Many of them, him especially, do not actually believe what they're trying to sell to others. He blatantly photoshops "planet X's" into the images he presents and those circles are not in the raw original images. He then tries to claim he uses "special software" to "reveal" what was "really there" in the image. And if anyone asks how he processed the images to "reveal" these planets he gets pissed off and says that he won't give away his techniques. He knows full well he's lying, he's a pathological liar and has no guilt from lying. It's how he's able to rise to the top of that group on YouTube, he can post the most ridiculous fake stuff that he stole, lied about, and photoshopped, and it's more sensational than anything anyone else has.

Someone who is sincerely confused might post something they think looks unusual, but you can never keep that kind of content flowing in as regularly or as sensationally as an outright hoax, so sincerely wrong videos don't tend to do as well on YouTube as outright lies. YouTube, for their part, are trying to suppress anything having to do with conspiracy theories, including debunking of conspiracy theories. A very good friend of mine just had his entire channel demonetized by YouTube for daring to debunk Planet X hoaxes. He never curses, he always keeps a level head, his videos are the most civil and rational discussion of the subject you'll find anywhere on YouTube. Yet YouTube still insists that his videos violated their policies for monetization and therefore they're removing his monetization. Planet X News lost his monetization too, but he's still as determined as ever to keep profiting from it. That's why he commandeered his wife's channel instead, and he tries to set up sponsorships from survival supply companies to profit off of selling fear about the end of the world.