"Gender, populism, and the QAnon conspiracy movement.". The suit claimed Flynn alone had recited the QAnon motto, "where we go one, we go all", though the video showed all the other participants had done so. It was published by Tiger Team Inc., a North Carolina couple, Richard and Adalita Brown. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. German Reichsbrger groups adopted QAnon to promote its belief that modern Germany is not a sovereign republic but rather a corporation created by Allied nations after World War II, and expressed their hope that Trump would lead an army to restore the Reich. [82], Conspiracy theories have tended to make headway in times of societal uncertainty, and help people to feel more in control in the face of disturbing information. The threats were prompted by a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) campaign advertisement that falsely claimed that Malinowski worked against plans to increase registration for sex offenders in a 2006 crime bill while he was working as a lobbyist for Human Rights Watch. [76], Though QAnon immediately integrated Pizzagate's theory of secret child sex-trafficking rings operated by the elite, it went much further by implying a worldwide cabal and by incorporating elements from various other conspiracies. T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which as of August 2022, holds 48.4 percent of the common stock. In a conspiracy theory environment, primary institutions of society that once served as trusted impartial authorities are easily rejected if they contradict the conspiracy theory, making it very difficult to counter the thinking of QAnon followers. ", "QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show", "Meet This Year's 25 Most Influential People on the Internet", "Quantifying The Q Conspiracy: A Data-Driven Approach to Understanding the Threat Posed by QAnon", "QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends", "Japan's QAnon disciples aren't letting Trump's loss quash their mission", "Japanese QAnon Leader Arrested for Entering COVID-19 Vaccination Site to 'Save Kids', "Members tied to QAnon arrested over break-in at vaccine center", "QAnon conspiracies go global in pandemic 'perfect storm', "QAnon Is Thriving in Germany. Users can access their own photos and videos, along with media shared on their newsfeed. In 2021, Bellingcat analyzed several little-known posts published by Q during the days that followed the first "drops": while containing text identical to later messages unambiguously authored by Q, these also showed Q being "out of character" and behaving in a manner similar to 4chan's other anonymous posters. She expressed regret at having later deleted the video on the advice of a political consultant. In Germany, far-right activists and influencers have created on YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram a German audience for QAnon, estimated in 2020 at 200,000. [224][225][226] Q suggested that hydroxychloroquine, endorsed by Trump at the time, was a cure for the disease, and accused the Democrats of forcing infected patients into nursing homes, deliberately causing most COVID-related deaths in the United States. [82] This will happen at a time known as "the Event" or "the Storm", when thousands of people will be arrested and possibly sent to Guantanamo Bay prison or to face military tribunals. Password requirements: 6 to 30 characters long; ASCII characters only (characters found on a standard US keyboard); must contain at least 4 different symbols; [86] Some Christians, such as pastor Derek Kubilus, call QAnon heresy,[87] but most U.S. pastors have not taken a stand against it. [291] According to a book on the psychology of QAnon followers, Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon, "The inauguration was a particularly difficult prophecy to get wrong, and the result has been that some QAnon believers experienced deep melancholy, suicidal ideation, or engaged in self-harm". The Origins of the Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Spreading Online", "Qanon Deploys 'Information Warfare' to Influence the 2020 Election", "What Is QAnon: Explaining the Internet Conspiracy Theory That Showed Up at a Trump Rally", "Trump isn't secretly winking at QAnon. In an astoundingly short space of time, Xi Jinping appears to have been recast from a villain to a hero in the QAnon conspiracy pantheon. A "smoking gun" video of Hillary Clinton would emerge in March 2018. [62], The allegations of child sexual abuse and the centrality of the Clinton family to this abuse became a key part of the QAnon belief system,[61] but in time the Clintons' centrality to this was de-emphasized in favor of more general conspiratorial claims of an alleged worldwide elite of child sex-traffickers. Following a bumpy launch week that saw frequent server trouble and bloated player queues, Blizzard has