Seeing the Light: Looking Into Britain's Conspiracy Truthpaper

The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories has created pervasive harms for individuals and society, posing serious implications for social cohesion and democratic processes. During the COVID-19 pandemic conspiracy-oriented newspapers rose to popularity, spreading anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine, and anti-government narratives while encouraging participation in offline action (e.g., organized protests). We analyse 37 issues of a UK conspiracy ‘truthpaper’ using a combination of topic modelling and a thematic analysis. We find that the newspaper format is leveraged to connect and legitimize multiple conspiracy theories, shifting narratives from COVID-19 scepticism to anti-government sentiments. Additionally, articles consistently build an identity around ‘free thinking’ while fostering community through encouraging offline participation, including calls to distribute the newspaper and highlighting various forms of collective action taken within the community. We discuss the role of newspapers as an underexplored, potent new model for conspiracy narrative propagation.