Those most likely to believe in conspiracy theories are right-wing, younger and less educated people and those who vote for the conservative-populist Most party and the right-wing Domovinski pokret (DP) party. This is shown by the results of surveys conducted by the Adria Digital Media Observatory (ADMO) and presented on Monday.

Professor Nebojsa Blanusa from the Zagreb Faculty of Political Science presented the results of surveys on global conspiracy theories conducted in 2022 and 2024.

In Croatia, the “most popular” conspiracy theory continues to be that regardless of who runs the government, media and companies, “there is a secret group of powerful individuals who control world events such as wars and economic crises,” he said.

Increasing number of respondents believe in the main conspiracy theories

More than 40% of respondents believe in this theory, followed by the conspiracy theories that “big pharmaceutical companies are deliberately spreading various diseases to increase drug sales” and that “anyone with a computer connected to the internet is being secretly monitored and is under unauthorised surveillance.”

Other conspiracy theories include the belief in the harmfulness of vaccines, the control of states by Freemasons and Illuminati, contact with extraterrestrials that is “hidden from the public” and a secret organisation enforcing a “new world order”. The last on the list of popular conspiracy theories relates to chemtrails.

Blanusa found that compared to the 2022 results, an increasing number of respondents, ranging from 12 to almost 45 per cent, believe in the main conspiracy theories.

The surveys identified nine viral topics related to the post-COVID-19 situation, climate change, a major population exchange, a major reset, QAnon, the war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas, the EU and LGBTQ+ conspiracy theories.

Politicians highlighted as the main culprits for creating and spreading fake news

Particularly noteworthy are conspiracy theories about migration threats, post-COVID scenarios, the EU and a major world reset. The surveys also point to the existence of a super conspiracy theory, which is a conspiratorial idea about the global state of the world.

The results of a poll conducted after last month’s parliamentary election were also presented. According to it, voters of Most, the Croatian Sovereignists, the Croatian Conservative Party and the Independent Youth List are most inclined to believe in the super-conspiracy theory, followed by voters of the DP and its partners, while voters of the Social Democratic Party, We Can! and its partners are least inclined to believe in conspiracy theories.

Professors Mirjana Tonkovic and Ivana Hromatko from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb presented the results on the level of trust in news and information providers. They show that the most trustworthy sources of information are those that come from conversations with family members, friends, neighbours and work colleagues, followed by news from radio, television, online and print media.

Politicians were named as the main culprits for the creation and spread of fake news and false information, followed by social media, journalists and media editors, corporate lobbies and only then conspiracy theorists.