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QAnon ( ) is a
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
American political conspiracy theory and
political movement A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...
that originated in 2017. 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 An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...
and
influencers A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...
. Their core belief is that a
cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state (polity), state, or another community, often by Wiktionary:intrigue, intrigue and usually without the kn ...
of Satanic,
cannibalistic Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well documente ...
child molesters in league with the
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
is operating a global child
sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...
ring and that
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
is secretly leading the fight against them. QAnon has direct roots in
Pizzagate "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democra ...
, another
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
that appeared on the Internet one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many different conspiracy theories and unifies them into a larger interconnected theory. QAnon has been described as a
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
.Description of QAnon as a cult: * * * * During the
first presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...
, QAnon followers believed the administration would conduct arrests and executions of thousands of members of the cabal on a day known as "the Storm" or "the Event". QAnon conspiracy believers have named Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors, high-ranking government officials, business tycoons, and medical experts as members of the cabal of
pedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pubert ...
. QAnon is described as
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
or rooted in antisemitic tropes, due to its fixation on Jewish financier
George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...
and conspiracy theories about the
Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...
, a frequent target of antisemites. Though QAnon has its origins in older conspiracy theories, it was set in motion in October 2017 when Q first posted on the website
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
. Q claimed to be a high-level government official with
Q clearance Q clearance or Q access authorization is the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restric ...
, with access to classified information about the Trump administration and its opponents. Q soon moved to
8chan 8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site ...
, making it QAnon's online home. Q's often cryptic posts, which became known as "drops", were collected by aggregator apps and websites and relayed by
influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...
s. QAnon became a
viral phenomenon Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...
beyond
the internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, publ ...
and turned into a political movement. QAnon followers began to appear at Trump campaign rallies in August 2018, and Trump amplified QAnon accounts on Twitter. QAnon's conspiracy theories have also been relayed by Russian and Chinese state-backed media, social media
troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
accounts, and the far-right
Falun Gong Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near t ...
–associated Epoch Media Group. Since its emergence in American politics, QAnon spawned movements around the world. The exact number of QAnon adherents is unclear. After increased scrutiny of the movement, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook began taking action to stop the spread of the conspiracy theory. QAnon followers have perpetrated acts of violence. Members of the movement took part in the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
, during which they supported Trump's campaign and waged
information warfare Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from ''cyberwarfare'' that attacks computers, software, and ...
to influence voters. After
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
won, they were involved in efforts to overturn the results of the election. Associates of Trump, such as
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...
, Lin Wood and
Sidney Powell Sidney Katherine Powell (born May 1, 1955) is an American attorney and former federal prosecutor. In August 2023, she was indicted along with Donald Trump and eighteen others in the Georgia election case. In October 2023, she pleaded guilty ...
, 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. Though the QAnon movement in its original form lost traction after the 2020 election, some of the concepts it promoted went on to permeate mainstream American political discourse.


Background


Pizzagate

According to QAnon researcher Mike Rothschild, "while Q has a number of precursor conspiracy theories and scams... no conspiracy theory feeds more immediately into Q than
Pizzagate "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democra ...
". The Pizzagate theory began in March 2016 with
the leak ''The Leak'' is the first extended play (EP) by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on December 25, 2007, under Cash Money Records and Universal Motown Records. The five songs on the EP were recorded by Lil Wayne during '' Tha Carter ...
of Clinton campaigner
John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as the Senior Advisor to the President ...
's emails, which promoters of the theory believed contained a
secret code Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gener ...
detailing
child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...
. Pizzagate followers said that high-profile Democrats were sexually abusing children at a Washington, D.C. pizzeria, which led to an armed attack on the establishment by a gunman who believed the conspiracy theory. The allegations of child sexual abuse and the centrality of the
Clinton family The Clinton family is an American political family from New York who originate from Arkansas, who are related to Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States (1993–2001), and his wife Hillary Clinton, the 67th United States secretar ...
to this abuse became a key part of the QAnon belief system, but in time the Clintons' centrality was de-emphasized in favor of more general conspiratorial claims of an alleged worldwide elite of child sex traffickers. Q referred to Pizzagate claims without using the term. QAnon followers often used the hashtag # SaveTheChildren to promote the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. This caused protest from the unrelated non-governmental organization
Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...
.


Influence of 4chan culture

The
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
website
Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...
called /htg/ or "Human Trafficking General" threads on the
/pol/ /pol/, short for Politically Incorrect, is an anonymous political discussion imageboard on 4chan. As of 2022, it was the most active board on the site. It has had a substantial impact on Internet culture. It has acted as a platform for far-right ...
board of 4chan "the missing link" between Pizzagate and QAnon. 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. A key /htg/ poster was Anonymous5 (also known as "Frank"), who claimed to be a
child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...
investigator. But the lack of a coherent narrative was a constraint on the /htg/ trend, and it never achieved Pizzagate's popularity. The main tenets of the QAnon ideology were already present at 4chan before Q's appearance, including claims that
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
was directly involved in a
pedophile ring A child sex ring is a group of adults who are simultaneously involved sexually with multiple minors during the same general time frame. The dynamics of these rings differ from those of more common one-on-one intrafamilial cases in that they are m ...
, that
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...
was secretly working with Trump, and that large-scale military tribunals were imminent. Q's posts specifically targeted individuals who were hated in the community beforehand, namely Clinton,
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, and
George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...
. Bellingcat says that the idea of the "Storm" was copied from another poster named Victory of the Light, who predicted the "Event", in which mass, televised arrests of the "Cabal" were forthcoming.


Previous "anons"

In its most basic sense, an "
anon Anon may refer to: Arts and media * ''Anon'' (album), a 2018 album by Hands Like Houses * Anon (band) * ''Anon'' (film), a 2018 British science fiction thriller film People with the given name * Anon Amornlerdsak (born 1997), a Thai footb ...
" is an anonymous or pseudonymous Internet poster. The concept of anons "doing research" and claiming to disclose otherwise classified information, while a key component of the QAnon conspiracy theory, is not exclusive to it. Q was preceded by so-called anons who also claimed to have special government access. On July 2, 2016, the anonymous poster "FBIAnon", a self-described "high-level analyst and strategist" who claimed to have "intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Clinton case", began posting false information about the 2016 investigation into the
Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...
and claimed that Hillary Clinton would be imprisoned if Trump became president. Around that time, "HLIAnon", standing for "High-Level Insider Anon", hosted long question-and-answer sessions, dispensing various conspiracy theories, including that
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...
was murdered after trying to stop the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. Soon after the
2016 United States elections Elections in the United States, Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic Party (United States), Democratic former Secretary of State (Uni ...
, two anonymous posters, "CIAAnon" and "CIAIntern", falsely claimed to be high-ranking
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA) officers, and in late August 2017, "WHInsiderAnon" offered a supposed preview that something was "going to go down" regarding leaks that would affect the Democratic Party.