announced that over 25 million Overwatch 2 players have logged on in its first 10 days. In The Justice Department actually announced the investigation and arrest of Islamic State members. Revelations continues the story of Desmond Miles, who has fallen into a coma due to the events of the previous game. [78] One version of the QAnon theory posits that the child abusers use adrenochrome as an elixir to remain young. [23] In 2021, a report from the Soufan Center, a research group focused on national security, found that one-fifth of 166,820 QAnon posts in the U.S. between January 2020 and February 2021 originated in foreign countries, primarily Russia and China, and that China was the "primary foreign actor touting QAnon-narratives online". [1] QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". [3][4] After increased scrutiny of the movement and its hashtags, mainstream social media companies such as Twitter[36] and Facebook[37] began taking action to stop the spread of the conspiracy theory. ", "Republican and QAnon supporter Lauren Boebert wins House race in Colorado", "Trump ally running for Congress believes in baseless QAnon sex-trafficking conspiracy", "The Republican Embrace of QAnon Goes Far Beyond Trump", "The Texas GOP's new slogan echoes a conspiracy group. The U.S. military will then take over the country,[171] and the result will be salvation and utopia on earth. [82] Q's messages typically claimed that everything was going as planned, that Trump was in control and that all his adversaries would end up in prison. [115], One in four Britons are said to believe in QAnon-related theories, though only 6% support QAnon. [70] On March 13, 2018, Cheryl Sullenger, the vice president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, called QAnon a "small group of insiders close to President Donald J. Trump" and called their posts the "highest level of intelligence to ever be dropped publicly in our known history". In March 2002, American journalist QAnon has incorporated elements from many other preexisting beliefs: besides its immediate predecessor Pizzagate, the theory has added features from much older conspiracy theories, such as those about the Kennedy assassination, U.F.O.s and 9/11. But the lack of a coherent narrative was a constraint on the /htg/ trend, and it never achieved Pizzagate's popularity. [89], QAnon-related merchandise was widely available on Amazon's online marketplace in 2018. In the last episode of Q: Into the Storm, the 2021 HBO docuseries he produced from this research, Hoback showed his final conversation with Ron Watkins, who stated on camera: I've spent the past almost ten years, every day, doing this kind of research anonymously. [404], Former lieutenant general and head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump's National Security Advisor, became popular among QAnon followers, who took a 2016 quote from Flynn about Trump having been elected by an "army of digital soldiers"[405] and started calling themselves "digital soldiers". Here's what you need to look out for They often comfort themselves by imagining that there will be a moment of vindication sometime in the near future which will prove their beliefs right. ", "Reddit's QAnon ban points to how it's tracking toxic communities", "There's an alt-right version of everything", "The 'alt-right' created a parallel internet. Facebook Spaces is a virtual reality version of Facebook for Oculus VR goggles. The documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback spent three years investigating the origins of QAnon and its connection to 8chan, conducting extensive interviews with Jim and Ron Watkins and Brennan. What can we learn from the past? "[231][232], The Q persona was that of a well-connected individual with access to highly sensitive government information, who put themself at risk by dispensing their knowledge to 4chan, then 8chan/8kun users. Presidential candidate Joe Biden responded that Trump was aiming to "legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a domestic terrorism threat". [395] He said he knew nothing else about QAnon and told his questioner, Savannah Guthrie of NBC News, that no one can know whether the premise of QAnon's conspiracy theory is true. [281], Travis View, a researcher who studies QAnon, says that it is as addictive as a video game, and offers the "player" the possibility of being involved in something of world-historical importance. all rights reserved. [61] QAnon followers often used the hashtag #SaveTheChildren to promote the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Instead of focusing on a limited supply of email material to comb through, the /htg/ culture allowed users to actively participate in the imagined storylines. [50], On August 4, 2018, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked to comment on QAnon in his "ask me anything" session on the r/The Donald subreddit. