Plandemic or Infodemic : COVID-19 and the Anti-vax Movement on the Flashback Forum in Sweden

Abstract: This study researches anti-vaccine discourses related to the COVID-19 vaccine shared on the Flashback forum in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2022). Using a framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and Actor-Network Theory, the goal of the study is to identify the components of conspiratorial anti-Covid vaccine discourses on the Flashback forum, and unpack how conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 vaccine found in the sample can contribute to diminishing trust in authorities in the Swedish context.  Departing from Berlet’s (2009) list of eight common scapegoats, the study demonstrates how universally present stereotypes of various ‘Others’ commonly invoked within the context of conspiracy theories are adapted in the national and social context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. Results of the study discuss how traditional conspiracy theory elements find their way into the analyzed Flashback thread, and how their evocation is discursively used to undermine trust in Swedish authorities and government organs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, this study contributes to filling a gap in research on the online dissemination of conspiracy theories and its effect on institutional trust and support for (and consecutively, adoption of) regulations put forward by these institutions – an immensely dangerous phenomenon in times of a global health crisis. The study concludes by suggesting further research on how effects such as anonymity online intersect with a growing polarization of society.