You're missing an important third group: people making money pushing these beliefs. Themselves, they likely don't believe it - but they know this type of "content" creates strong "engagement".
Behind the Curve is a good documentary about flat earthers. A lot of them seem to believe it because it gives them a sense that they have figured something out that others haven't. It makes them feel special.
Others believe it, or at least continue to believe, because they find a community and connection with other believers.
That is what you hope, but do you know how many people believed in the Q conspiracy? Chemtrails? Reptiloids? Bill Gates using the vaccination to control everyone through a microchip? It is the same ballpark.
I wish those people pushing this, were doing it just for the lulz. But mostly they are serious.
I'm convinced that chemtrails came from a stoner watching some variation of How planes fly / aeronautics at 3am and heard chemtrails in place of contrails and we are now forever stuck with it.
What I want to know is why Bill Gates got stuck with the microchip conspiracy theory when Elon Musk regularly has press conferences about the progress his team is making with actual brain microchips.
That is simple, because Bill Gates did talk about a microchip for people in an interview, but just an RFID chip, to keep track of the vaccinations. Also his foundation is doing vaccinations big scale.
Even without foreign hostile agencies making disinformation, it is easy seeing crackpots mixing it all up.