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean [42] In May 2021, Flynn was a keynote speaker at the "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup" conference organized in Dallas, Texas by QAnon influencer John Sabal. [47] Karsnitz said that he had "no doubt" that Wood's tweets played a role in inciting the attack on the Capitol. The Indiana-based Omega Kingdom Ministry tried to combine QAnon and Christianity, with Q posts and Bible quotes both read during church services. The posts were soon deleted. [82] On August 24, 2018, Trump hosted Michael William "Lionel" Lebron, a leading QAnon promoter, in the Oval Office for a photo op. [227][228], Until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, QAnon-adjacent groups were hostile to China. [399], After the election, as the date of College vote count approached and Pence showed no intention of blocking the certification of Biden's win, QAnon figures vilified him as a traitor. [80][81] This involved setting up the r/CBTS_Stream subreddit, where subscribers came to talk about QAnon. "[398] Pence also commented that the media giving attention to QAnon amounted to "[chasing] shiny objects". Q used a calm, authoritative tone, rarely interacted with other posters, and never argued with those who disagreed with their claims. [348] In April and October 2021, actor Jim Caviezel appeared at conservative conferences where he endorsed aspects of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings. [310], An October 2020 Yahoo-YouGov poll found that even if they had not heard of QAnon, a majority of Republicans and Trump supporters believed top Democrats were engaged in sex-trafficking rings and more than half of Trump supporters believed he was working to dismantle the rings. To help you find what you are looking for: Check the URL (web address) for misspellings or errors. Bellingcat's theory is that the author of these messages[j] had not yet perfected the Q persona and was still settling into the voice of their online alter ego, which implies that Q was originally one 4chan poster among many instead of a powerful government insider. In response to the question "Is Q legit? about tips. [56][57] David DePape, the suspect in the Paul Pelosi attack, is a QAnon follower. [275] QAnon's cultish quality has led to its characterization as a possible emerging religious movement. Hello, and welcome to Protocol Entertainment, your guide to the business of the gaming and media industries. [114] In Russia, a similar conspiracy theory, the "Soviet Citizens"which claims the Russian Federation is a Delaware-based LLC that occupies the legal territory of the Soviet Unionalso became susceptible to QAnon beliefs. [129][130][131], The movement has also spread to Spain and Latin America,[132] with countries like Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Brazil having an online presence. [82][40], QAnon first received attention from mainstream press in November 2017; Newsweek called it "Pizzagate on steroids". [302], In March 2021, Flynn's brother, retired lieutenant general Jack Flynn, and his wife filed a $75 million defamation suit against CNN, alleging the network had falsely accused them of being QAnon followers. One of the earlier rumors spread by QAnon followers was that such figures as Hillary Clinton, her daughter Chelsea and Senator John McCain had already been arrested and indicted, and were wearing ankle monitoring bracelets during their public appearances. [8] QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier; it also incorporates elements of many other theories. Linguistic detectives find fingerprints", "Inside QAnon, the Conspiracy Cult that's Devouring America", "Qurious About QAnon? Hillary Clinton was about to be arrested and would attempt to flee the country. Mary Ann Mendoza shared a thread that includes nearly every anti-Semitic trope of the last century", "Not Every QAnon Believer's an Antisemite. [207][208][209] According to QAnon researcher Will Sommer, about 20% of QAnon followers believe the JFK Jr. theory, while the majority finds it too "farcical on its face". QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". [362][363] According to Will Sommer in The Daily Beast, the resolution does not have the force of law. They theorized that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had deleted millions of votes for Trump. [444], On October 7, 2020, Etsy announced that it would remove all QAnon-related merchandise from its online marketplace;[445] the products were still available there as of January 2021. A Case Study in Political Extremism", National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, List of Atomwaffen Division members in the United States who faced criminal charges, Timeline of activities involving the Proud Boys, Fells Acres Day Care Center preschool trial, Franklin child prostitution ring