Digital media bring countless possibilities for the communication of scientific knowledge, but they also promote attacks and disinformation campaigns that confuse the population about what is or is not based on facts and legitimate research.  Organisations with different political and economic interests influence the production of communication about science and mobilize public opinion, acting as “dealers of doubt” in favor of explanations without evidence. Faced with society's growing demand for information, the media coverage of scientific controversies is a key point in the delegitimization of universities, research centers and other knowledge-producing institutions.

 

Conspiracy theories have always existed, and are associated with alternative explanations of complex phenomena and historical events, which are reduced to plans secretly devised by “powerful groups” and “enemies of society”. Conspiracies occupy a central place in denialism, a practice which involves systematic denial of the knowledge produced and legitimized by institutions such as the scientific community. Denial groups often claim “another kind of science”, rather than an overtly anti-scientific stance. Conspiratorial and denialist campaigns attack the credibility of researchers, experts and scientific popularizers, generating distrust among parts of the population.

 

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