When Does Big Tech Become a Threat? Linking Conspiracy Beliefs and Populist Radical Right

Research has shown that populism is closely linked to conspiracy beliefs and distrust of powerful elites. However, existing literature pays little attention to how conspiratorial worldviews shape populists’ interpretations of new and emerging centres of power. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between conspiracy beliefs, populist radical right voting and individuals’ perceptions of Big Tech firms in Switzerland. The analysis examines how conspiracy beliefs and populist radical right support—operationalized as the propensity to vote for the Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC) at the federal elections—are associated with two Big Tech frames. Attitudes towards Big Tech are conceptualized not as straightforward pro- or anti-technology stances, but as interpretive frame through which citizens evaluate the democratic and political implication of digital capitalism. The Swiss case is particularly interesting as it is characterized by extensive direct-democratic institutions and distrust toward political elites does not necessarily translate into rejection of democratic procedures. In this context, conspiracy beliefs are less likely to target democratic institutions as such and may instead be projected onto actors operating outside traditional channels of democratic accountability. Big Tech firms—characterized by economic concentration, opaque decision-making, and close interactions with political and scientific elites—represent a particularly salient object for such projections. Using an original survey data, we expect that the threatening interpretation of Big Tech emerges most strongly when populist radical right support is coupled with high levels of conspiracy beliefs. In this configuration, familiar narratives of elite collusion, hidden power, and intentional manipulation are projected onto Big Tech firms, amplifying perceptions of democratic risk and power concentration. By contrast, lower levels of populist radical right support —typically associated with weaker conspiratorial worldviews—are expected to be linked to a substantially weaker threat-based frame and to a greater emphasis on the perceived benefits of Big Tech, such as innovation, economic prosperity, and citizen empowerment. The aim is to verify whether is not populist radical right support per se, but its combination with conspiracy beliefs that reshapes how citizens interpret the political implications of digital capitalism.