The Conspiracy Money Machine: Uncovering Telegram's Conspiracy Channels and their Profit Model

Abstract: In recent years, major social media platforms have implemented increasingly strict moderation policies, resulting in bans and restrictions on conspiracy theory-related content. To circumvent these restrictions, conspiracy theorists are turning to alternatives, such as Telegram, where they can express and spread their views with fewer limitations. Telegram offers channels, virtual rooms where only administrators can broadcast messages, and a more permissive content policy. These features have created the perfect breeding ground for a complex ecosystem of conspiracy channels. In this paper, we illuminate this ecosystem. First, we propose an approach to detect conspiracy channels. Then, we discover that conspiracy channels can be clustered into four distinct communities comprising over 17,000 channels. Finally, we uncover the "Conspiracy Money Machine," revealing how most conspiracy channels actively seek to profit from their subscribers. We find conspiracy theorists leverage e-commerce platforms to sell questionable products or lucratively promote them through affiliate links. Moreover, we observe that conspiracy channels use donation and crowdfunding platforms to raise funds for their campaigns. We determine that this business involves hundreds of thousands of donors and generates a turnover of almost $66 million.