Chemtrails. HAARP. The Illuminati. Conspiracy theories are abound on the Internet, but they only prove one thing: that in a virtual world, people make themselves vulnerable to sketchy claims and spotty tales.

The results suggest that conspiracy theories may arise from posts made by users trolling the page, which are supposed to parody the target group. Eventually, though, “troll memes fomented animated debates and diffused through the community as any other information would,” Quattrociocchi and colleagues write.