Origin and spread

A
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
user named "Q Clearance Patriot" first appeared on the site's
/pol/ /pol/, short for Politically Incorrect, is an anonymous political discussion imageboard on 4chan. As of 2022, it was the most active board on the site. It has had a substantial impact on Internet culture. It has acted as a platform for far-right ...
board on October 28, 2017, posting in a thread titled "Calm Before the Storm", a phrase Trump had previously used to describe a gathering of American military leaders he attended. "The Storm" later became QAnon parlance for an imminent event in which thousands of alleged suspects would be arrested, imprisoned, and executed for being child-eating pedophiles. The poster's username implied that they held
Q clearance Q clearance or Q access authorization is the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restric ...
, a
United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...
security clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
required to access
Top Secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...
information on nuclear weapons and materials. Q's first post said that Hillary Clinton was about to be arrested, which would cause massive unrest and be followed by numerous other arrests. A second message was posted a few hours later, saying that Clinton was being "detained" though not arrested yet and that Trump was planning to remove "criminal rogue elements". The post also alluded cryptically to George Soros,
Huma Abedin Huma Mahmood Abedin (born July 28, 1975) is an American political staffer who was vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for President of the United States. Before that, Abedin was deputy chief of staff to Clinton when she was U.S. Secre ...
and
Operation Mockingbird Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda ...
. Q's activity surged in November, with most posts expanding upon previous theories about Hillary Clinton. Other conspiracy theories were added involving Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. An
Internet community A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual commu ...
developed around analyzing posts attributed to Q, and several conspiracy theorists became minor celebrities in the community. Followers started looking for "clues" to confirm their beliefs, including common phrases and occurrences. In November 2017, Trump sipping water from a bottle was interpreted as a secret sign that the mass arrests would soon take place. QAnon went further than Pizzagate by implying a worldwide
cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state (polity), state, or another community, often by Wiktionary:intrigue, intrigue and usually without the kn ...
and incorporating elements from other conspiracies. One of the earlier rumors QAnon followers spread was that such figures as Hillary Clinton, her daughter Chelsea, and Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
had already been arrested and indicted, and were wearing ankle monitoring bracelets during their public appearances. In the following months, the QAnon community helped spread other rumors such as the " Frazzledrip" theory, which purported the existence of a "snuff" video showing Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin murdering a child, drinking her blood and taking turns wearing the skin from her face as a mask. In November 2017, two 4chan moderators, Paul Furber (also known as "BaruchtheScribe", a South African conspiracy theorist with an interest in U.S. politics) and Coleman Rogers (also known as "Pamphlet Anon"), worked with
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
Tracy Diaz to promote QAnon to a wider audience. This involved setting up the r/CBTS_Stream
subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
, where subscribers came to talk about QAnon. The subreddit was permanently closed in March 2018 due to incitement of violence and posting private information. QAnon spread to other social media, including Twitter and YouTube. Rogers and his wife, Christina Urso, launched Patriots' Soapbox, a YouTube livestream dedicated to QAnon, which they used to solicit donations. Future U.S. representative
Lauren Boebert Lauren Opal Boebert ( ; ; born December 19, 1986) is an American politician, businesswoman, and gun rights activist serving as the U.S. representative for beginning in 2025, having previously represented from 2021 to 2025. From 2013 to 202 ...
was a guest on Patriots' Soapbox during her 2020 congressional campaign. Posts by Q moved to
8chan 8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site ...
, with Q citing concerns that the 4chan board had been "infiltrated". Thereafter, Q posted only on 8chan. In August 2019, 8chan was shut down after it was connected with the
El Paso shooting On August 3, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, United States. The gunman, 21-year-old Patrick Wood Crusius, shot 45 people, killing 23 and injuring 22 others. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated ...
and other violent incidents. Followers of QAnon then moved to Endchan, until 8chan was restored under the name 8kun.


Mainstream attention

QAnon first received attention from the mainstream press in November 2017. ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' called it "Pizzagate on steroids". Gossip columnist Liz Crokin, a Pizzagate follower, was one of the first public figures to embrace QAnon. She went on to become one of the movement's most prominent
influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...
s.
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
personality
Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...
and comedian
Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...
spread the news about it to their social media followers in early 2018, and the conspiracy theory gained traction on the mainstream right. At this time, '' InfoWars'' host and far-right conspiracy theorist
Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American Far-right politics, far-right radio host, radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas. ''The Alex Jones Show'' is the lo ...
claimed to be in personal contact with Q. This led to the presence of QAnon followers at a July 2018 Trump rally for the
midterm elections Apart from general elections and by-elections, a midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the te ...
in
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
, Florida, the first visible presence of the QAnon movement at Trump rallies. Some Christian pastors introduced their congregations to QAnon ideas. The Indiana-based Omega Kingdom Ministry tried to combine QAnon and Christianity, with Q posts and Bible quotes both read during church services. Some Christians, such as pastor Derek Kubilus, call QAnon
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
, but most U.S. pastors have not taken a stand against it. More generally, QAnon's rise coincided with increasing radicalization and violent episodes in American far-right movements. QAnon-related merchandise was widely available on
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
's online marketplace in 2018. ''QAnon: An Invitation to the Great Awakening'', a book said to be authored by a group of 12 QAnon followers, neared the top of Amazon's bestsellers list in 2019, possibly through algorithmic manipulation. Also in 2019, QAnon blogger Neon Revolt (an alias of former aspiring screenwriter Robert Cornero Jr.) self-published the book ''Revolution Q: The Story of QAnon and the 2nd American Revolution'', which became an influential text among the QAnon community and was also distributed by Amazon. In 2020, ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...
'' noted that 100 titles associated with QAnon were available on Amazon Marketplace, in many different languages and with generally positive reviews. Sites dedicated to aggregating the Q posts, also called "drops" or "Q drops", became essential for their dissemination and spread. QMap was the most popular and famous aggregator, run by a pseudonymous developer and overall key QAnon figure known as "QAPPANON". QMap shut down shortly after the British
fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...
organization Logically published a September 2020 report that identified QAPPANON as a New Jersey-based security analyst named Jason Gelinas. Multiple online communities were created around QAnon: in 2020, Facebook conducted an internal investigation that revealed that the social network hosted thousands of QAnon-themed groups and pages, with millions of members and followers. One QAnon influencer, Austin Steinbart, stood out by claiming that Q was his own time-traveling future self. According to
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
, Russian-backed social media accounts promoted QAnon claims as early as November or December 2017.
Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
-funded state media such as RT and
Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...
have amplified the conspiracy theory since 2019, citing QAnon as evidence that the United States is divided by internal strife. 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 United States 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". The far-right
Falun Gong Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near t ...
-associated Epoch Media Group, including ''
The Epoch Times ''The Epoch Times'' is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates N ...
'', has also been a major promoter of the conspiracy theory.
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
professor and data scientist Emilio Ferrara found that about 25% of accounts that use QAnon hashtags, retweet '' InfoWars'' or had retweeted One America News Network were
bots The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...
.


