--- title: Why Conspiracies Theories Are So Seductive description: Rumors and misinformation have always been with us—snd surely always will be. canonical: https://time.com/6948427/why-we-fall-for-conspiracy-theories/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-03-15T16:51:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:40:37.920Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Conspiracies Theories—From Kate Middleton to the Moon Landings—Are So Seductive og:description: Rumors and misinformation have always been with us—snd surely always will be. og:url: https://time.com/6948427/why-we-fall-for-conspiracy-theories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Princess of Wales Kate Middleton apologizes for editing Mother's Day photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Conspiracies Theories—From Kate Middleton to the Moon Landings—Are So Seductive twitter:description: Rumors and misinformation have always been with us—snd surely always will be. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb4e6ade5d6e508a/698a494d47ca38812f3bc1ab/Kate-Middleton-Photoshop-News.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Conspiracies Theories—From Kate Middleton to the Moon Landings—Are So Seductive > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=ef7fd9ef-de8c-4530-8533-096a29ab2b43&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty [Watch (HLS stream): A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZIkUirDg.m3u8) (4:58)  _Published 2024-03-13. Hany Farid, an academic who has spent the past 25 years developing techniques to detect photo manipulation, breaks down the Kate Middleton photo and living in the age of AI._  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 15, 2024 4:51 PM UTC Hany Farid, an academic who has spent the past 25 years developing techniques to detect photo manipulation, breaks down the Kate Middleton photo and living in the age of AI.  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 15, 2024 4:51 PM UTC If you’re like millions of people worldwide, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, is very much on your mind this week. That’s because of a royal kerfuffle that erupted recently, when Middleton—who had [not been seen in public since January](https://time.com/6899819/kate-middleton-appearances-surgery/) when she underwent abdominal surgery—[released a cheery Mother’s Day photo](https://time.com/6900255/royal-family-kate-middleton-trust-media/) of herself and her children. The next day, the [Associated Press pulled down the photo](https://apnews.com/article/princess-wales-kate-surgery-photo-manipulated-3863e9ac78aec420a91e4f315297c348) because it turned out to have been digitally altered. Other news agencies [followed suit](https://variety.com/2024/politics/global/kate-middleton-photo-manipulated-deleted-1235937458/), and Kensington Palace [issued an apology](https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1767135566645092616) signed by Kate. Predictably, this was [catnip to conspiracy theorists](https://time.com/6837732/kate-middleton-health-tmz-photo/), who speculated endlessly online about her health, mental and physical well-being, and whereabouts. “None of it makes sense. Where is Catherine? Why is the palace being so secretive about the royals’ health? What are they covering up?!” wrote Margaret Hartmann of _New York_ magazine, in a [piece](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/kate-middleton-photo-editing-conspiracy-theory.html) titled “Kate Middleton Photo Editing Made Me a Conspiracy Theorist.” And so the Middleton saga joined other conspiracy theories involving Barack Obama (_born in Kenya!_), the 2020 presidential election (_stolen!_), the [moon landings](https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871%5F1860876%5F1860992,00.html) (_faked!_), and vaccines (_deadly!_). Why are conspiracy theories so seductive? And what can sensible people do to combat them? ## They make us feel powerful One of the greatest drivers of conspiracy theories, experts say, is power—or, more specifically, the lack of it. Move through a world in which you have authority and some agency, and you’re likely to feel a comforting sense of control. But when outside circumstances and anonymous people seem to have too much sway over your welfare, you’re more inclined to go looking for hidden patterns and purposes. “If you have people who have been marginalized in society, then they're at the bottom end of a power asymmetry,” says Joseph Uscinski, associate professor of political science at the University of Miami and co-author of the 2014 book [_American Conspiracy Theories_](https://www.amazon.com/American-Conspiracy-Theories-Joseph-Uscinski/dp/0199351813). “Same thing with young people, who aren't fully integrated into society and are trying to climb their way up. They tend to believe more conspiracy theories than older people who are comfortable in the system because they've succeeded.” **Read More**: [_7 Ways to Get Better at Small Talk_](https://time.com/6280607/small-talk-tips-benefits/) Clinging to conspiracy theories can make people feel better about themselves. [One paper](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2265) published in the _European Journal of_ Social _Psychology_ found that when people feel like they are in possession of privileged knowledge, that’s enough to provide something of an ego boost. “A small part in motivating the endorsement of…irrational beliefs,” the researchers wrote, “is the desire to stick out from the crowd.” Power imbalances