"Conspiracy Theorist" as a Policing Word : An Analysis of Conspiracy Watch's Discourse in the Light of Orwell, Zinoviev, and Belhaj Kacem

Abstract This article analyzes the discourse of Conspiracy Watch (a French organization funded by the French government and the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, dedicated to combating conspiracy theories and disinformation) through three theoretical lenses : Orwell’s concept of Newspeak, Zinoviev’s logocracy, and Belhaj Kacem’s notion of the “policing word.” The inflationary use of terms such as conspiracy theorist, conspiracist sphere, and turbo-conspiracist transforms fact-checking into a form of symbolic policing : the label serves to delegitimize legitimate criticism (e.g., the Epstein affair, the Covid crisis) by reducing it to an individual pathology, thereby obscuring structural conspiracies. Far from being a neutral practice, fact-checking redistributes credibility according to institutional hierarchies, narrowing the democratic space of what can be said. Keywords fact-checking, Conspiracy Watch, conspiracy discourse, Newspeak, logocracy, symbolic policing, Mehdi Belhaj Kacem, Orwell, Alexander Zinoviev, structural conspiracies, Epstein affair, Tristan Mendès France, Rudy Reichstadt, Covid crisis, disinformation, democratic pluralism