Trend Fertile ground in the Netherlands for anti-institutional conspiracy theories

Summary

The report finds that anti-institutional conspiracy theories, for example about climate change or governing elites, have the largest following in the Netherlands. Conspiracy theories meet a need for control and certainty about cause and effect in an uncertain world, and distrust has been fed by a sense that government is distant after digitalisation and the closure of service counters, as well as by scandals and the handling of the pandemic. Because most Dutch people can still tell fact from fiction reasonably well, disinformation is not yet destabilising society as a whole. Specific ideologically entrenched groups, however, are already highly susceptible, and stress and powerlessness strengthen dogmatic thinking. The report expects that further advances in AI will make fake news harder for larger groups to recognise, and that more parents who distrust the school system will prefer home education.