Spread of Fake News and Conspiracy Theories Leading to Potential Radicalisation During COVID-19 Pandemic: the Case of Telegram.ee
Kokkuvõte
This article focuses on the proliferation of fake news and conspiracy
theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to potential radicalisation
of (vulnerable) people. Upsurge in both fake news and conspiracy
theories can lead to a loss of trust in the government and public/governmental
institutions, as well as pose a threat to democracy and the fabric of
society. Radicalisation can be viewed as the shifting of a citizen’s loyalty
away from the established governing authorities of their country. This
process has escalated globally during the pandemic, as many people,
in the state of fear and uncertainty, experience moral outrage due to
social isolation and economic grievances, choosing to believe simple solutions
and discourses of blame offered by conspiracy theories. Estonia is
part of the global information space, and COVID-19-related fake news,
together with conspiracy theories proliferating around the world, quickly
find their way into the Estonian context. One of the channels covering
and supporting them in Estonia is the website Telegram.ee. Critical discourse
analysis of Telegram texts indicates that Telegram constructs the
Estonian government as deeply autocratic and as the absolute enemy of
the Estonian people and makes indirect calls for the people to defy it.
This can contribute to the possible radicalisation of people, shifting their
loyalty away from the Estonian state.