International following

Marc-André Argentino, a researcher of the movement, noted in August 2020 that QAnon-dedicated Facebook pages existed in 71 countries worldwide. In January 2021, researcher Joel Finkelstein told ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' that the German and Japanese QAnon movements were "strong and growing", though according to a later ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' report, the Japanese version (also known as "JAnon" []) remains a fringe belief even among conspiracy theorists. Three pro-QAnon groups in Japan are known to exist as of 2022: J-Anon, QArmyJapanFlynn and YamatoQ. In April 2022, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested several members of YamatoQ for breaking into a health clinic which provided COVID-19 vaccinations. Between March and June 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, QAnon activity nearly tripled on Facebook and nearly doubled on
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
and Twitter. By that time, QAnon had spread to Europe, from
the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
to the
Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
. In Germany, far-right activists and influencers have created a German audience for QAnon on YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram, estimated at 200,000 in 2020. German Reichsbürger 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and expressed hope that Trump would lead an army to restore the ''
Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...
''. A March 2022 study by the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy, a German think tank, found that more than one in ten people in Germany agreed with QAnon's theories and that
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD) and
Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...
(FPÖ) voters were more likely to believe in QAnon. 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 Union—also became susceptible to QAnon beliefs. A 2020 survey conducted in Britain found that one in four respondants believed in QAnon-related theories, though only 6% supported QAnon. In October 2020, anti-racist advocacy group
Hope not Hate Hope not Hate (stylised as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-pa ...
said that British influencer Martin Geddes ran "one of the most popular QAnon Twitter accounts in the world". In October 2021, Rémy Daillet-Wiedemann, a
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
QAnon-associated conspiracy theorist, was charged with terrorism for having planned a coup against the French government. Various associates of Daillet-Wiedemann were also arrested and charged in late 2021 and early 2022. Many
Canadians Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
have also promoted QAnon. In July 2020, a gunman and QAnon follower drove a vehicle into the grounds of
Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the Capital city, capital of the country, on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, th ...
, the temporary residence of Canadian prime minister
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...
, to "arrest" Trudeau over COVID-19 restrictions and firearm regulations. A February 8 article in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' described the 2022 convoy protests in Canada as the result of coordination between QAnon, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine and anti-government organizations.
Romana Didulo Romana Didulo ( , '; born November 1974) is a Canadian conspiracy theorist. She is one of the most prominent figures of the QAnon movement in Canada and promotes other conspiracy theories such as the pseudolegal concepts derived from the sove ...
, a Philippines-born Canadian woman claiming to be Canada's rightful "Queen", built an online following in the course of 2021, creating a cultlike organization using QAnon and
sovereign citizen ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
concepts. Because of Didulo's network of followers and calls for violence, researchers identified her in 2022 as one of the most dangerous QAnon influencers in Canada. Cam Smith, an Australian researcher tracking far-right activity online, noticed mentions of QAnon in Australia's local communities as early as 2018. In 2020, when lockdown measures were imposed in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
to contain an outbreak of COVID-19, a group of QAnon adherents from
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
traveled there to protest, promoting QAnon as they went. A 2020 paper by the
Institute for Strategic Dialogue The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Activities ISD's core ...
revealed that Australia was the fourth largest producer of QAnon content, after the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The movement has spread to Spain and Latin America, with countries like
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
,
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
,
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
and Brazil having an online presence. ''
La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...
'' reported in 2020 that the Facebook page "QAnon Costa Rica" which was spreading misinformation and fake news, had called to depose President Carlos Alvarado and praised right-wing figures such as far-right presidential candidate Juan Diego Castro Fernández, and controversial deputies Dragos Dolanescu Valenciano and Erick Rodríguez Steller. In Spain, the far-right Vox party was accused of endorsing anti-Biden conspiracy theories linked to QAnon on its Twitter account by claiming that Biden was the candidate "preferred by pedophiles". An
RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...
news report found that most Spanish QAnon supporters identified Vox as their preferred political party.


Claims


Q's posts

Q made thousands of posts on 4chan and 8chan/8kun. These "drops" were often allusive, cryptic, and impossible to verify; some included strings of characters that are allegedly coded messages. Q used a conspiratorial tone, with phrases like "I've said too much" or "Some things must remain classified to the very end". 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". 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. Q also encouraged followers to do their own research by telling them to "Follow the White Rabbit". QAnon followers used the "White Rabbit" reference both as a
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
and as the name of a
Facebook group Facebook Platform, Facebook is a Social network, social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile ...
that had around 90,000 members in 2020. Many early posts advanced claims about "
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
" collusion with foreign powers. In 2018, Q mentioned
geopolitical Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of states: ''de facto'' independen ...
conspiracies such as the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
having planned to send technology to Iran and North Korea. Later, Q found new targets such as
Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization
, which they accused of harvesting fetuses for profit, or
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...
, who they said was a member of the cabal. Over the years, other topics of interest included Russian interference,
child trafficking Trafficking of children, also known as child trafficking, is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of a child" for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and ...
,
Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...
, Antifa and
Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February4, 1970) is an American attorney and businessman. He is the second son of former president Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chine ...
. Becoming increasingly vague over time, Q's posts allowed followers to map their own beliefs onto them and develop new variations of the theory. The author
Walter Kirn Walter Norris Kirn (born August 3, 1962) is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is the author of eight books, most notably '' Up in the Air'', which was made into a film of the same name starring George Clooney. Education Ki ...
has described Q as an innovator among conspiracy theorists by enthralling readers with "clues" rather than presenting claims directly: "The audience for internet narratives doesn't want to read, it wants to write. It doesn't want answers provided, it wants to search for them." But Q often made specific predictions that did not prove correct: On multiple occasions, Q has dismissed these incorrect predictions as deliberate, claiming that "disinformation is necessary". This has led Australian psychologist Stephan Lewandowsky to emphasize the "self-sealing" quality of the conspiracy theory, highlighting its anonymous purveyor's use of
plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to deny knowledge or responsibility for actions committed by or on behalf of members of their organizational hierarchy. They may ...
and noting that evidence against it "can become evidence of tsvalidity in the minds of believers". The numerous false, unsubstantiated claims Q has posted include: * That the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
installed North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...
as a
puppet ruler A puppet ruler is someone who holds a title of political authority, but is loyal to or controlled by outside persons or groups. When a foreign government wields such outside control, the puppet ruler's territory is referred to as a puppet state. ...
* That U.S. Representative and former
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
chair
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Deborah Wasserman Schultz ( Wasserman; ; born September 27, 1966) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for , first elected to Congress in United States House of Representatives elec ...
hired
Salvadoran Salvadorans (), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smalle ...
gang
MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area ...
to murder DNC staffer
Seth Rich Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...
* An apparent suggestion that
German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...
Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...
is
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's granddaughter * That Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and others are planning a coup against Trump and are involved in an international child sex-trafficking ring * That the
Mueller investigation The Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into 45th U.S. president Donald Trump regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and was conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 20 ...
was a counter-coup led by Trump, who pretended to conspire with Russia to hire Mueller to secretly investigate the Democrats and expose the child sex-trafficking ring * That the
Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...
leads a satanic cult, a centuries-old antisemitic trope against the family