allegations, Little Rascals day care sexual abuse trial, Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, Attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of 2020 election fraud, Companies that halted political contributions, Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol, Democratic backsliding in the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=QAnon&oldid=1123407243, Groups and movements involved with the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Classified information in the United States, Conspiracy theories regarding Barack Obama, Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. [16][17] Many also consider it antisemitic due to its strong resemblance to the antisemitic blood libel, the myth that Jews harvest the blood of children for ritual purposes.[18]. They believed that Trump would be sworn in as the 19th president on March 4, 2021, the original inauguration date until the Twentieth Amendment changed it to January 20 in 1933, and that he would restore the federal government. [306], Soon after QAnon emerged, some media outlets and public figures made efforts to portray it as credible. When these tactics failed, Trump supporters many of them QAnon followers attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. [72], Many other messages followed; Q's activity surged in November, with most posts expanding upon previous theories about Hillary Clinton. Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from information disclosure, theft of, or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.. They also see Trump as the only person fighting this criminal network. There is no self-correction process within the group, since the self-reinforcing true followers are immune to correction, fact-checking, or counter-speech, which is drowned out by the cult's groupthink. [Watkins then laughed and added:] Never as Q. I promise. [287], Disillusionment can also come from the failure of the theories' predictions. The field has become of significance due to the [313], Multiple surveys have found that conspiracy theories such as QAnon are most popular among white Americans, especially evangelicals. "[358], A May 30, 2019, FBI "Intelligence Bulletin" memo from the Phoenix Field Office identified QAnon-driven extremists as a domestic terrorism threat. [125][126][127] A February 8 article in The Guardian described the 2022 convoy protests in Canada as the result of coordination between QAnon, conspiracy theorists, and anti-vaccine and anti-government organizations. Covering NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and all of the greater New York City area. [3] According to one QAnon video, the battle between Trump and "the cabal" is of "biblical proportions", a "fight for earth, of good versus evil". [94] QAnon-related merchandise was also available on Etsy and Teespring, and pages relating to the conspiracy theory were on Patreon and GoFundMe. Here's Everything We Know", "Filmmaker says he potentially uncovered man behind QAnon", "QAnon docuseries Q: Into the Storm has an answer on who is Q", "A QAnon revelation suggests the truth of Q's identity was right there all along", "Ron Watkins denies he is QAnon leader ahead of "Into the Storm" HBO show", "Who is Q Anon, the internet's most mysterious poster? As a result of this increased vigilance, Facebook reported having already "removed over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon from Facebook, blocked over 300 hashtags across Facebook and Instagram, and additionally imposed restrictions on over 1,950 Groups and 440 Pages on Facebook and over 10,000 accounts on Instagram". About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features ", "US takes back its assertion that Capitol rioters wanted to 'capture and assassinate' officials", "Without Their 'Messiah,' QAnon Believers Confront A Post-Trump World", "Life inside QAnon, the cult that stormed the Capitol", "QAnon Conspiracy: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know", "Is QAnon, the Latest pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory, anti-Semitic? [105], Marc-Andr Argentino, a researcher of the movement, noted in August 2020 that QAnon-dedicated Facebook pages existed in 71 countries worldwide. [136], Pastel QAnon, identified by Concordia University researcher Marc-Andr Argentino,[137][138] is a collection of techniques aimed predominantly at indoctrinating women into the conspiracy theory, mainly on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube. Formally, a string is a finite, ordered sequence of characters such as letters, digits or spaces. [135] An RTVE news report found that most Spanish QAnon supporters identified Vox as their preferred political party. Flynn's activism fueled speculation among QAnon followers that he would help them take control,[42] or that he was Q himself. ", "Who is behind QAnon? The Quebec Biker War (French: Guerre des motards au Qubec) was a turf war in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, lasting from 1994 to 2002, between the Quebec branch of the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine.The war left 162 people dead, including civilians. [139] It co-opts the aesthetics and language of social media influencers, often using personal anecdotes and gateway issues (i.e. The forging of a right-wing religion and its extreme threat to security", "I understand the temptation to dismiss QAnon. Terms like the "cabal" or the "Storm", and Q's recurring phrases like "Trust the plan" or "Enjoy the show" are among the most popular. This Friday, were taking a look at Microsoft and Sonys increasingly bitter feud over Call of Duty and whether U.K. regulators are leaning toward torpedoing the Activision Blizzard deal. Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. This is why", "Exclusive: FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat", "FBI memo warns QAnon poses potential terror threat: report", "Bipartisan Lawmakers Introduce House Resolution Condemning QAnon 'Cult', "H.Res.1154 Condemning QAnon and rejecting the conspiracy theories it promotes, 116th Congress (20192020)", "House votes to condemn baseless QAnon conspiracy theory", "False G.O.P. [15][263] A Jewish Telegraphic Agency article in August 2018 asserted: "Some of QAnon's archetypical elementsincluding secret elites and kidnapped children, among othersare reflective of historical and ongoing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. [73] Becoming increasingly vague over time, Q's posts allowed followers to map their own beliefs onto them and develop new variations of the theory. [116] In October 2020, anti-racist advocacy group Hope not Hate said that British influencer Martin Geddes ran "one of the most popular QAnon Twitter accounts in the world". [286], On March 14, 2018, Reddit banned one of its communities discussing QAnon, /r/CBTS_Stream, for "encouraging or inciting violence and posting personal and confidential information". [426], In mid-May 2020, Google removed three other apps QMAP, Q Alerts! Now I'm doing it publicly, that's the only difference. Multiple QAnon-affiliated protesters participated in the disturbance. [63] Q has referred to Pizzagate claims without using the term. [82], Since the Q tripcode was uniquely verified by 8chan's server and not reproducible on other imageboards, and Q did not have another means of communication, Q was not able to post when the website went down after the 2019 El Paso shooting. Flynn's apparent declaration of allegiance to QAnon made him the most prominent former government official to endorse the conspiracy theory. [22] QAnon's conspiracy theories have also been relayed by Russian and Chinese state-backed media companies, social media troll accounts,[27][23][28] and the far-right Falun Gong-associated Epoch Media Group.[34]. ", This page was last edited on 23 November 2022, at 15:40. [73] An Internet community soon developed around interpreting and analyzing posts attributed to Q, and several of these conspiracy theorists became minor celebrities within the community. [66], The main tenets of the QAnon ideology were already present at 4chan before Q's appearance, including claims that Hillary Clinton was directly involved in a pedophile ring, that Robert Mueller was secretly working with Trump, and that large-scale military tribunals were imminent. "Sinc [191] This led to an August 7 statement by Save the Children on the unauthorized use of its name in campaigns. [254] He appeared on various far-right media, pushing QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theories. [48], In May 2021, Wood (alongside fellow attorney Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn) was a keynote speaker at the "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup" conference in Dallas. To sustain faith in a final victory over the "cabal", Q used recurring phrases such as "Trust the plan", "Enjoy the show", and "Nothing can stop what is coming". Travis Victor Alexander (July 28, 1977 June 4, 2008) was an American salesman who was murdered by his ex-girlfriend, Jodi Ann Arias (born July 9, 1980), in his house in Mesa, Arizona.Arias was convicted of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on April 13, 2015.. At the time of the murder, Alexander suffered Its chair says there's no connection", "GOP Rep. Liz Cheney calls QAnon "dangerous lunacy", "Romney: Trump's refusal to disavow QAnon is part of "alarming pattern" in politics", "Trump has repeatedly amplified QAnon Twitter accounts. [336], The attack led to a crackdown on QAnon-related content, pages and accounts on social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. [58] In multiple posts on social media platforms and at least two blogs, he promoted QAnon and other far-right conspiracy