What’s more, mentions of “electric vehicles” and “government” have increased 400% across social media accounts, news websites, and television news, according to an analysis by Zignal Labs conducted for The Associated Press.

But… why can such theories prove to be dangerous?

Conspiracy theories are as old as time.

According to Karen Douglas, professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, there are various psychological factors that motivate people to believe in such theories: the desire to know the truth, the need to have control over what’s happening, and the feeling of self-importance.

And what better way to achieve all that than to make connections between disparate events that the rest just don’t notice?

The danger lies in how conspiracy theories can now spread like wildfire. Professor Douglas explains that while it’s uncertain that social media have increased conspiracy theories, they have changed the way people access this information, share it, and get consumed by it.

Naturally, everyone’s entitled to believe whatever they want — it’s a democratic principle, after all. The problem is when such deluded and (most importantly) ungrounded beliefs circulate the web as misinformation, shifting the focus from a real human tragedy to national politics.