The cabal and "the Storm"

QAnon's core beliefs are that the world is controlled by a secret cabal of
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
-worshipping child molesters, Trump is secretly battling to stop them, and Q reveals details about the battle online. The cabal is thought to cover up its existence by controlling politicians, mainstream media, and Hollywood. Q's revelations imply that the cabal's destruction is imminent but also that it will be accomplished only with the support of the "patriots" of the QAnon community. 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 The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...
or face military tribunals. The U.S. military will then take over the country, and the result will be salvation and utopia. QAnon followers believe the cabal includes Democratic Party politicians like
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, business people like George Soros and
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
, religious leaders like
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
and the
Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
,
Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...
, and entertainers like
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
,
Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...
,
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
and
Chrissy Teigen Christine Diane Teigen (born November 30, 1985) is an American model, television personality, and author. She made her professional modeling debut in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue, in 2010, ...
.
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
is a special target for QAnon believers. When Hanks went into quarantine at the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, they spread a rumor that he had been arrested on child abuse charges. Other similar allegations followed and in July 2021, some QAnon adherents took seriously an article from Real Raw News, a
fake news website Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news websites) are websites on the Internet that deliberately publish fake news—hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be news, real news—often using social media to drive web traffic ...
, that claimed the U.S. military had executed Hanks. On the contrary, some QAnon followers believe other celebrities like
Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...
,
Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...
,
Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...
, and
Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain ( ; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author and Travel documentary, travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the huma ...
were murdered to cover-up their alleged involvement in a human trafficking documentary. The claim that Trump stimulated the conspiracy of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to enlist
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...
in the fight against the cabal involved the idea that Mueller would not only expose the sex-trafficking ring, but also prevent a ''
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
'' by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros. One key tenet in QAnon's narrative until the 2020 election was the recurring prediction that Trump would be reelected in a landslide and spend his second term bringing about "the Storm" by undoing the
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
, disbanding the cabal and arresting its leaders. After Trump lost and Q stopped posting, QAnon followers continued to search for previously unseen clues in old posts or creating new spin-offs of the theory. They subsequently made predictions about Trump remaining president or returning to power, such as: *
Joe Biden's inauguration The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 59th i ...
on January 20, 2021, would be an elaborate trap set for the Democrats, who would be arrested ''en masse'' and executed while Trump retained power. * Trump would be inaugurated on March 4, 2021, as the 19th president. * Trump would be inaugurated again on March 20, 2021. After this did not happen, QAnon adherents predicted it would happen on August 13, 2021. * The Arizona audit would prove election fraud, handing the state to Trump, and other states would follow suit in a "
domino effect A domino effect is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a series of similar or related events, a form of chain reaction. The term is an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events ...
", resulting in Trump being reinstated as president. * The
2021 California gubernatorial recall election The 2021 California gubernatorial recall election was a special recall election, recall election that started in August 2021 and ended on September 14, 2021, when the majority of California voters chose not to recall incumbent Democratic Party ...
result would be proven fraudulent, which would catalyze a national fraud audit, resulting in Trump returning to power. *
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
(the 35th president of the United States, who was assassinated in 1963) or his son
John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...
(who died in a plane crash in 1999) would appear alive in front of a crowd in Dallas on November 2, 2021, and announce Trump's reinstatement as president and the installation of Kennedy Jr. as vice president.


Child sex trafficking and satanic sacrifice

QAnon effectively merged with Pizzagate by incorporating its beliefs namely that children are being abducted in a child trafficking ring, which followers equate with the cabal. They also see Trump as the only person fighting this criminal network. Added to this is the belief that politicians and Hollywood elites engage in "
adrenochrome Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While it has no current medical applic ...
harvesting", in which adrenalin is extracted from children's blood to produce the
psychoactive drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...
adrenochrome. This comprises claims that children are tortured, or sacrificed in Satanic rituals, to harvest the adrenaline that comes from fear. The aforementioned "Frazzledrip" video in which Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin allegedly murdered a child was said to depict an "adrenochrome harvest". One version of the QAnon theory posits that the child abusers use adrenochrome as an elixir to remain young. In reality, adrenochrome is synthesized solely for research purposes and has no medical uses. In June 2020, a group led by QAnon promoter Timothy Charles Holmseth, which called itself the Pentagon Pedophile Task Force despite having no connection with
the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...
or any U.S. governmental agency, attracted attention by spreading false claims about tens of thousands of children being held hostage and tortured in New York City. Also by 2020, some followers began using the Twitter hashtag #SaveTheChildren (#SaveOurChildren was also used), co-opting a trademarked name for the child welfare organization
Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...
. This led to an August 7 statement by Save the Children on the unauthorized use of its name in campaigns. 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. In October, Facebook announced it would try to limit the hashtag's reach. In the same period, QAnon followers also created a conspiracy theory that falsely accused furniture company
Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 gl ...
, a competitor of Overstock in which QAnon promoter Patrick Byrne had been the CEO, of selling expensive furniture to launder money gained from child sex trafficking. Similar groups in both the U.S. and the U.K. helped organize
street protest A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...
s that they say raise awareness of child sexual abuse and human trafficking. These protests and hashtags have often avoided social media restrictions and tend to attract more women and a more politically diverse and younger crowd than typical QAnon groups, including people opposed to Trump and his leadership. These groups are considered to be linked to the
Pastel QAnon Pastel QAnon is a collection of techniques and strategies that use "soft" and feminine aesthetics – most notably Pastel (color), pastel colors – in order to attract women into the QAnon conspiracy theory, often using mainstream social med ...
community. QAnon's child abuse allegations against popular entertainers are based on the unproven claims of the actor Isaac Kappy, who in 2018 accused multiple Hollywood stars of pedophilia. Travis View wrote in a ''Washington Post'' column that QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theorists harm the credibility of the fight against child sexual abuse, as their baseless claims are a distraction from actual crimes. Followers of these theories have also credited themselves for arrests of criminals in which they had no part: QAnon promoter Jordan Sather credited
Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...
's arrest to 4chan and 8chan, while none of the investigative reporting nor the indictment referenced these forums. Some of the conspiracy theories about Epstein's death have also brought people to QAnon. In May 2022, ''The New York Times'' reported that QAnon supporters were intercepting child migrants at the
Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...
and collecting information about their families on the premise that they were falling prey to sex-trafficking schemes.


