COVID-19 pandemic: conspiracy and anti-conspiracy

Today the world faces not only a biogenic challenge, but also a challenge in the media sphere, which has a direct impact on the situation with the spread of the COVID-19. Despite the fact that conspiracy became one of the most discussed topics in the public discourse long before 2020, conspiracy as a phenomenon in the humanities and social sciences is studied primarily in anthropology, sociology and psychology. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrates that conspiracy theory (CT) has become one of the main political factor. Western political science discourse reacted to the request faster. At the turn of the 2010s-2020s, there was an intensification in this direction, the research field of conspiracy in political science began to form. Russian research discourse about it is still small and fragmented. The aim of the paper is to fill this gap. The text attempts to answer the research question: why have COVID conspiracy theories managed to gain such popularity and how do they prolong the pandemic by influencing political processes? For this purpose, the author analyzes conspiracy prerequisites (evolutionary atavism, information storm, non-transparent policy, epistemological limitations of human being, popular culture); gives the typology of CT (1. Does the virus really exist? 2. COVID-19 is no more dangerous than the flu. 3. Who is guilty? 4. Who is the beneficiary of the pandemic? 5. Is vaccination a microchipping?); and proposes measures to neutralize the harmful effects of CT on public consciousness. At the same time, the author opposes prohibitive measures as the least effective ways to combat conspiracy.