I realized that many influential business leaders whom I like, respect, and learn from, support or show serious curiosity towards a number of “conspiracy” theories, and it got me thinking… I don’t care that much about who killed Kennedy, 9/11 theories, or aliens, but I am very curious about theories about money, economic benefits, and global finance. So, I did my own homework. Frankly, I’d like to find out for myself, what makes a random theory become a conspiracy theory or disinformation? Where is the borderline?

Thiel is a known libertarian who is in favor of the free market and small government. He is critical of government intervention in the economy and believes that taxes should be low. Musk is more open to government intervention and government-led investments and incentives, especially in relation to renewable energy and space exploration. This background is helpful to understand why each of them is more likely to be sympathetic to a particular theory.

Here are some of the most popular conspiracy theories about money, the economy, cryptocurrencies, CBDCs, and ESG (and what Elon Musk and Peter Thiel think about them):

• CBDCs are a tool to control population and spending: This theory suggests that the main purpose for the central banks to issue CBDCs is to control population and spending and manipulate the economy. Sometimes this theory is expanded and combined with a CO2 carbon credits idea, suggesting that CO2 footprint, digital ID, and carbon credits are all part of a plan by the global elite to control people and the economy. This theory holds that the global elites will be using CO2 footprints to track people’s activities and determine their carbon allowances. Digital IDs will then be used to enforce these carbon allowances, that will be received or can be purchased using CBDCs. The hypothesis here is that based on someone’s carbon index, the authorities will be able to decide who can travel, who can eat meat, and who can use energy.  Peter Thiel has been a vocal critic of CBDCs because he views them as an attempt by the government to track transactions and control personal freedom. Elon Musk dismissed the risks of CBDCs suggesting that they won’t be effective and that the adoption of the CBDCs would be determined by market.

 

• The Great Reset: This theory is based on the idea that when the global economy is on the verge of a collapse or when the population is scared (for example, during COVID), the malicious leaders will use this crisis to establish a new world order, deprive people of their privacy and other personal freedoms, curtail travel, restrict free speech and impose other authoritarian measures. Both Musk and Thiel publicly shared their statements and opinions to this effect. A version of this idea suggests that there is a group of global elites  (likely connected to WEF) and they are working to create an overarching one-world government, able to dominate over national governments.

 

• ESG is a greenwashing scheme, also a deliberate strategy of the global elites to control poor countries by limiting what they can produce and how they can produce it. This theory claims that ESG investing is nothing more than a way for companies to greenwash their image and avoid regulatory scrutiny while imposing more expensive ways of production, manufacturing, and agricultural activities, especially in developing countries to ensure that they remain poor and dependent on the Western support, subsidies and loans. Elon called ESG a scam and made a tweetstorm about the fact that Philip Morris had higher ESG scores than Tesla (Tesla had 37 out of 100, while Philip Morris scored 84). Peter Thiel called ESG “a hate factory” and an “ideological cartel”.

The question I personally have for myself is – are these theories really harmful? Should they be labelled as disinformation? Or, is it just one of the many attempts to analyze the patterns and trends and provide explanations for what is happening and why it may be happening?

I personally often feel like I need someone to be very provocative and almost conspiratory from both sides of the spectrum to help me articulate my own opinion when something unusual or nonsensical happens and continues to happen. In that sense, conspiracy theories are useful, not necessarily because I believe in them, but because they expand my horizon and spectrum of possible explanations so that I can find my own opinion somewhere in the middle. An interesting compliance dilemma in relation to conspiracy theories is introduced by the European Digital Services Act, obliging online platforms, social media sites, and search engines to detect and eliminate information that can be harmful or can be categorized as disinformation.

What is your opinion about conspiracy theories? 💭

Tune in to this episode on the Compliance That Makes Sense Podcast to get additional insights! 💡

P.S. I am happy to announce that the “FinTech Startup Compliance Pro” Certification received its formal accreditation and the next cohort of students will start in a few weeks! This Certification was formally accredited by the Continuous Professional Development agency as a program that meets the requirements of this leading international institution responsible for assessing and certifying professional educational programs. The goal of this program is to transfer the focus of the compliance professionals from being primarily information providers recommending decisions into pragmatic results-focused executives able to set up and manage compliance as a revenue-generating function. You will be trained on how to set and manage any and all aspects of FinTech compliance, including:

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