Conspiracy theories are widespread in society. They constitute a part of human history but can also adapt to the present times, e.g., in terms of the forms of their dissemination (van Prooijen and Douglas, 2017). Whether we examine accounts of ancient Rome, medieval Europe, or contemporary America, conspiracy theories have inspired millions to take action. In the colonial and early Republic period, Americans feared that Catholics, Jews, Freemasons, Native Americans, and African Americans were conspiring against them. Over time, the list of potential conspirators would be extended to include bankers, rich businessmen and Mormons, and even the U.S. government (Olmstead, 2018; Uscinski, 2018). In a 2013 survey, four percent of polled Americans (12 million people) were found to believe that “shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies” (Brotherton, 2015). During the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, many conspiracy theories were propagated, e.g., “Climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese” or “The pharmaceutical industry hides evidence that vaccines cause autism” (van Prooijen, 2018). According to the recent Eurobarometer data (European Commission, 2021), 28% of European citizens think that some viruses have been produced in government laboratories to diminish people’s freedom, 26% believe that cure for cancer is being hidden from people, whereas 17–18% are unsure whether these statements are true or false.

The year 2020 has become an unusual year for societies because of the extremely difficult pandemic situation that all countries have had to face. In December 2019, a new type of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was diagnosed for the first time in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. The virus leads to the COVID-19 disease, whose clinical symptoms include mainly fever, dry cough, breathing problems, headaches, muscle pains and pneumonia. Respiratory failure due to alveolar damage may occur as a consequence of the development of the disease (Zhou et al. 2020). The virus started to spread very rapidly, reaching almost every country in the world in the first quarter of 2020. Initially, the only thing experts knew was that the virus was spreading through direct contact with an infected person, so the main method of protecting the general public was by way of a social distancing order. After a very short time, governments introduced further restrictions resulting from this order – borders were closed, public places and workplaces switched to remote work, many limitations were introduced on the use of essential public services. The measures introduced could only be effective provided that the residents accepted the restrictions and were willing to fully comply with them. The process of adapting to the rapid changes was not equally smooth in every country, and the problems some encountered have usually been attributed to cultural factors. In many countries, it became possible to temporarily contain the spreading of the virus. Unfortunately, the warnings of experts (Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic 2020; Sridhar 2020), who announced that the second wave of the pandemic would arrive in autumn 2020, have come true. Many societies have been hit hard, leading to the need to return to the most stringent restrictions. Meanwhile, the social and economic situation of countries does not look good – national economies are falling into disrepair, citizens are already tired and impatient with the restrictions, and – apart from being afraid of getting sick – increasingly afraid of losing their livelihood. The situation has directly shaken the citizens’ sense of security, both in economic and social terms (loss or prospective loss of one’s job, reduction of salary, lack of support from family and friends) and in psychological terms (internal imbalance, need to isolate oneself, overburdening with social roles).

The pandemic has affected almost every area of people’s lives. The restrictions imposed by governments have significantly limited constitutional civil liberties, generating reactions important from the point of view of the political system and built on the wave of the emotions associated with the pandemic – fear, anger, exasperation and helplessness. New social movements have begun to emerge and existing ones have started to become active, channelling these emotions and ensuring the fulfilment of needs whose satisfaction was undermined. This project focuses on a particular section of these bottom-up initiatives, namely movements based on conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are defined as explanatory beliefs about a group of actors that collude in secret to reach malevolent goals (Bale 2007; Prooijen and Douglas 2018). In times of crisis, people are more likely to support such theories (Bavel et al. 2020; Prooijen and Douglas 2017, 2018). This way of thinking clearly works in situations that are difficult to explain and do not provide acceptable solutions to an overwhelming situation in a foreseeable perspective (Oleksy et al. 2021).