If you followed the US Capitol insurrection by Trump supporters earlier this month, a bunch of them also claimed to be QAnon supporters, participating in the riots and hostile breach into the US Capitol building.?
But what is QAnon and why has it turned into such a big deal?
QAnon is essentially an umbrella term under which lies a series of internet conspiracy theories which allege that the world is actually run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who are running a global child sex-trafficking ring.?
These Satan-worshippers are allegedly plotting against the former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump since he has been working to wage a war against them and reveal their secrets.?
The name QAnon itself originates from the letter Q which is allegedly a pseudonym of a person, claiming to be a high-ranking military official from the Trump administration, who broke out the secrets of QAnon to the world.
Followers of QAnon are of the belief that this entire band of criminals include Democrats including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros among several actors and entertainers in the US, including the popular and beloved Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, among others, even religious icons like Dalai Lama and Pope Francis himself. The conspiracy theories stretch so far as to claim that these people not just molest children but also eat their victims to extract a life-extending chemical that extends the consumer¡¯s life.?
Posts surrounding the QAnon first surfaced in 2017 on the infamous messaging board 4Chan where the aforementioned ¡®Q¡¯ made these revelations and called them ¡®Q drops¡¯ or breadcrumbs which often was written in a cryptic way and many times consisted of slogans, pledges supporting Trump.
And sadly these fake allegations trickled down to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and even YouTube. In fact, since 2017, YouTube got a whole of content creators who were sharing their own conspiracy theories and the pandemic only made things worse.?
As you might have guessed these allegations are serious, gruesome and almost unbelievable. And nothing has been proven so far but that doesn't mean the people who are making up these stories are showing any signs of stopping.?
The rise in these conspiracy theories only led to negativity and rage among people who were following QAnon posts online. But this rage then trickled down to offline harm.
Many QAnon followers have been arrested after making threats to people highlighted to be a part of the Democrat group and celebrities.?
But the worst impact was during the pandemic as a Pew Research Centre study revealed in September 2020 that nearly half of US citizens had heard of QAnon, twice the number compared to say six months ago. What was worse was the fact that a fifth of the ones who had heard of QAnon had a positive view on the conspiracy theories.?
What added fuel to the fire was Trump retweeting QAnin supporters (whether mistakenly or purposely) over 250 times, as per reports. Moreover, a report by Forbes revealed that even his son, Eric Trump promoted a QAnon meme on his Instagram handle.?
All this forced social media platforms from pulling down QAnon content. Twitter in July 2020 announced that it will suspend over 150,000 accounts coordinating abuse or violating its rules while blocking QAnon URLs and permanently. Facebook joined the movement soon after scrutinising content on Facebook pages as well as Instagram. YouTube too started pulling down Q-related content that was peddling fake news or posting content to incite disharmony and promote harm.?
The biggest impact was when QAnon and Trump supporters truly disagreed with the US election results and Joe Biden¡¯s victory and attempted to overturn the results by storming the United States Capitol in Washington DC. This put all kinds of QAnon content under tight scrutiny on social media with platforms pulling down content on the grounds of inciting violence.?
Today QAnon content exists on platforms like ¡®8Kun¡¯ and ¡®theopendemocracy.net¡¯ but many supporters now have decided to take a step back. In one Telegram channel (reported by Reuters) with more than 18,400 members, QAnon believers were split into two teams -- one half asking people to ¡®trust the plan¡¯ and the other half feeling betrayed.
While this conspiracy trend might slowly phase out, this doesn't mean it cannot rise once more or some new conspiracy theory could surface making serious allegations. It is thus important for users of social media to be aware and not fall for such claims without proper evidence.?
Moreover, the responsibility of not letting such fake content spread isn't just on the platforms, but on us users as well. Responsible users should report a particular content inciting negativity or violence so that such theories are nipped in the bud by the platforms.?