I think at least part of the motivation is financial. A recent story lead to six million views of the amateur video in question which probably earned them between $8,000 and $22,000. See my World Did NOT End On 29th July! AWFUL "Silly Season" Story - Journalists Please Be More Responsible The total revenue from all the Nibiru videos and books must be quite large.

And, for whatever the reason, some people are sociopath, they are either not aware or, or don’t care what effects their actions have on others like the ones who earn money from ransomware, or from telephone scams of elderly people stealing all their savings, and so on. For at least some, it’s an obvious out and out hoax for financial reasons. Others may partly believe it themselves.

And I think a lot of this is fueled by irresponsible reporting. I get messaged by people saying that all they can find are news stories saying Nibiru is real. The most recent debunking articles, apart from here on Quora, and my own ones on my website, are from 2012! There are lots of excellent debunking articles from 2012, but we need present day reporters to report the newest stories in the same way, and they don’t, they exaggerate the stories and play them up, if anything, with a few exceptions. Sometimes they add a final paragraph to say that scientists / NASA say it’s impossible - but with most of the article dramatizing the story, that doesn’t get noticed or is disbelieved by the more anxious readers.

And if you are interested, please sign my petition here:

Let's End Dramatized Reporting of "Doomsday" Stories - The Vulnerable Get Suicidal