  Do we live in a "Golden Age of Conspiracy Theories?" In the last few decades,
conspiracy theories have proliferated on the Internet with some having
dangerous real-world consequences. A large contingent of those who participated
in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol fervently believed in the QAnon
conspiracy theory. In this work, we study the relationships amongst five
prominent conspiracy theories (QAnon, COVID, UFO/Aliens, 9/11, and Flat-Earth)
and each of their respective relationships to the news media, both authentic
news and misinformation. Identifying and publishing a set of 755 different
conspiracy theory websites dedicated to our five conspiracy theories, we find
that each set often hyperlinks to the same external domains, with COVID and
QAnon conspiracy theory websites having the largest amount of shared
connections. Examining the role of news media, we further find that not only do
outlets known for spreading misinformation hyperlink to our set of conspiracy
theory websites more often than authentic news websites but also that this
hyperlinking increased dramatically between 2018 and 2021, with the advent of
QAnon and the start of COVID-19 pandemic. Using partial Granger-causality, we
uncover several positive correlative relationships between the hyperlinks from
misinformation websites and the popularity of conspiracy theory websites,
suggesting the prominent role that misinformation news outlets play in
popularizing many conspiracy theories.
