Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami professor who has been at the forefront of research on QAnon, summed up conspiracy theories in 2014 with a colleague as “an explanation of historical, ongoing, or future events that cites as a main causal factor a small group of powerful persons, the conspirators, acting in secret for their own benefit against the common good.” Another academic definition holds that a conspiracy theory is “a text that falsely accuses a group of individuals of orchestrating a plot that has harmed or will harm society.”
