You are missing the point. The theory that the NSA was hovering up everything in sight was just a theory. We did not have proof one way or the other, and quite a bit of circumstantial evidence to conclude that it was in fact happening.

At that stage it was 'just a theory', with little support.

That some people then went a step further and mislabeled it is mostly their problem, they should have realized that the standard of proof required to shift it one way or the other wasn't available. Snowden gave us that proof.

Your average conspiracy theory is trying to make claims that go against available evidence to try to come up with some kind of alternate history of what must be true. Typically these involve privileged knowledge, powerful people and internally inconsistent claims.

The NSA could be listening in on a lot more than they are letting on theory never had any of those problems.