Nearly half of the UK’s population believes in conspiracy theories, according to Google search results collected in mobile phone data research. About 30 million people or 46 percent of the UK believes in conspiracies while a third or 36 percent of the nation still sits on the fence. The study, carried out by Insurance2go, found about 41 percent of people trust their gut feelings on conspiracies. And the most believed conspiracy theory in the UK concerns the search engine giant Google spying on its user-base.
The Google spying conspiracy is the most popular by far, with 35 percent of all searches.
The theory is followed in second place by questions surrounding the assassination of President JFK and whether Lee Harvey Oswald was the real killer.
People in Britain also researched in large numbers the US military base at Area 51 in Nevada and whether the Government can spy on you through your mobile phone and webcam.
Questions about the Illuminati, NASA’s 1969 Moon landing and the safety of sleeping next to phones also made the top 10 list.
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Andy Thomas, a conspiracy expert who runs the website The Truth Agenda, said: “History shows repeating patterns of deception, control and state corruption going back centuries.
“This does not mean that everything is a conspiracy, but neither can it be said that nothing is.
“With a huge proportion of the world’s population tending towards conspiracy views, as evidenced by the number of websites and forums and poll results on what people believe, we need to have more open conversations about why people challenge the official view on so many things.
“To deny questioners a voice, or portray them as delusional, as academics and the media are prone to do, isn’t fair.
“The evidence to support certain theories is strong and needs to be heard, not censored. Conspiracy thinking is unlikely to go away.”
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According to the study, 66 percent of Britons learn about conspiracies from documentaries and 32 percent learn of them from books.
About 26 percent hear theories from friends and family and another 16 percent are discovered through the social media platform Facebook.
However, the study noted only 23 percent of people actually believe the conspiracies after conducting their own research.
Gary Beeston, the sales and marketing manager of Insurance2go said: “Conspiracy theories always generate a good debate, whether you’re a believer or not.
“It’s interesting to note just how many conspiracies now feature technology, perhaps the fear around such intelligent applications or AI may be growing as tech gets smarter.
“Theories around tech are certainly something to watch as it develops even further in the future.”
The study comes in the wake of similar research carried out by analysts at SEMrush.
The SEMrush study found more than 500,000 people in the UK searched for Illuminati theories between 2018 and 2019.
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Top 10 conspiracies believed in the UK:
1. Google is watching its users – 35 percent
2. The real killers of John F Kennedy got away with it – 27 percent
3. The remains of crashed UFO spacecraft are stored at Area 51 – 24 percent
4. Webcams on computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones are a way for the government to watch you – 20 percent
5. Placing your phone next to your bed while you sleep is bad for your health – 18 percent
6. Instagram is listening to its users in order to send targeted advertisements – 18 percent
7. Illuminati is still in operation and controls politics, the media, and entertainment – 16 percent
8. The moon landing wasn’t real -13 percent
9. Websites such as Ancestry.co.uk are a way for the government to collect your DNA – 13 percent
10. The US government is responsible for 911 – 12 percent