Other QAnon beliefs

QAnon Anonymous ''QAnon Anonymous'' (''QAA'') is an investigative journalism podcast that analyzes and debunks conspiracy theories. It is co-hosted by Travis View ( real name: Logan Strain), Julian Feeld, and Jake Rockatansky, alongside Annie Kelly (British corr ...
, a podcast dedicated to analyzing and debunking the QAnon movement, calls it a "
big tent A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a political party having members covering a broad spectrum of beliefs. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined ideology, seek voters who adhere to that ideology, and att ...
conspiracy theory" due to its ability to evolve and add new claims. QAnon has incorporated elements from many other preexisting conspiracy theories, such as those about
the Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...
, U.F.O.s and
9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. In 2018, Liz Crokin promoted the theory that
John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...
faked his death and is Q. Other followers adopted variations of the Kennedy conspiracy theory, asserting that a Pittsburgh Trump supporter named Vincent Fusca is Kennedy Jr. in disguise and would be Trump's 2020 running mate. In November 2021, hundreds gathered in
Dealey Plaza Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The Dealey Plaza Historic ...
in Dallas, the site of President Kennedy's assassination, believing they would witness the return of Kennedy Jr., or both Kennedys. Attendees expected the event would herald Trump's reinstatement as president, that Trump would step down to allow Kennedy Jr. to become president, and that Kennedy Jr. would then name
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...
as his vice president. According to QAnon researcher
Will Sommer Will Sommer (born June 17, 1988) is an American journalist working at ''The Bulwark (website), The Bulwark''. Previously, he worked as a politics reporter for ''The Daily Beast'' since 2018, a campaign editor for ''The Hill (newspaper), The Hill ...
, about 20% of QAnon followers believe the JFK Jr. theory, while the majority finds it too "farcical on its face". Due to the overlap between the two movements, some QAnon followers have joined the sovereign citizens, a loose grouping of
vexatious litigants Vexatious may refer to: * Frivolous or vexatious, a legal term * Vexatious litigation Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought solely to harass or subdue an adversary. It may take the form of a primary frivolous lawsuit or may be ...
and
tax protester A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax claiming that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against a government or its policies ...
s whose set of pseudolegal beliefs implies that most laws and taxes are illegitimate and can be safely ignored if one uses the correct procedures. In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League reported that sovereign citizen ideology was attracting a growing number of QAnon adherents, as their belief in the
Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...
's illegitimacy meshed well with sovereign citizens' broader anti-government views. In 2018, Q said that "vaccines ot all were part of the Big Pharma conspiracy. Later on, as anxiety and isolation linked to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
fostered a rise of conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine discourse, many in the movement used the pandemic to promote QAnon. Very little of this was directed by Q posts, and Q did not mention the pandemic until March 23, 2020 (when they called COVID-19 the " China virus"), not using the name "COVID-19" until April 8. But influencers in the QAnon community were openly
anti-mask During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks or coverings, including N95 respirator, N95, FFP standards#FFP2 mask, FFP2, surgical mask, surgical, and Cloth face mask, cloth masks, have been employed as public and personal health control measures ag ...
and
anti-vaccine Anti-vaccine activism, which collectively constitutes the "anti-vax" movement, is a set of organized activities expressing opposition to vaccination, and these Social networking, collaborating networks have often sought to increase vaccine h ...
, and helped spread
denialism In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to denial, deny reality as a way to avoid believing in a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a h ...
as well as other misinformation about the pandemic. QAnon conspiracy theorists touted drinking an industrial
bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...
(known as MMS, or Miracle Mineral Solution) as a "miracle cure" for
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. Q suggested that
hydroxychloroquine Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, an ...
, endorsed by Trump at the time, was a cure for the disease, and accused Democrats of forcing infected patients into nursing homes, deliberately causing most COVID-related deaths in the U.S. Some QAnon followers have said that the pandemic is fake; others have claimed that the "
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
" created it. QAnon adherents also helped promote the conspiratorial video ''
Plandemic ''Plandemic'' is a trilogy of conspiracy theory films produced by Mikki Willis, promoting misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. They feature Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher and prominent anti-vaccine activist. The ...
''. In March 2022,
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
,
France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...
, and
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
reported that QAnon promoters were echoing
Russian disinformation Russian disinformation campaigns have occurred in many countries. For example, disinformation campaigns led by Yevgeny Prigozhin have been reported in several African countries. Russia, however, denies that it uses disinformation to influence pub ...
that created conspiracy theories about United States-funded laboratories in Ukraine. Russian state media falsely claimed that "secret United States biolabs" were creating weapons, a claim refuted by the U.S., Ukraine, and the United Nations. In reality, the laboratories were first established to secure and dismantle the remnants of the
Soviet biological weapons program The Soviet Union covertly operated the world's largest, longest, and most sophisticated biological weapons program, thereby violating its obligations as a party to the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972.Leitenberg, M., Zilinskas, R., & Kuhn, ...
, and since then have been used to monitor and prevent new epidemics. The laboratories are publicly listed, not secret, and owned and operated by host countries such as Ukraine, not the U.S. QAnon followers have claimed to justify the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
as an effort by
Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
and Trump to destroy "military" laboratories in Ukraine. Until the invasion of Ukraine, QAnon-adjacent groups were hostile to China. In March 2022, analyst Elise Thomas wrote in a report for the
Institute for Strategic Dialogue The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Activities ISD's core ...
: "The dynamics of the invasion are shifting their views. In an astoundingly short space of time,
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
appears to have been recast from a villain to a hero in the QAnon conspiracy pantheon." Supporters have also become invested in the
NESARA ''Nesara'' is a genus of moths in the family Lasiocampidae The Lasiocampidae are a family of moths also known as eggars, tent caterpillars, snout moths (although this also refers to the Pyralidae), or lappet moths. Over 2,000 species occur wo ...
economic conspiracy theory. In 2022, ''
Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...
'' reported that many QAnon-related
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
channels were becoming increasingly devoted to NESARA content. Some adherents expressed belief in the reptilian conspiracy theory, asserting that the Satanic cabal alleged to be in power consists of shapeshifting reptilian humanoids. According to multiple news reports, this led some to kill suspected "lizard people". A California father attempted to kill his children for fear that they had inherited "serpent DNA" from their mother, while a Seattle-based member of the far-right Proud Boys who frequently alluded to and promoted QAnon-linked material on Facebook, sought to murder his brother on suspicion of reptilian ancestry.Multiple sources: * * **


