QAnon
QAnon[a] (/ˈkjuːənɒn/ KYOO-ə-non or /ˈkjuːænɒn/ KYOO-an-on) is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017.[1][2] QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic,[3][4][5] cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against Donald Trump.[9] QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many other theories.[10] QAnon has been described as a cult.[10][11]
Followers believe the Trump administration secretly fought the cabal of pedophiles, and would conduct arrests and executions of thousands of cabal members on a day known as "the Storm" or "the Event".[12] QAnon conspiracy believers have named Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors, high-ranking government officials, business tycoons, and medical experts as members of the cabal.[13] QAnon has also claimed that Trump stimulated the conspiracy of Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election to enlist Robert Mueller to join him in exposing the sex trafficking ring, and to prevent a coup d'état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros.[14][15] QAnon is described as antisemitic or rooted in antisemitic tropes, due to its fixation on Jewish financier Soros and conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, a frequent target of antisemites.[16][17]
Although it has its origins in older conspiracy theories, the first post by Q was in October 2017 on the website 4chan. Q claimed to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, with access to classified information about the Trump administration and its opponents.[18] Q soon moved to 8chan, making it QAnon's online home.[19] Q's often cryptic posts became known as "drops", and were collected by aggregator apps and websites. QAnon became a viral phenomenon beyond the internet and turned into a political movement. QAnon followers began to appear at Trump campaign rallies in August 2018,[20] and Trump amplified QAnon accounts on Twitter.[21] QAnon's conspiracy theories have also been relayed by Russian and Chinese state-backed media, social media troll accounts,[26][22][27] and the far-right Falun Gong-associated Epoch Media Group.[33]
Since its emergence in American politics, QAnon spawned movements around the world. The exact number of QAnon adherents is unclear.[5][34] After increased scrutiny of the movement, social media platforms such as Twitter[35] and Facebook[36] began taking action to stop the spread of the conspiracy theory. QAnon followers have perpetrated acts of violence.[37] Members of the movement took part in the 2020 United States presidential election, during which they supported Trump's campaign and waged information warfare to influence voters.[38][39] After Joe Biden won, they were involved in efforts to overturn the results of the election. Associates of Trump, such as Michael Flynn,[43] Lin Wood[48] and Sidney Powell,[54] have promoted QAnon-derived conspiracy theories. When these tactics failed, Trump supporters – many of them QAnon followers – attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Capitol attack led to a further, more sustained social media crackdown on the movement and its claims.[55][56]
Analysis
Identity of Q
The Q persona is claimed to be that of a well-connected individual with access to highly sensitive government information, who put themself at risk by disclosing the information online. Q used a calm, authoritative tone, rarely interacted with other posters, and never argued with those who disagreed with their claims. 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. 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.[240]
Reactions
Media, advocacy groups, and public figures
Journalists have debunked QAnon's basic tenets.[366] In 2018, The Washington Post called its proponents "a deranged conspiracy cult"[15] and "some of the Internet's most outré Trump fans".[327]
In December 2017, the Russian television network RT aired a segment discussing "QAnon revelations", calling the anonymous poster a "secret intelligence operative inside the Trump administration known by QAnon".[67] On March 13, 2018, Cheryl Sullenger, 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".[367][368] On March 15, Kyiv-based Rabochaya Gazeta, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Ukraine, published an article calling QAnon a "military intelligence group".[369] On March 31, actor Roseanne Barr appeared to promote QAnon, covered by CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.[370][371][372][373] Radio talk show host Lionel became an outspoken QAnon supporter.[374] In April and October 2021, actor Jim Caviezel appeared at conservative conferences and endorsed aspects of the QAnon.[375][376]
In June 2018, a Time magazine article listed Q among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet in 2018. Counting more than 130,000 related discussion videos on YouTube, Time cited the wide range of the conspiracy theory and its more prominent followers and news coverage.[377] On July 4, the Hillsborough County Republican Party shared on its official Facebook and Twitter accounts a YouTube video on QAnon, calling them a "mysterious anonymous inside leaker of deep state activities and counter activities by President Trump". The posts were soon deleted.[378]
In August 2018, following the presence of QAnon supporters at Trump's Tampa, Florida rally for the midterm elections,[15][379] MSNBC news anchors Hallie Jackson, Brian Williams, and Chris Hayes dedicated portions of their programs to the conspiracy theory.[380][381][382] PBS NewsHour also ran a segment on QAnon the next day.[383] In August, Washington Post editorial writer Molly Roberts wrote, "'The storm' QAnon truthers predict will never strike because the conspiracy that obsesses them doesn't exist. But while they wait for it, they'll try to whip up the winds, and the rest of us will struggle to find shelter."[384]
Online
QDrops app
QDrops, an app that promoted the conspiracy theory, was published on the Apple App Store and Google Play.[460] It became the most popular paid app in Apple's online store's "entertainment" section in April 2018, and the tenth-most popular paid app overall. It was published by Tiger Team Inc, a North Carolina couple, Richard and Adalita Brown.[461][462][463] On July 15, 2018, Apple pulled the app after an inquiry from NBC News.[464]
