The Rise of the Bug-Eating Conspiracy Theory

A conspiracy theory alleging that a shadowy global elite conspires to control the world's population, in part by forcing them to eat insects, is being cited by politicians in several countries. The idea of including insects in human food has been an emerging idea among climate scientists and food security experts, but for those who espouse the conspiracy theory, eating bugs is framed as a matter of individual freedom and government control. The theory has fused with an amorphous and shapeshifting conspiracy theory in which a shadowy global elite conspires to control the world's population.