theories. [333] Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot dead by police as she was trying to break into the Speaker's Lobby, was a committed follower of QAnon. "[242], In September 2020, Brennan speculated that the Q account was initially run by another person, with Jim and Ron Watkins taking over in late 2017[241] or early 2018. [95], In May 2021, a report published by the Atlantic Council concluded that QAnon content was "evaporating" from the mainstream web. [306][307] Positive feelings toward QAnon were found to be strongly correlated with susceptibility to conspiracy thinking. Rioters were either seen wearing clothing with Q-related emblems or identified as QAnon followers from video footage. [254], In August 2019, a "Digital Soldiers Conference" was announced for the next month in Atlanta. And, it certainly is not anti-Semitic to point out this fact. [381], In August 2020, The New York Times said that the Texas Republican Party's new slogan ("We Are the Storm") was taken from Q. Texas Republican Party officials denied this, saying it was inspired by a biblical passage and has no connection to QAnon. QAnon personalities moved to dedicated message boards, where they organized to wage information warfare in an attempt to influence the election. Since its emergence in American politics, QAnon has spawned movements around the world. [192] In September, Facebook and Instagram tried to prevent #SaveTheChildren from being associated with QAnon by redirecting users who searched for the hashtag to the child welfare group;[193] in October, Facebook announced that it would try to limit the hashtag's reach. [165], On June 24, 2022, Q, or someone who possesses their details, posted on 8kun after an 18-month hiatus. It was basically three years of intelligence training teaching normies how to do intelligence work. Because I am not Q, and I never was. [82], Public figures whom QAnon followers believe to be part of the cabal include Democratic Party politicians like Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, businesspeople like George Soros[9] and Bill Gates,[173] religious leaders like Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama,[9] Anthony Fauci,[82] and entertainers like Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres,[9] Lady Gaga[174] and Chrissy Teigen. [102] Russian government-funded Russian state media such as RT and Sputnik have amplified the conspiracy theory since 2019, citing QAnon as evidence that the U.S. is riven by internal strife and division. [436][437][438] In the month after its August announcement, Facebook said it deleted 1,500 QAnon groups; such groups by then had four million followers. QAnon, says View, competes not in the marketplace of ideas, but in the marketplace of realities. [341][342] On March 15, Kyiv-based Rabochaya Gazeta[uk], the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Ukraine, published an article calling QAnon a "military intelligence group". On October 6, 2020, Facebook said it would immediately begin removing "any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content". His Twitter profile included the hashtag #WWG1WGA, a slogan associated with QAnon. ", "Explained: What's Anti-Semitic About QAnon, The Trump Base's Latest Pet Theory? Though they typically talk about how Q frayed their relationships on private Facebook groups. ", Hodwitz, Omi, Steff King, and Jordan Thompson. [20] In August 2019, 8chan was shut down after it was connected with the El Paso shooting and other violent incidents. What's next could be worse", "Here's why prominent conservatives now are calling QAnon a 'psyop', "After embracing QAnon, Steve Bannon now presents the conspiracy theory as an "FBI psyop", "Founder of bizarre new religion targeting QAnon believers 'unmasked', "Unmasked: man behind cult set to replace QAnon", "How conspiracy theories spread from the Internet's darkest corners", "New poll: the QAnon conspiracy movement is very unpopular", "76% of Americans have never heard of QAnon", "QAnon's conspiracy theories have seeped into U.S. politics, but most don't know what it is", "Political Divides, Conspiracy Theories and Divergent News Sources Heading Into 2020 Election", "Even if they haven't heard of QAnon, most Trump voters believe its wild allegations", "Survey finds 3 in 10 Republicans believe QAnon child sex-trafficking theory", "Understanding QAnon's Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption", "Hispanic Americans are curious about QAnon too", "Three Components of the QAnon Conspiracy Movement", "Belief in QAnon has strengthened in US since Trump was voted out, study finds", "The Persistence of QAnon in the Post-Trump Era: An Analysis of Who Believes the Conspiracies", "QAnon accounts make a dent in voting discussion on Twitter", "QAnon's Dominion voter fraud conspiracy theory reaches the president", "No, Dominion voting machines did not delete