In mid-May 2020, Google removed three other apps – QMAP, Q Alerts! and Q Alerts LITE – from the Android app store for violating its terms of service.[465][466]
Anti-QAnon subreddits
Some social media forums, such as the subreddits r/QAnonCasualties and r/ReQovery, aim to assist either former followers and supporters of QAnon conspiracies or those whose family members engaged in the conspiracy.[307]
Removal of content
In March 2018, Reddit banned one of its communities discussing QAnon, /r/CBTS_Stream, for "encouraging or inciting violence and posting personal and confidential information".[467] Some followers moved to Discord.[468] Several other communities were formed for discussion of QAnon, leading to further bans on September 12, 2018, in response to these communities "inciting violence, harassment, and the dissemination of personal information", which led to thousands of followers regrouping on Voat,[469] a Switzerland-based Reddit clone that has been described as a hub for the alt-right.[470][471] In early 2019, Twitter removed accounts suspected of being connected to the Russian Internet Research Agency that had disseminated a high volume of QAnon-related tweets that used the #WWG1WGA slogan.[23]
In May 2020, Facebook announced its removal of five pages, 20 accounts, and six groups linked to "individuals associated with the QAnon network" as part of an investigation into "suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior" ahead of the 2020 United States election.[472][473] On August 19, Facebook expanded its Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy to address "growing movements that, while not directly organizing violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns of violent behavior". 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".[474][475][476] In the month after its August announcement, Facebook said it deleted 1,500 QAnon groups; such groups by then had four million followers. In October 2020, Facebook said it would immediately begin removing "any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content". The company said it would immediately ban any group representing QAnon.[477][478][479]
In July 2020, Twitter announced it was banning more than 7,000 accounts connected to QAnon for coordinated amplification of fake news and conspiracy theories. In a press release, Twitter said, "We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service." It also said that the actions could apply to over 150,000 accounts.[480][481]
Facebook banned all QAnon groups and pages in October 2020. That day, QAnon followers speculated that the action was part of a complex Trump administration strategy to begin arresting its enemies, or that Facebook was attempting to silence news of this occurring; neither is true. Some followers speculated that a Justice Department "national security" news conference scheduled for the next day would relate to charges against Democrats, including Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department actually announced the investigation and arrest of Islamic State members.[482] Etsy also announced that it would remove all QAnon-related merchandise from its online marketplace.[483] The products were still available there as of January 2021.[484]
In an 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%.[485] Three days later, YouTube announced that it had modified its hate and harassment policies to bar "content that targets an individual or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence", such as QAnon and Pizzagate.[486][487] It would still allow content discussing QAnon if it did not target individuals.[488]
Hashtags and accounts associated with QAnon have since been banned by numerous social networks including Facebook,[489][490] Twitter,[491] TikTok,[492] and Instagram.[493] In particular, the 2021 United States Capitol attack led to a crackdown on QAnon-related content on social media platforms during the days that followed. Twitter suspended Lin Wood's account on January 7[494] and those of Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn and other high-profile QAnon figures the next day.[495] On January 12, Facebook and Twitter announced that they were removing "Stop the Steal" content and suspending 70,000 QAnon-focused accounts, respectively.[362][55] More waves of deletions followed on various platforms.[56] Amazon removed a pro-QAnon book after the Capitol riots, and many platforms took action against QAnon-related content after the incident.[94] In May 2021, a report published by the Atlantic Council concluded that QAnon content was "evaporating" from the mainstream web.[168]
Migration to alt-tech
The mass deletions of QAnon-related accounts on the most popular social media outlets led many members of the movement to migrate to alt-tech platforms. Parler is one such "free speech" social media platform that grew in popularity among QAnon followers and conservatives in general in early 2021.[p] Gab also became increasingly popular in these environments, especially after Parler went offline for several weeks following the Capitol attack.[501]
In the course of 2021, various alt-tech platforms allowed QAnon influencers and adherents to regroup, with Gab and Telegram becoming particularly important hubs of QAnon communities.[502][503][287]
Return to Twitter/X
In April 2022, QAnon followers celebrated Elon Musk's proposed purchase of Twitter, believing that Musk's free speech approach would allow them back onto the platform.[504] After Musk acquired the platform in October of the same year, various QAnon-related accounts were reinstated and resumed posting about the conspiracy theory.[505] By December the conspiracy theory began to make a comeback on Twitter.[506][507] Suspected Q author Ron Watkins was subsequently reinstated on the platform in January 2023[508] while in March Musk defended the "QAnon shamon" by calling for Jacob Chansley to be freed.[509][510] In May the Anti-Defamation League documented a surge of QAnon content on Twitter, now X, described as a resurgence.[511]