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 Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...
'' 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. ''Bellingcats theory is that the author of these messages had not yet perfected the Q persona and was still settling into the voice of their Online identity, online alter ego, which implies that Q was originally one 4chan poster among many instead of a powerful government insider. Q's motives and identity have been the subject of much speculation and assumptions, both among QAnon followers and critics. Hypotheses on Q's identity have included a military intelligence officer, a Trump administration insider, but also public figures such as
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...
, Stephen Miller (political advisor), Stephen Miller, or Trump himself. In 2018, during the early days of QAnon, it was speculated that Q could be the puzzle organization Cicada 3301 creating the movement as a form of live action role-playing game, or a left-wing artist collective (emulating another collective, Luther Blissett (pseudonym), Luther Blissett, that authored a novel titled ''Q (novel), Q'') playing an elaborate Practical joke, prank on right-wing online culture.


Multiple people

By 2020, it became accepted among researchers that the pseudonymous entity known as Q has been controlled by multiple people in cooperation. 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". An analysis of metadata of images posted by Q found that they were likely posted by someone in the Pacific Time Zone. By design, anonymous imageboards such as 4chan and 8chan obscure their posters' identities. Those who wish to prove a consistent identity between posts while remaining anonymous can use a Imageboard#Tripcodes, tripcode, which associates a post with a unique digital signature for any poster who knows the password. There have been thousands of posts associated with a Q tripcode. The tripcode associated with Q has changed several times, creating uncertainty about the poster's continuous identity. Passwords on 8chan are also easy to Password cracking, crack, and the Q tripcode has been repeatedly compromised and used by people pretending to be Q. When 8chan returned as 8kun in November 2019 after several months of downtime, the Q posting on 8kun posted photos of a pen and notebook that had been pictured in earlier 8chan posts to show the continuation of the Q identity, and continued to use Q's 8chan tripcode.


Paul Furber and the Watkins family

Fredrick Brennan, the original owner of 8chan, said in June 2020 that "Q either knows Jim or Ron Watkins or was hired by Jim or Ron Watkins". He later said that "If [Jim Watkins is] not 'Q' himself, he can find out who 'Q' is at any time. And he's pretty much the only person in the world that can have private contact with 'Q'." 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 or early 2018. Brennan's theory is that the original 'Q' poster was Johannesburg resident Paul Furber, a 4chan and 8chan moderator and one of the first online commentators to promote QAnon. Evidence for this theory includes that Q's first password ("Matlock") was cracked on New Year's Day 2018 and, due to the nature of tripcodes, Furber was asked to verify that the new Q (with a new password/tripcode) was the same IP address as the old Q. Furber described this as "a lot of work", but something he'd been "called to do". Brennan further suspects that Ron Watkins seized control of the account from Furber by using his login privileges as 8chan's administrator. Furber has denied ever being Q. Both Jim and Ron Watkins have said they do not know Q's identity and have denied being Q. 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. In the last episode of ''Q Into the Storm, 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. Now I'm doing it publicly, that's the only difference.... It was basically... three years of intelligence training teaching how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before but never as Q. [Watkins then laughed and added:] Never as Q. I promise. Because I am not Q, and I never was.
Hoback viewed this as an inadvertent admission by Watkins, and concluded from this interview and his other research that Watkins is Q. Watkins again denied being Q shortly before the series premiered. On February 19, 2022, ''The New York Times'' reported that analysis of the Q posts by two independent forensic linguistics teams using stylometry techniques indicated that Paul Furber was the main author of the initial Q posts, and Ron Watkins took over at the start of 2018. The change seems to have occurred after Q moved from 4chan to 8chan. At the time, Furber had complained that Q had been "hijacked" and that Ron Watkins was complicit. Furber responded to inquiries by saying that Q's writing style had influenced his own, not the other way around. Before Q's reappearance in June 2022, 8kun changed its Salt (cryptography), salt, meaning it would have been impossible for a user to have the same tripcode as before. Yet Q's tripcode remained the same as it was in 2020, suggesting that 8kun's administrators either knew Q was going to post again or made the post themselves. Soon after, 8kun changed its salt back to the original. Jim Watkins also confirmed the new Q drops' authenticity within hours of their publication.


Slogans and vocabulary

The spread of QAnon has been accompanied by a series of slogans, catchphrases, buzzwords and
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
s that helped boost its popularity and online presence. 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. Q's "drops" are also known as "crumbs" (Q has used the term) or "breadcrumbs". In turn, followers of the conspiracy who analyze these posts have called themselves "bakers" who assemble the "crumbs" to make "dough", or "bread", as they weave the clues into a better understanding of the narrative. One early rallying cry among QAnon followers was "Follow the White Rabbit". A popular QAnon slogan is "Where we go one, we go all" (frequently abbreviated as "WWG1WGA"), first used by Q in April 2018. The phrase "Do your own research" (or "Do the research") encourages people to look for "clues" that will confirm QAnon narratives. "Q sent me" has been a declaration of "allegiance" to Q. Other common phrases in QAnon parlance include "white hat" (a Trump supporter), "black hat" (someone in league with the
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
), "Great Awakening" (the point at which the public wakes up to the truth), "Red pill and blue pill, red pill" ("taking the red pill" means achieving QAnon awareness), or "Herd behavior#Sheeple, sheeple" (a disparaging term for people who believe the mainstream media narrative). "17anon" has sometimes been used as an alternative spelling of QAnon (Q being the 17th letter of the alphabet) and a way of circumventing social media algorithms.


