When Is Q Going to Drop Again
QAnon notwithstanding hasn't gone away.
Getty ImagesQAnon -- the far-right pro-Trump conspiracy theory that believes the onetime president was in a secret war against a cabal of pedophile Satanists in Hollywood and the Democratic political party -- is still around. Information technology's been more than than a year since the mysterious figure named Q sent out a message to their followers, and without any direction, QAnon believers have gone more extreme in their already bogus beliefs.
In November, followers of the QAnon influencer called Negative48 spent weeks in Dallas waiting for the return of John F. Kennedy Jr. The sons of the assassinated president died in a plane crash in 1999, but Q believers think he'south been in hiding and secretly working with Trump. JFK Jr. never did show up every bit predicted on Nov. two, but that didn't faze the followers.
At least 100 QAnon supporters convinced JFK is coming back are however in Dallas. Today they stood on a bridge over Dealey Plaza for the anniversary of the bump-off, simply JFK and JFK Jr. never showed. moving picture.twitter.com/fJTbc7p7iT
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) Nov 22, 2021
A report from the Dallas Observer on Mon said some of these same followers accept also been consuming chlorine dioxide, a disinfectant that COVID anti-vaxxers believe to be a cure for the disease. The The states Food and Drug Assistants warned against the consumption of the chemical last year as it may cause life-threatening effects.
Like their beliefs that Trump was leading a holy war confronting pedophiles, Q believers also deny the threat of COVID-nineteen and the efficacy of the vaccines. QAnon requires looking at how it began and what its followers believe. The hoax has already provoked violence in the real world, with numerous Q followers participating in the deadlyJanuary. six attack on the US Capitol.
Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, was office of the mob that stormed the Capitol building on January. half-dozen and has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Getty ImagesIf you take questions well-nigh QAnon, nosotros have answers.
QAnon sounds basics. What can you tell me about it?
QAnon is an online conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a hush-hush war confronting a deep country of Democratic elites and Hollywood stars who are pedophiles and Satan worshipers. Cannibalism is in there someplace too. Really, that'south what they believe.
The conspiracy theory dates back to October 2017, when an anonymous post on a message board said extradition agreements had been struck with several countries "in instance of cross edge run" by Hillary Clinton, Trump's Autonomous rival for the White House in 2016. (That run still hasn't happened.) The person or group behind the mail service somewhen came to be known as "Q," which is where the conspiracy theory's name comes from.
The first QAnon post.
Archive.4plebs.orgSince and then, the conspiracy theory has gotten wider and weirder. It's now folded in former President Barack Obama and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, both of whom, among other well-known figures, are frequent subjects of online conspiracy theories.
By the way, Q is a reference to the highest security level clearance at the Department of Energy. That's the department that oversees nuclear weapons. Q claims to have worked in shut proximity to Trump and the inner circle of his administration.
Didn't Joe Biden's presidential win cease this conspiracy theory?
QAnon believers tuned in to Biden's inauguration expecting a last-minute military takeover or an order for martial law from Trump before the noontime transfer of power. That, obviously, didn't happen, and many followers took to various social media platforms such every bit Gab and Telegram to share in their confusion.
The more prominent names inside the movement continue expressing their organized religion that something will change to remove Biden from office. 8kun, the anonymous message board where Q posts, saw a brief meltdown by ane of the moderators who deleted all the content from its "Q inquiry" forum shortly after the inauguration. Some hours later it returned back to "normal" with posts from users who continue to believe and from others who mock them.
A survey taken in January from the American Enterprise Plant shows 29% of Republicans completely or mostly concord that Trump was "secretly fighting a group of kid sex activity traffickers that include prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites."
Who is Q?
Other than Q, nosotros tin't say for sure.
Of course, more than one person has claimed to be Q, with i theory saying the mysterious figure is a time traveler. (Even some QAnon followers, who take proved they'll believe simply about anything, think that's a bit also crazy.)
Paul Furber, a conspiracy theorist from Johannesburg, South Africa, has been identified equally possibly beingness the original Q affiche considering of an appearance he made on the Alex Jones-hosted InfoWars Telly show a few months after the get-go post. The appearance on the conspiracy-minded program, which has a following among Trump supporters, was fundamental to bringing QAnon from online message boards to a more mainstream audience.
Jim Watkins, the owner of the8kun message board, is another person often speculated to be the mysterious figure because Q'due south posts migrated to his site not long after they first appeared. Fredrick Brennan, who created 8chan, thepredecessor of 8kun, says the message board'south authentication system, known as secure tripcodes, could prove who's using the handle. In the case of 8chan and 8kun, a secure tripcode is verified by the site'southward server and can identify a user via a specific number inside a mail, fifty-fifty though the message boards let users stay anonymous. Jim Watkins has administrative privileges at 8kun and could use the Q-specific tripcode at any fourth dimension.
