonstrating that YouTube “conspiracy theorists” do not accept their exclusion as just, and in turn counter it by re-platforming and finding new outlets, taking offline action and counter-othering. Deplatforming confirms their collective identity as the “outsiders ”.

Entering “best online yoga classes,” into Google Search returns lists from fitness websites like VeryWell Fit, Yogi Times, Prevention, Self, and Shape—most of these sites will include Gaia.com, a subscription-based streaming video platform, in their recommendation lists, labeling it variously as “best for the whole family,” “best intermediate/advanced,” and, most notably, “best for delving into yogic philosophy.” None of the blurbs written about Gaia in these articles mention its thousands of videos about conspiracy theories. These articles also fail to mention the connection between Gaia and Gaiam, one of the largest global yoga equipment brands. Formerly GaiamTV, Gaia.com offers videos and articles about yoga alongside videos and articles about UFOs, extraterrestrials, alternative archaeology, and universal consciousness, among a variety of other topics related to conspiracy theories, the paranormal, and new age spirituality. This paper examines Gaia, Inc., as a case study in conspirituality capitalism. The blatant obfuscation of the connection between Gaiam yoga equipment and the Gaia media empire functions to strengthen the mechanisms of conspirituality capitalism: not only are supporters of conspiratorial and alternative content financially contributing to its production through subscriptions to Gaia, but yoga practitioners who purchase Gaiam equipment may be unknowingly supporting Gaia’s conspiritual content. Using qualitative, grounded-theory-informed content analysis of video and textual content hosted on the site, as well as participant observation at two Gaia conferences held at the GaiaSphere Event Center outside Denver, Colorado, this paper, which is exploratory in nature, will introduce the term conspirituality capitalism and examine Gaia as a case study in it.

Soon after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned the federal right to abortion in the United States, an investigation revealed a disinformation campaign against birth control, driven by anti-abortion influencers. Disinformation targeting abortion and birth control is partially rooted in conspiracy, particularly the Great Replacement Theory, which plays on fears of white people being “replaced” by people of color. This notion is a long-standing issue of the anti-abortion movement, as early successes in banning abortion were partially motivated by fears of white people having fewer babies than people of color. Studies have shown that Black Americans believe in conspiracy theories about birth control, e.g., that it is deployed by the government as a form of genocide against Black people. Unfortunately, though, these beliefs are not entirely unfounded. This problematizes definitions of conspiracy theories as inherently false and unjustified—Black Americans, for instance, have long undergone inhumane experimentation by the American medical system. This illuminates a troubling connection—that between embodied oppression and conspiracy-believing. We query whether this overlap is weaponized by the anti-abortion community to spread disinformation campaigns. Through a critical technocultural discourse analysis of 14 hours of Instagram stories and posts from 154 members of the anti-abortion collected between February 14, 2023 and February 27, 2023, we find that the anti-abortion movement has weaponized feminist knowledge-production and relies on grains of embodied experience to spread disinformation campaigns, which at times snowball into racially-motivated conspiracy theories for political and/or financial gain.