Breakdown of knowledge authority: semiotic analysis of an anti-vax conspiracy theory influencer on Twitter

ABSTRACT

Anti-vax conspiracy theories are major drivers of “vaccine hesitancy”, a top-10 threat to global health according to the WHO. This paper investigates the interpretative mechanisms and discursive conditions of anti-vax discourse on Twitter (X), through the analysis of seven tweets posted by an anti-vax influencer. Mixed methods of discourse analysis are employed, focusing on the strategic character and potential social effects of discourse. As a set of relations, the code-text of anti-vax conspiracy theories is characterized by a conflict between authority and freedom. The archetype of the enemy is diffuse and composed of different elements (government, mainstream media, medical/scientific community) that are all totalized into one-and-the-same evil: “the authorities.” Overall, when facing the increasing deconstruction of epistemic authority on social media, the form (independently from content) with which anti-vax discourse seeks to provide argumentation (by framing identities and social relations in the shape of dichotomic oppositions) is fundamentally undesirable.

KEYWORDS:

• political semiotics
• discourse analysis
• social media
• disinformation
• medical conspiracy theories
• anti-vax

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the University of Tartu (Achievement Stipend: doc-tudeng-1016-01) for financial support. The author is also grateful to Dr. Ott Puumeister and Dr. Mari-Liis Madisson from the Department of Semiotics of the University of Tartu for providing crucial guidance and feedback during the development of this work.

Disclosure statement

The author has no conflict of interest to disclose.

Notes

1 Data refers to September 2023, obtained from Statista (a German platform specialized in data gathering), retrieved from https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1146722/twitter-users-in-the-world, 14.09.23.

2 Naturally, it is here understood that the undermining of traditional sources of knowledge is not solely related to the anti-vax movement, configuring a much more complex problem also associated to the even older (pre-Internet) tendency of subversion of mainstream politics and media. Nevertheless, is still possible to state that anti-vax conspiracy theories have been riding this wave to much success, and it is relevant to consider how so.

3 Retrieved from https://socialbearing.com/, 15.04.23.

4 Sum of the followers for each tweet and retweet sent plus each reply.

5 Sum of retweets, favourites, replies, URL clicks, hashtag clicks, mention clicks, and media views.

6 Retrieved from https://www.mercola.com/, 05.04.2023.

7 Retrieved from http://www.mercolamarket.com/, 05.04.2023.

8 Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-identity-document-validation-technology-idvt/identity-document-validation-technology-in-the-right-to-work-and-right-to-rent-schemes-and-dbs-pre-employment-checking-accessible-version, 12.02.23.

9 Semiosphere is defined “as the semiotic space necessary for the existence and functioning of languages” (Lotman 1990, 123), “outside of which semiosis itself cannot exist” (Lotman 2005, 208).

10 Retrieved from https://twitter.com/drscottjensen/status/1620203440713469952, 29.06.2023.