Derivative elements

As it incorporates elements from many other conspiracy theories, QAnon displays similarities with previous narratives, imagery and moral panics, whether political or religious in nature. In ''Salon.com, Salon'', Matthew Rozsa wrote that QAnon may best be understood as an example of what historian Richard Hofstadter called "The Paranoid Style in American Politics", the title of his 1964 essay on millenarianism, religious millenarianism and apocalypticism. Like
Pizzagate "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democra ...
, QAnon has some resemblance to the Satanic panic of the 1980s, when Day-care sex-abuse hysteria, hundreds of daycare workers were falsely accused of abusing children.


Apocalypticism and Millenarianism

QAnon's "explicitly Christian" vocabulary echoes longstanding Christian theological and eschatological traditions, particularly those rooted in apocalypticism and Millenarianism, millenarian expectations. Central to QAnon's narrative are concepts such as the "Storm" (the Genesis flood narrative or Last Judgment, Judgment Day), the "Great Awakening" (evoking the reputed historical religious Great Awakenings of the early 18th century to the late 20th century), and an emphasis on prophecy, leading it to be sometimes construed as an New religious movement, emerging religious movement. QAnon followers, while seeing Trump as a flawed Christian, also view him as a messiah sent by God "who will triumph over Satan through a series of cataclysmic events". According to one QAnon video, the battle between Trump and "the cabal" is of "biblical proportions", a "fight for earth, of good versus evil". Some QAnon supporters say the coming reckoning will be a "reverse rapture", that is "a revelation that means not only the end of the world but a new beginning", according to American political author Alexander Reid Ross.


Evangelical influences

Religious studies scholar Julie Ingersoll argues that evangelicals have "helped make widespread acceptance of QAnon possible by weaving their theological commitments to apocalypticism, conspiracies and persecution narratives into the larger American culture." Messianic, apocalyptic, and spiritual warfare themes which became popular in evangelical media beginning in the 1970s – as well as conspiracy theories such as the New World Order (conspiracy theory), New World Order that are popular among the same demographic – have been described as influences on the QAnon belief system, as well as aspects of QAnon that appeal to evangelicals. The apocalyptic stories are seen by Christians as fictional depictions of real future events, giving them real-world significance. American studies scholar S. Jonathon O'Donnell argues that QAnon, which sees Trump as fighting a demonic
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
, has significant commonalities with Christian spiritual warfare – and their followers overlap as well. "QAnon is, in effect, one part Frank Peretti spiritual warfare, one part ''Left Behind'' series apocalypticism, and one part Elders of Zion antisemitic conspiracy theory, packaged together in a tantalizing, self-involving variation on ''The Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Apprentice'' reality television and social media", writes one scholar.


Dualism

The movement "strikingly builds on Christian Dualism in cosmology, dualism". This worldview divides reality into a stark struggle between good and evil, leaving little room for nuance or compromise. Theological frameworks such as presuppositionalism, which claims that all true knowledge is revealed by God as opposed to faulty human reason, have been argued to lead to Us versus them, us–versus–them thinking which easily expands from the theological sphere to the political in QAnon. Christian dualism itself was influenced by earlier religious traditions, particularly Manichaeism, a belief system that flourished in the late Roman and early medieval periods. Manichaeism depicted the world as a cosmic battlefield between absolute forces of light and darkness, a theme that later shaped Christian theological ideas about
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
, sin, and Divine law, divine justice. This framework of cosmic struggle, carried into medieval Christianity through fears of
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
, witchcraft, and Demon, demonic infiltration, finds a modern counterpart in QAnon's vision of a hidden war between Trump and the deep state. By portraying political opponents as not merely corrupt but satanic, QAnon replicates this centuries-old dualistic tradition in a contemporary setting.


The hidden enemy

A central element of QAnon's worldview is the belief in a hidden, malevolent force controlling society. This concept echoes medieval anxieties, such as fears surrounding witchcraft, Secret society, secret societies, and demonic conspiracies blamed for societal ills. In particular, it closely mirrors accusations from texts like the Malleus Maleficarum, which claimed that witches secretly conspired with
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
to corrupt society from within. Historian Niall Ferguson argues that such moral panics often emerge during times of instability, as societies search for scapegoats and simplified explanations for complex crises. QAnon further incorporates themes from early-Christian Gnosticism, particularly the idea that the true nature of the world is hidden and accessible only to those with special insight or "gnosis." QAnon adherents similarly see themselves as uniquely able to discern the secret evil manipulating events behind the scenes. Additionally, this hidden-enemy narrative frequently overlaps with historical antisemitic tropes, portraying shadowy elites controlling world affairs. The fusion of these elements creates a potent narrative that positions followers as warriors engaged in a cosmic battle against a concealed, all-powerful adversary.


Satanic rituals and child victims

The ''Malleus Maleficarum'' argued that witches forged explicit pacts with the Devil—engaging in Incantation, spells, Witches' Sabbath, nocturnal sabbaths, and ritual sacrifices—to undermine Christian society. These accusations drew from earlier antisemitic conspiracies like the medieval blood libel, which falsely accused Jewish communities of murdering children for ritualistic purposes. Similarly, QAnon claims a secret global elite actively performs satanic rituals, including child sacrifice and "
adrenochrome Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While it has no current medical applic ...
" harvesting—echoing both Witch hunt, medieval witch-hunts and more recent moral panics, such as the Satanic panic, Satanic Panic of the 1980s, which involved widespread allegations of ritual Satanic abuse, often derived from claims made during the controversial Recovered Memory movement of the 1990s. Although distinct phenomena, both panics similarly depicted their subjects as actively worshiping evil and collaborating with demonic forces, fueling a climate of fear and suspicion. Historian Niall Ferguson notes that such narratives of hidden evil frequently emerge during societal instability, providing emotionally powerful scapegoats to simplify complex crises. By portraying themselves as protectors of innocent children threatened by concealed demonic forces, QAnon adherents leverage deep-rooted cultural fears and historical anxieties to justify their worldview and mobilize followers.


