As the COVID pandemic rages on, so too are conspiracy theory arguments in households across the world.

Sydney University’s Dr Micah Goldwater told Deborah Knight “pre-bunking” is more effective than “debunking”.

“If you know there’s this conspiracy theory going around and people in your family haven’t been exposed to it yet, it’s actually pretty successful to tell them ahead of time, ‘here’s why it’s bogus’.”

“People who fall prey to conspiracy theories often feel a lack of control over certain aspects of their lives.

“You can encourage people to think about times in their life where they had control … there’s evidence that encouraging those kinds of mindsets can let the focus on the conspiracy wash away a bit.

“But once someone’s in, it’s not just straightforward like ‘here’s my argument against it’.”

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