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The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs

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Title: The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
Authors: Bertin, Paul, Tognon, Elisa, Nera, Kenzo, Bajraktari, Rrita, Klein, Pit, Yzerbyt, Vincent, Klein, Olivier
Source: European journal of social psychology, 26 (1
Publication Year: 2026
Collection: DI-fusion : dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Subject Terms: Psychologie sociale expérimentale, conspiracy beliefs, conspiracy mentality, democracy, freedom of speech, mitigation
Description: Conspiracy beliefs are often portrayed as a threat to democracies. However, less is known about the extent to which the state of democracy may affect conspiracy beliefs. Hence, we investigated the impact of the societal level of freedom of speech on conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1, using aggregated nation-level data (N = 68 countries), we found that conspiracy beliefs were higher in countries with lower population support for and lower expert-estimated freedom of speech. However, this effect was no longer significant after controlling for two confounders: corruption and electoral democracy. In Study 2a (N = 190, preregistered), inducing low (vs. high) freedom of speech increased conspiracy beliefs in a fictional society. We replicated this effect in Study 2b (N = 90, preregistered), extending it to generic conspiracy beliefs. In Study 3a (N = 436, preregistered), we successfully designed a new induction of freedom of speech in an ecological setting but failed to replicate its effect on conspiracy beliefs. We adjusted this new experimental material in Study 3b (N = 498, preregistered) and observed higher conspiracy beliefs under low freedom of speech, compared to the high freedom of speech and control conditions, which did not differ. Hence, the effect stemmed from low freedom of speech increasing conspiracy beliefs, rather than high freedom of speech reducing them. In Studies 2–3, the effect of freedom of speech remained significant when controlling for perceptions of democracy, highlighting the unique nature of this societal factor in shaping conspiracy beliefs. We discuss freedom of speech as a way to mitigate conspiracy beliefs. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Document Type: article in journal/newspaper
File Description: 1 full-text file(s): application/pdf
Language: English
Relation: uri/info:doi/10.1002/ejsp.70029; https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/396423/3/BertinEJSP2025Freedom.pdf
Availability: https://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/396423
https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/396423/3/BertinEJSP2025Freedom.pdf
Accession Number: edsbas.9970DEDD
Database: BASE
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  – Url: https://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/396423#
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  Data: The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Bertin%2C+Paul%22">Bertin, Paul</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tognon%2C+Elisa%22">Tognon, Elisa</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Nera%2C+Kenzo%22">Nera, Kenzo</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Bajraktari%2C+Rrita%22">Bajraktari, Rrita</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Klein%2C+Pit%22">Klein, Pit</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yzerbyt%2C+Vincent%22">Yzerbyt, Vincent</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Klein%2C+Olivier%22">Klein, Olivier</searchLink>
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  Data: European journal of social psychology, 26 (1
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  Data: 2026
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  Data: DI-fusion : dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychologie+sociale+expérimentale%22">Psychologie sociale expérimentale</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22conspiracy+beliefs%22">conspiracy beliefs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22conspiracy+mentality%22">conspiracy mentality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22democracy%22">democracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22freedom+of+speech%22">freedom of speech</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22mitigation%22">mitigation</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Description
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  Data: Conspiracy beliefs are often portrayed as a threat to democracies. However, less is known about the extent to which the state of democracy may affect conspiracy beliefs. Hence, we investigated the impact of the societal level of freedom of speech on conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1, using aggregated nation-level data (N = 68 countries), we found that conspiracy beliefs were higher in countries with lower population support for and lower expert-estimated freedom of speech. However, this effect was no longer significant after controlling for two confounders: corruption and electoral democracy. In Study 2a (N = 190, preregistered), inducing low (vs. high) freedom of speech increased conspiracy beliefs in a fictional society. We replicated this effect in Study 2b (N = 90, preregistered), extending it to generic conspiracy beliefs. In Study 3a (N = 436, preregistered), we successfully designed a new induction of freedom of speech in an ecological setting but failed to replicate its effect on conspiracy beliefs. We adjusted this new experimental material in Study 3b (N = 498, preregistered) and observed higher conspiracy beliefs under low freedom of speech, compared to the high freedom of speech and control conditions, which did not differ. Hence, the effect stemmed from low freedom of speech increasing conspiracy beliefs, rather than high freedom of speech reducing them. In Studies 2–3, the effect of freedom of speech remained significant when controlling for perceptions of democracy, highlighting the unique nature of this societal factor in shaping conspiracy beliefs. We discuss freedom of speech as a way to mitigate conspiracy beliefs. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published
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      – SubjectFull: conspiracy beliefs
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      – SubjectFull: conspiracy mentality
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      – SubjectFull: democracy
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      – SubjectFull: freedom of speech
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      – SubjectFull: mitigation
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      – TitleFull: The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
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