make politics an especially toxic spot for conspiracy theories. Somebody will win every election and somebody will lose, and the backers of the people who are denied high office are sometimes inclined to reject the legitimacy of those who achieve it. According to a January poll conducted by the Washington _Post_ and the University of Maryland, and [reported by The Hill](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4384619-one-third-of-americans-say-biden-election-illegitimate/), only 31% of Republican adults believe that President Joe Biden was legitimately elected four years ago. A [Gallup poll](https://news.gallup.com/poll/4687/seven-americans-accept-bush-legitimate-president.aspx) taken in 2001 found that after the disputed 2000 vote, more than a third of Democrats insisted that then-President George W. Bush had stolen the election. “Being out of power tends to add fuel to the fire,” wrote Joseph Parent, a professor of political science at Notre Dame University and Uscinski’s co-author, in an email to TIME. However, in politics and elsewhere, not all conspiracy theories are unwarranted. “Like germs, they're always with us and not always unhealthy,” wrote Parent. “You do tend to see surges when there are \[real\] conspiracies (Watergate) and coverups (Warren Report).” The COVID-19 pandemic fueled no shortage of conspiracies regarding the origins of the virus, and [no one yet knows with certainty what its source was](https://time.com/6150383/origins-covid-19/). ## Famous people are mega targets Celebrity helps conspiratorial ideas bubble up. Middleton is about as big a celebrity as it’s possible to be. So is [Taylor Swift](https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/)—and Uscinski reports that after the Feb. 11 Super Bowl, he received 10 calls in the course of a week from journalists wanting to know if [Swift’s romance with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce](https://time.com/6317898/travis-kelce-taylor-swift-relationship/) and her appearance at the big game was a prelude to a conspiratorial plan to endorse Biden for reelection. **Read More**: [_Why You Can't Remember That Taylor Swift Concert All Too Well_](https://time.com/6282468/taylor-swift-concert-memory/) "Almost by definition,” conspiracy theories involve high-profile people, says Parent. “\[They\] are about plotters working in secret to deceive us. No one would care if the plotters were powerless.” ## Fear fuels conspiracy theories Fear plays a role too, impelling people to find reasons for mortal perils. This is true on an individual level; in [a 2022 paper](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270429) published in PLOS One, Uscinski studied how enduring 30-plus conspiracy theories were, and many were about deaths, shootings, or assassinations. It’s also true on a societal level. The pandemic, for example, was a time of terror about a borderless disease that swept the planet in a matter of months. Uscinski and his colleagues found that early on, in March of 2020, fully 31% of Americans already believed that the virus was “purposely created and released.” By 2021, that figure had dipped only slightly, to 29%. ## Conspiracy theories may seem more prevalent now—but they’re perennial A common notion is that social media turbocharges conspiracy theories, giving believers a platform from which to spread their messages. But Uscinski is not convinced. “If it was the case that there was something new driving these beliefs, whether it be social media or the Internet, you might expect \[conspiracy theories\] to be going up, up, up, up, up in very measurable ways, but we just don't find that,” he says. If you think the old days were better—that “we all just believed true things and we agreed on everything,” he adds—you’re misremembering. **Read More**: [_America Has Reached Peak Therapy. Why Is Our Mental Health Getting Worse?_](https://time.com/6308096/therapy-mental-health-worse-us/) Indeed, the pre-Internet era was not remotely a golden age of conspiracy-free thinking. In his 2022 paper, Uscinski and his coauthors documented a past that was rife with conspiracy theories, with belief in them fading only as they receded from the news cycle. In 1981, for example, 59% of respondents said that there was a conspiracy to kill the Rev. Martin Luther King; in 2021, the figure was down to 33%. In 1995, 34% of people said there was a police plot to frame O.J. Simpson; in 2021, it was 11%. “It's not necessarily the case that just because something's old means it's necessarily going to be forgotten,” Ucsinski says. “It's just maybe people latch on to other ideas.” ## How not to fall for conspiracy theories When you're confronted with a conspiracy theory, one strategy is simply to listen to what the person has to say. “Why not take their beliefs seriously and take them to their logical conclusion?” asks Parent. “If they pass fair standards of logic and evidence, maybe there's something to them. If they don't—well, people are free to believe whatever they want.” To guard against falling prey to conspiracy theories, it's important to embrace failures or setbacks without looking for someone else to blame. "Experiencing loss and needing a scapegoat or an epicenter of evil are ripe circumstances \[for conspiracy theories\]," wrote Parent. It's also wise to remember the counsel of the 14th-century philosopher and friar, William of Ockham, who is celebrated for developing the “law of parsimony”—better known today as [Occam's razor](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor)—which posits