In the HBO docuseries Q: Into the Storm, director Cullen Hoback claims Ron Watkins, Jim Watkins' son and onetime admin for 8chan/8kun, is the person backside Q. Hoback covered both Watkins and Brennan over the course of 3 years since they were the core people who ran 8chan back in 2018 where Q began posting messages. In his final interview with Ron Watkins, Hoback believes Watkins revealed a chip too much.
Ron Watkins' reaction after claiming he wasn't Q.
HBO"Yeah, so thinking back on information technology, similar, it was basically ... three years of intelligence grooming teaching normies how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously but earlier, never as Q," Ron Watkins said in the video call, before breaking into a big grin. Hoback goes on to say that this is when Watkins slipped upwardly, and they both knew it.
The last Q drop was on December. 8, 2020, and consisted of a YouTube link to a pro-Trump video featuring the song Nosotros're Not Gonna Take Information technology from '80s heavy metallic band Twisted Sister. It'due south since been removed just then uploaded to BitChute.
Around the same time of the terminal Q drop, Ron Watkins began actualization on right-fly news programs and spreading conspiracy theories well-nigh the presidential election while also tweeting misinformation similar to Q. Twitter banned his account afterward the Jan. 6 coup. Since the show'due south premiere, he has posted denials of his involvement with Q on his Telegram account.
In October, Ron Watkins said he filed paperwork to run for Congress representing Arizona.
Neither Furber nor either of the Watkins responded to requests for comment.
How did QAnon leap from online to the real world?
Since Furber appeared on InfoWars, Q followers have taken to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even TikTok to generate huge followings with their attempts to decipher the cabalistic letters. Q followers, who refer to themselves as "anons," are regulars at Trump rallies, even though they get turned away by security. They've as well formed their ain rallies with the message of "#SaveTheChildren," co-opting a hashtag used by legitimate organizations combating child trafficking. A poll from Yahoo News/YouGov published in October 2020 showed 50% of Trump supporters falsely believe pinnacle members of the Democratic party are involved in elite child sex-trafficking rings.
The fanaticism over QAnon has also fostered criminal acts. In June 2018, a Q follower blocked traffic on the Hoover Dam with an armored vehicle before being apprehended by law. He pleaded guilty to terrorism charges this past Feb. A man accused of killing a New York mob boss in March 2019 identified himself as a follower, appeared in court with the letter Q fatigued on his palm. His lawyer said he was fascinated with QAnon and other far-right conspiracy theories, and he was later establish unfit to stand up trial. Multiple women who identify as Q followers face charges of kidnapping their own children, believing that they're saving the youngsters from trafficking. In Baronial, a man who killed his two children claimed he was a Q believer.
The anarchism at the Capitol on Jan. 6 put QAnon in the spotlight again, with the death of Ashli Babbitt, a fourteen-year Air Force veteran who had posted on social media virtually her belief in the conspiracy theory. Babbitt was in Washington every bit part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol building while Congress was counting electoral votes, and she died afterward being shot by law enforcement near the barricaded door to the Speaker'south Lobby. Iv other people died during the riot, including a Capitol police force officer. Approximately one in 10 arrested from the riot had a connection to QAnon, according to a 60 Minutes report on Feb. 21.
Concern about QAnon has grown so bully that the FBI said in 2019 that the movement represents a domestic terrorist threat. The bureau is looking for suspects who participated in the Jan. six raid on Capitol Hill. A US Defense Department internal threat assessment dated Dec. 21, 2020, mentioned QAnon as function of a post-election increase in "the potential for civil disturbance activeness" and "level of civil disturbance action," as reported by The Intercept on Jan. xiii. The National Counterterrorism Center, the Justice and Homeland Security Departments sent a bulletin to law enforcement agencies warning of domestic violent extremists who took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection and were QAnon believers,
The Firm of Representatives has also condemned the unhinged theory, though a handful of lawmakers voted against the resolution.
Nonetheless, the popularity and influence of the conspiracy theory keep to grow. Dozens of self-identified QAnon believers ran for role in the November election. Of the numerous candidates, two were successful.
Lauren Boerbert, a Republican from Colorado, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, took their oath at the Business firm of Representatives on January. 3 afterwards winning their respective races. Both women posted QAnon content to their social media accounts prior to taking part.
