The COVID pandemic was a “catalyst” for the surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation in Ireland, according to the author of a major new study on the topic.

The study from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) investigates how misinformation and conspiracies have taken hold across social and alternative media platforms since 2020.

Analysing more than 13 million online posts from 1,640 accounts, the study warns misinformation and disinformation on Irish social media is increasing every year.

It finds that social media platforms and tech companies are failing to enforce community guidelines aimed at stemming the spread of false, misleading and harmful content and “in turn, emboldening the reach and influence of the far-right in Ireland”.

Meanwhile, it notes that far-right groups and individuals play a “major role” in spreading false information in the Irish online space.

Throughout a 9-month project, ISD analysed almost 13.2M posts from 1,640 accounts across 12 online platforms btwn Jan 2020 and April 2023.

The analysis, authored by @aoifegall, @CiaranOConnor & Francesca Visser, unfolds across three reports. pic.twitter.com/0oRuz4lHvX

— Institute for Strategic Dialogue (@ISDglobal) November 20, 2023

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, report author Ciaran O’Connor said the study focused on accounts that have a “clear history of having previously shared false or misleading information or conspiracy theories online”.

“What we found was the most active, the most prolific and most popular figures were more often than not associated with far-right groups or far-right organisations,” he said.

“They are kind of promoting those ideologies and in terms of the kind of reach that these kinds of claims and pieces of content can have online, well that's growing too.”

COVID

He said the study shows that “COVID was really a catalyst for the proliferation of conspiracy theories, mis- and disinformation [in Ireland]”.

“We've all become aware of this kind of issue, this problem online since 2020 especially,” he said.

“I think what this research does is it provides firm evidence that supports the statement that the spread of conspiracy theories is growing and the growth of communities that base themselves upon conspiracy theories is growing too.”

Among the key findings:
- Activity within the ecosystem in Ireland is growing across all platforms
- Far-right groups/individuals & alt-media play a major role
- This ecosystem is home to content on a wide range of topics including health, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights & climate

— Institute for Strategic Dialogue (@ISDglobal) November 20, 2023

The study is broken down into three reports, the first a summary, the second an analysis of 12 different platforms and the third analysis of nine different topics including the Russia-Ukraine War, conspiracy theories, LGBTQ+ topics, climate change, conversations related to 5G and ethnonationalism.

Mr O’Connor said COVID brought together a wide range of people, groups and ideologies and resulted in a mixing of ideas and communities that may not have happened without the pandemic.

“So, you have the anti-government protesters and anti-vaccine activists mixing in the same spaces as right-wing extremists and maybe new age spirituality and wellness movement members and as a result of that, we've seen this kind of proliferation of conspiracy theory communities online,” he said.

“Then they have their reach into different topics be it immigration or LGBTQ issues or climate and so on.”

Misinformation

He said there is an important distinction to make between people who are genuinely concerned about an issue and those who seek to spread misinformation.

“What we're looking at is how these kinds of topics provide cover for figures, individuals and groups to kind of weaponize these issues,” he said.

“Take immigration, for example. We're not interested in focusing on or studying the local communities who have concerns around resources and availability in the local area.

“What we're interested in are the kinds of groups who are using terms like ‘plantation’ as a way to weaponize and frame the arrival of asylum seekers as some sort of existential threat to Irish communities.

“Those kinds of ways of speaking about asylum seekers and those false and misleading claims that then in turn can foster hostility and potentially hatred against such groups.”