Trump votes", "Repudiating Trump, officials say election 'most secure', "Fact check: Evidence disproves claims of Italian conspiracy to meddle in U.S. election (known as #ItalyGate)", "Vatican blackout hoax linked to ItalyGate conspiracy theory", "QAnon backers have a crazy new conspiracy theory about the election: Italy did it", "Did Legislation Passed in 1871 Make Washington, D.C., a Foreign Entity? [275] Rachel Bernstein, an expert on cults who specializes in recovery therapy, said, "What a movement such as QAnon has going for it, and why it will catch on like wildfire, is that it makes people feel connected to something important that other people don't yet know about. [240] This means that Jim Watkins, the owner of 8chan, and his son Ron Watkins, who used to administrate 8chan, are two of the few people who can definitively say who Q is. The term originally referred to the anonymous poster "Q", but the media soon used the compound "QAnon" as a collective term for either the conspiracy theory or the community driving and discussing it. [446], In an October 12, 2020, interview with CNN, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said much QAnon material was "borderline content" that did not explicitly break its rules, but that changes in the site's methodology for recommendations had reduced views of QAnon-related content by 80%. [385] In March 2021, representative Peter Meijer said that the Republican Party should unequivocally condemn QAnon and other conspiracy theories, and commented: "The fact that a significant plurality, if not potentially a majority, of our voters have been deceived into this creation of an alternate reality could very well be an existential threat to the party". "[16], QAnon's adrenochrome-harvesting claims have been linked to blood libel by the followers (who believe in the truthfulness of both)[264] and people who have researched QAnon. Those who have a checking or savings account, but also use financial alternatives like check cashing services are considered underbanked. For some, these failures began the process of separation from the QAnon cult, while others urged direct action in the form of an insurrection against the government. [12] The poster's username implied that they held Q clearance,[69][70] a United States Department of Energy security clearance required to access Top Secret information on nuclear weapons and materials. [221][222][223] Notably, QAnon conspiracy theorists touted drinking an industrial bleach (known as MMS, or Miracle Mineral Solution) as a "miracle cure" for COVID-19. There's plenty of merch for sale on Amazon", "On Amazon, a Qanon conspiracy book climbs the charts with an algorithmic push", "How a conspiracy theory about Democrats drinking children's blood topped Amazon's best-sellers list", "Failed Screenwriter from New Jersey Behind One of QAnon's Most Influential Personas", "QAnon posts by figurehead Q may be written by more than one person", "A Trail of 'Bread Crumbs,' Leading Conspiracy Theorists Into the Wilderness", "QAnon Key Figure Revealed as Financial Information Security Analyst from New Jersey", "QAnon Website Shuts Down After N.J. Man Identified as Operator", "Did an IP address accidentally reveal QAnon's identity? [p] Gab also became increasingly popular in these environments, especially after Parler went offline for several weeks following the Capitol attack. 1154) condemning QAnon and rejecting its conspiracy theories. [39][40] After Joe Biden won, they were involved in efforts to overturn the results of the election. Regulations forbid wearing either. Other conspiracy theories were later added, notably involving Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia or Iran. [80] A stylometric analysis has suggested that two people likely wrote Q's posts, and that their "distinct signatures clearly correspond to separate periods in time and different online forums". Around that time, "HLIAnon", standing for "High Level Insider Anon", hosted long question-and-answer sessions, dispensing various conspiracy theories, including that Princess Diana was murdered after trying to stop the September11 attacks. [285] Survey data showed in late 2020 that a quarter of those who knew about QAnon thought there was some truth to it. [359], On August 25, 2020, two U.S. [168][169], QAnon's core belief is that the world is controlled by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping child molesters whom Trump is secretly battling to stop, and that Q, an anonymous entity, reveals details about the battle online. [365] Before the vote, Malinowski told Slate magazine, referencing the NRCC ad: "I don't want to see any Republicans voting against fire on the House floor this week and then continuing to play with fire next week by running these kinds of ads against Democratic candidates. A lot of Parler's content relates to QAnon or far-right extremist