that the simplest solution to any question is almost always the best. Shave away any extraneous assumptions, including those involving complex conspiracies, and what you’ve got left is usually the truth. ## Transcript Princess Kate is right that many amateur photographers in bring their photos into Photoshop and tidy up and I think probably what she did is one of the best take like montages where she took a series of photos and she wanted to get the smiling face just right for everybody for all the kids in herself and did a little Montage thing and then it just didn't it invariably leads a few artifacts. And so I was pretty confident that point that this was fairly benign. I understood why the AP pulled it because they have very particular standards, but I don't think it was nefarious. I don't think it's a sign that she's dad. I don't think aliens have taken over her body and the all the crazy nonsense that the internet is coming up with. I think this is a classic story of photo editing. That was a slightly sloppy, you know at the end of the day. This is a pretty simple story, but what's interesting about it. Is even though this is a story about Photoshop and fairly benign photo editing it there is the shadow of a I like if we were living if we weren't living in the generative AI age, I don't think you'd be hearing much of what we are hearing. Now. I do think that the reason why these conspiracies can take hold us because we do live at a time or somebody could have fully fabricated that image or that was a body double and they replace her face there until this is still an AI story to some degree, but I think it really is quite innocuous. We are seeing two things one is people are creating fake images take audio fake video of trump abide in the Paris and trying to use that to damage them, but they're also doing something else which is they're using the Specter of the face to try to dismiss reality. I feel if you live in this world ranking to be fake while the the video of come stumbling on his words and calling his wife Mercedes. He can say it's fake. So that's a few very dangerous. Also is you can deny reality when things can be faked and I think you're seeing both of those around the Elijah. And of course, we're seeing you off a contact around 9 consensual sexual imagery. We saw it with Taylor Swift but high school girls everyday are now being victims to this journalist human rights activist politician people who try to attract unwanted attention are being victims of being inserted into explicit material you're using at the great child sexual abuse material. People are using it to commit commit small to large scale frauds. I'm getting phone calls from what seems like your loved ones or talking to your CEO, but it's not attached to somebody who's faking them. So you're seeing a really significant weaponization at the individual apple at the societal level and it and it and that the Democracy volleyball and I think it's probably a sign of things to come individuals have to Stop pretending that they can forensic we analyze content and be reliable at it. You can't this is a really hard job. I do this for a living on petard. So what you have to realize as a consumer is that you are vulnerable and you are not going to be able to forensic Leanna late. I analyze your way out of this. I think we just need to be more thoughtful about how we consume information and understand that the journalists have a serious job. And by the way, when they get it wrong, there are consequences and you can't say that about the Knuckleheads on Twitter is no consequence for them the first approach to what we called reactive approach. I wait for the reporter from the telegrapher BBC to contact me. They send me the photograph. I run a battery of tests. Try to figure out what's going on. I'd let them know they set the record straight. Meanwhile, you know, an entire new cycle has gone by so it's a relatively slow process. We measure that in hours or days, but at the skeet speed of the internet, you know, that doesn't really work. So the proactive technique is that you or the camera itself. Princess Kate's camera when she took that photo with a side of this photo was taken on this date and time at this location. This is a credential that author that indicates that and then ask you put that into Photoshop Photoshop of the okay. This is what I did in the photo Bing Bing Ding Ding Ding and then when that goes to the AP AP can look at that that content credential its manifest we call and say oh, okay what happened? This is consistent with our photo editing standard or does not we will accept it will not and none of this would have happened right if that if that exists in the nice thing about the proactive technique is you're there at the point of creation now and as long as those credentials are there you would get to make decisions that not the drawback is we need those confidential's in somewhat 10 billion devices around the world and we need the infrastructure. And so that's going to take a little bit of time and I think at the end of the day it's going to be a combination of those two solutions ride. The credentials will work when people at like, I think in this case if that can camera and the version of Photoshop that Kate had were compliant. I think she wasn't trying to fool anybody. She was sending a photo that it would have worked perfectly a dedicated dad actor. I do find a way around it and I'm the reactive technique that we talked about. That's where I come in. 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