From Bespoke Realities to Institutional Realities: How Networked Conspiracy Theories Drive Administrative Deformation

Using a case study of the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” this talk shows how networked actors and political elites can launder weakly evidenced conspiracy narratives from online discourse into hearings, litigation, and executive action. The result is administrative deformation: chilled coordination, program losses, reduced institutional capacity, and erosion of democratic governance.