ideologies, Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, breaking into a health clinic which provided COVID-19 vaccinations, charged with terrorism for having planned a coup against the French government, sixth public hearing on the January 6 Attack, 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, conspiracy theories about US-funded laboratories, Conspiracy theories in United States politics, hundreds of daycare workers were falsely accused, Biden had won the election through voter fraud, Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, List of companies that halted political contributions, Suspensions of other social media accounts, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Republican Congressional Committee, 2020 United States Senate election in Oregon, Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy, "The Storm Is the New Pizzagate Only Worse", "The next-generation bots interfering with the US election", "The far right is struggling to contain Qanon after giving it life", "Pence shares picture of himself meeting a SWAT officer with a QAnon conspiracy patch", "South Florida Cop Wore "QAnon" Conspiracy Patch With Mike Pence", "What You Need to Know About Far-Right Conspiracy QAnon", "Trump Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Right-Wing Social Media Trolls", "Gender, Populism, and the QAnon Conspiracy Movement", "The Apocalypse and Political Discourse in an Age of COVID", Journal for the Study of the New Testament, "QAnon: The conspiracy theory embraced by Trump, several politicians, and some American moms", "What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory? Various associates of Daillet-Wiedemann were also arrested and charged in late 2021[120] and early 2022. [227][228][230] In the conspiracy theory interpretation, QAnon followers have claimed to justify the invasion of Ukraine as an effort by Putin and Trump to destroy "military" laboratories in Ukraine. YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim.The trio were early employees of PayPal, which left them enriched after the company was bought by eBay. [359] The FBI said another factor driving the intensity of anti-government extremism is "the uncovering of real conspiracies or cover-ups involving illegal, harmful, or unconstitutional activities by government officials or leading political figures". [165] They subsequently made predictions about Trump remaining president or returning to power, such as: QAnon effectively merged with Pizzagate by incorporating its beliefs, namely that children are being abducted in large numbers to supply a child trafficking ring, which the followers equate with the cabal. [85] Some Christian pastors introduced their congregations to QAnon ideas. The post also alluded cryptically to George Soros, Huma Abedin and Operation Mockingbird. [286], People in the QAnon community often talk about alienation from family and friends. [393][394], On October 15, 2020, when given the opportunity to denounce QAnon at a "town hall"-style campaign event, Trump refused to do so and instead pointed out that QAnon opposes pedophilia. ", "QAnon supporters gather over theory that JFK Jr. will emerge, announce Trump to be reinstated", "The Dark Virality of a Hollywood Blood-Harvesting Conspiracy", "How QAnon Became Obsessed With 'Adrenochrome,' an Imaginary Drug Hollywood Is 'Harvesting' from Kids", "Fact check: 35,000 "malnourished" and "caged" children were not recently rescued from tunnels by U.S. military", "QAnon Promotes Pedo-Ring Conspiracy Theories. And neither do you know that. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before but never as Q. This led to the presence en masse of QAnon followers at a July 2018 Trump rally for the midterm elections in Tampa, Florida, the first visible presence of the QAnon movement at Trump rallies. You can find all networks below as drop down menu . [387][22] QAnon followers came to refer to Trump as "Q+". [43], Also in August 2020, representative Liz Cheney became the highest-ranking House Republican to take a stand against QAnon, which she called a "dangerous lunacy that should have no place in American politics". He Was Under 'QAnon' Delusion", "Liz Crokin Warns of 'Vigilante Justice' if QAnon's Promised Mass Arrests Don't Happen Soon", "QAnon in Meltdown After Biden Inauguration: 'We Need to Go Back to Our Lives', "Fact check: No basis for claims that President Joe Biden's inauguration was faked", "Fact check: Biden family Bible used during his oath is historically Roman Catholic, not connected to Illuminati or Freemasons as posts claim", "Stages of defeat: Die-hard Trump supporters range from being deflated over Biden's inauguration to believing their twice-impeached leader will be running the government as a shadow president for the next 4 years", "QAnon's 'Great Awakening' failed to materialize. 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