Joachim Allgaier, Professor of Communication and Digital Society at Fulda University of Applied Sciences in Germany, discusses his research on communication and cooperation in the digital society to include disinformation and conspiracy theories in online media. Beginning with his 2019 study, “Science and Environmental Communication on YouTube,” Allgaier explains his research project wherein he analysed 200 YouTube videos related to climate change concluding that videos peddling conspiracy theories received the highest number of views. Discussing conspiracy videos from migration to COVID, Allgaier discusses how the various algorithms from YouTube to search engines navigate the user through its system giving the illusion that the user alone controls her own journey through online sites. Discussing the spread of misinformation within social media, Allgaier chimes in on how the pandemic has affected the proliferation of conspiracy theories and videos on platforms whose existence depends upon peddling addictive visual input such as TikTok where younger generations find life offline as “exotic” and where binge-watching is now a social norm, something he categorises as both interesting and worrying.

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