Conspiracy Theories, Their Critical Value, and the Limits of Fact-Checking: Climate Change Documentaries

Factchecking is often regarded as a vital part of holistic efforts to address the problem of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news, particularly in this social media age. But what are the limits of factchecking when it comes to conspiracy theories, particularly when conspiracy theories are the subject of popular documentaries? This chapter reflects on this question by focusing on conspiracy theory films about climate change and by explaining conspiracy theories in terms of broad socio-political tensions between the excesses of neoliberal globalization and the rise of authoritarian populism as a reaction to this. The chapter cautions against the indiscriminate and politically motivated use of “conspiracy theories” as a label to diminish critical thinking and political, moral, and aesthetic imagination.