Trend Disinformation and conspiracy thinking fuelling institutional distrust

Summary

The report finds that disinformation and conspiratorial thinking feed distrust of institutions. When this distrust meets radical political leadership, independent institutions can be hollowed out within a short time. In the Netherlands, negative personal encounters with government agencies spill over into a general, structural distrust of the whole system. Platform algorithms steer people into particular echo chambers, reinforcing both distrust and belief in conspiracy theories. Foreign states misusing social media to destabilise society affect trust in the media, the judiciary and science, and the report explains that politicians' rhetoric disparaging institutions accelerates this erosion of trust.