Are social media and tech companies doing anything about QAnon?
Like a lot of fringe ideologies, QAnon spreads quickest on social media. The YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok platforms have all played an important role in expanding the number of QAnon followers.
Social media companies are enlightened and have begun to have action.
In August 2020, Facebook removed or demoted thousands of QAnon groups and pages after an internal investigation found they were violating its policies. The company also removed thousands of QAnon accounts from its photograph-based social network, Instagram. Facebook ramped up its response on Oct. 6, 2020, saying it would remove all Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon. Facebook said that it removed 3,300 pages, 10,500 groups, 510 events, 18,300 profiles and 27,300 Instagram accounts as of Jan. 12 for violating its policies on QAnon.
New data and QAnon policing efforts from Facebook: "We keep to strengthen our enforcement by identifying additional militarized social movements, new terms associated with QAnon and how people attempt to skirt our detection" pic.twitter.com/uniZwsck4i
— Sasha Ingber (@SashaIngber) January twenty, 2021
Twitter began cracking down on QAnon accounts in July 2020. It removed thousands of accounts that tweeted about the move, though some have since restarted under different names. That same month, TikTok began banning QAnon-related hashtags, making videos harder to find on the platform.
And YouTube said moderation policies implemented in early 2020 take reduced the views of QAnon videos by 70%. The video platform stepped up enforcement of its policies as it began banning videos featuring the conspiracy theory on Oct. 15, 2020.
A group of banned users filed a complaint confronting YouTube and its parent company, Google, on Oct. 26, 2020. The lawsuit, filed in the The states District Court in the Northern District of California, alleges that the video platform is in breach of contract and in violation of the Kickoff Amendment'south guarantee of free speech. Such protection, under the First Amendment, applies just to the government censoring spoken language.
A spokesperson for YouTube said in an emailed statement that the company'southward policies are updated regularly to run into new challenges, like harmful conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-globe violence.
Reddit has also taken steps to adjourn the reach of QAnon posts and subreddits.
LinkedIn, the social media platform focused on professional person networking, isn't a stranger to QAnon. Users began posting misinformation and filling their profiles with QAnon slogans, which led to a crackdown past the site.
Pinterest began its crackdown on QAnon content in August 2018. A spokesperson for the company says information technology besides disabled search results for anything related to the conspiracy theory.
Triller is a TikTok alternative growing in popularity, and it's started banning QAnon-related videos.
"In low-cal of the contempo addition by the FBI of QAnon to its list of terrorist action, we have initiated a ban of QAnon content," company CEO Mike Lu said in an emailed argument. "We are a platform that believes in freedom of speech, expression, open discussion and freedom of stance, still when the government classifies something as a terrorist threat, nosotros must take action to protect our community."
The e-commerce site Etsy cracked downwardly on QAnon, co-ordinate to a report from Business organisation Insider on Oct. 7, 2020. The company says it'll remove any merchandise related to the fringe movement.
Fifty-fifty the fettle-tech visitor Peloton intervened when customers began using QAnon-related hashtags, according to a study by Concern Insider. Tags such equally #SaveTheChildren, #Q and #WWGOnePelotonWGA showed up on Peloton machines, assuasive users to observe other Q followers.
"Nosotros have a goose egg tolerance policy against mean content. We actively moderate our channels and remove anything that violates our policy or does non reflect our visitor's values of inclusiveness and unity or maintain a respectful environment," a Peloton spokesperson told CNET in an email. The QAnon hashtags have since been removed from the platform.
The crowdfunding platform Patreon, though non a social media visitor, has been important for some of the more prominent QAnon members. The company said it'southward taking activeness against creators who spread the conspiracy theory, by closing their accounts.
OK, I have to ask: What are some of the other wacky ideas QAnon followers believe?
Are you certain you want to know? Keep in mind these ideas are completely baseless.
The core belief is that Trump is working to remove Satanic criminals inside the government, the Democratic Party and Hollywood.
Followers believe notable members of the Autonomous party and the Hollywood elite operate pedophile rings. Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres are baselessly named as being participants. (CNET didn't contact any of these celebrities for comment because the accusations are bogus.)
QAnon ropes in a host of other popular conspiracy theories, including flat Earth and anti-vax. Believers have been at the forefront of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst their wild and unfounded notions: The Chinese government created the virus, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates will apply the pandemic to microchip Americans, and the pandemic is a hoax designed to sink Trump's reelection. They've too been vehemently against the COVID vaccine by constantly sharing misinformation about it.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/culture/qanon-faq-its-been-a-year-since-qs-last-drop-but-people-still-believe/
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