Qualitative Criminology (QC)
Abstract
"Little is known about the content of conspiratorial posts on social media, specifically regarding active shooter events. This study explores the content of conspiracy theory tweets during the six months following the active shooter event at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. 194 tweets were analyzed. The analysis resulted in two main themes: False Flag and Hypothesized Reasoning. These themes represent the similarities and variations in content among the tweets. In line with research suggesting that people are most vulnerable to conspiratorial thinking when trying to explain unusual and unsettling events, results indicate that many posts were attempting to provide some kind of causal explanation for the event. Additional findings, implications, and directions for future research are also discussed."
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Doyle, Madison K. and Willis, Carolyn
(2025)
"#FalseFlag: Exploring themes in conspiracy theory tweets regarding the Robb Elementary School active shooter event,"
Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 14:
No.
3, Article 1.
Available at:
https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol14/iss3/1
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