Antisemitism

According to the Anti-Defamation League, while "the vast majority of QAnon-inspired conspiracy theories have nothing to do with anti-Semitism", they described a review of QAnon tweets about Israel, Jews, Zionists, the Rothschilds, and Soros as "reveal[ing] some troubling examples". Ethan Zuckerman and Mike McQuade have argued that QAnon "is more anti-elite than explicitly anti-Semitic". ''The Washington Post'' and ''The Forward'' magazine have called QAnon's targeting of Jewish figures like
George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...
and Rothschild family, the Rothschilds "garden-variety nonsense with racist and anti-Semitic undertones" and containing "striking anti-Semitic elements". A Jewish Telegraphic Agency article in August 2018 asserted: "Some of QAnon's archetypical elements—including secret elites and kidnapped children, among others—are reflective of historical and ongoing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories." QAnon's
adrenochrome Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While it has no current medical applic ...
-harvesting claims have been linked to blood libel by the followers (who believe in the truthfulness of both) and researchers of QAnon. Blood libel is a medieval antisemitic myth that says Jewish people murder Christian children and use their blood to make Matzah, matzo for Passover. In February 2022, social media users shared images of a sculpture of Simon of Trent, whose death was falsely blamed on the town's Jewish population, as evidence that elites harvest adrenochrome from children's blood. Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton has called QAnon a "Nazi cult rebranded" and a new version of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', a fabricated antisemitic text published in 1903, deriving from antisemitic canards. Republican QAnon follower Mary Ann Mendoza was noted for her reference to the antisemitic text when she retweeted a Twitter thread about the
Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...
, Satanic High Priestesses, and American presidents saying, "''The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion'' is not a fabrication. And, it certainly is not anti-Semitic to point out this fact." An April 2021 Morning Consult poll found that 49% of Americans who believe in QAnon agree with the ''Protocols'', and that 78% of Americans who agree with the ''Protocols'' also believe in QAnon. In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League reported that Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazis were exploiting the absence of leadership among QAnon adherents on
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. QAnon conspiracy theorists have promoted ''Europa: The Last Battle'', a neo-Nazi propaganda film which promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial. They have also promoted content from Disclose.tv, a German disinformation outlet with a following that includes Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis.


Appeal

Experts have classified QAnon's appeal as comparable to those of religious cults. According to an expert in online conspiracy, Renée DiResta, Renee DiResta, QAnon's pattern of enticement is similar to that of cults in the pre-Internet era where, as the targeted person was led deeper and deeper into the group's secrets, they become increasingly isolated from friends and family outside the cult. Online support groups developed for those whose loved ones were drawn into QAnon, notably the
subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
r/QAnonCasualties, which grew from 3,500 participants in June 2020 to 28,000 by October. QAnon virtual communities have little "real world" connection with each other, but online they can number in the tens of thousands. 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.... All cults will provide this feeling of being special." 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. QAnon's cultish quality has led to its characterization as a possible new religious movement, emerging religious movement. It has also been called a Syncretism, syncretic movement. 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. According to View, "You can sit at your computer and search for information and then post about what you find, and Q basically promises that through this process, you are going to radically change the country, institute this incredible, almost bloodless revolution, and then be part of this historical movement that will be written about for generations." View compares this to mundane political involvement in which one's efforts might help to get a state legislator elected. QAnon, says View, competes not in the marketplace of ideas, but in the marketplace of realities. The belief in "The Plan" that Q alleged was in place to defeat the deep state and the cabal boosted the confidence of QAnon followers, who were told that things were happening behind the scenes and that victory would inevitably follow if they trusted Trump and the secret plan. QAnon believers try to solve riddles presented in Q's posts by connecting them to Trump speeches and tweets and other sources. ''The New Yorker'' has likened QAnon to "a form of Role-playing game, interactive role-playing". Some followers used a "Q clock" consisting of a wheel of concentric dials to decode clues based on the timing of Q's posts and Trump's tweets. American sociologist Mark Juergensmeyer says he "find[s] QAnon consistent with many other extremist religiopolitical movements ... including those that have arisen in response to the recent global crises of mass migration, economic globalization, and now a global pandemic". Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said QAnon has "the visceral appeal of an anti-elite message that is elastic enough to capture a lot of folks who feel fear and disenfranchisement from the current political system". Scholar Mia Bloom describes it as "unique among conspiracy theories in its ability to mutate and adapt to its environment," stating "[i]t has successfully absorbed local grievances abroad and takes on whatever local issues are central". She also argues that QAnon's acceptance of movements such as vaccine skepticism have helped it spread into unexpected demographics that share those commonalities. Survey data showed in late 2020 that a quarter of those who knew about QAnon thought there was some truth to it. In a conspiracy theory environment, primary institutions of society that once served as trusted impartial authorities are easily rejected if they contradict the theory, making it difficult to counter the thinking of QAnon followers.


Disillusionment

Travis View says:
People in the QAnon community often talk about alienation from family and friends.... Though they typically talk about how Q frayed their relationships on private Facebook groups. But they think these issues are temporary and primarily the fault of others. 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. They imagine that after this happens, not only will their relationships be restored, but people will turn to them as leaders who understand what's going on better than the rest of us.
Disillusionment can also come from the failure of the theories' predictions. Q predicted Republican success in the 2018 United States elections, 2018 US midterm elections and claimed that United States Attorney General, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was involved in secret work for Trump and that despite outward tension, the two were allies. When Democrats made significant gains and Trump fired Sessions, many in the Q community were disillusioned. Further disillusionment came when a predicted December5 mass arrest and imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Trump's enemies did not occur, nor did the dismissal of charges against Trump's former national security advisor
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...
. For some, these failures began a separation from QAnon, while others urged direct action in the form of an insurrection. Psychologist Robert Lifton said such a response to a failed prophecy is not unusual: apocalyptic cults such as Heaven's Gate (religious group), Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple, the Manson Family, and Aum Shinrikyo resorted to mass suicide or mass murder when their expectations did not materialize. Lifton called this "forcing the end". View echoed the concern that disillusioned QAnon followers might take matters into their own hands as Pizzagate follower Pizzagate conspiracy theory#Criminal responses, Edgar Maddison Welch did in 2016, Timeline of incidents involving QAnon#Hoover Dam incident, Matthew Phillip Wright did at Hoover Dam in 2018, and Timeline of incidents involving QAnon#Murder of Frank Cali, Anthony Comello did in 2019, when he murdered Italian-American Mafia, Mafia boss Frank Cali, believing he was under Trump's protection. In February 2019, Liz Crokin said that she was losing patience waiting for Trump to arrest the supposed members of the child sex ring, and warned that people might conduct "vigilante justice".


Demographics

According to an August 2018 Qualtrics poll for ''The Washington Post'', 58% of Floridians were familiar enough with QAnon to have an opinion about it. Of those who had an opinion, most were unfavorable. The average score on the feeling thermometer was just above 20, a very negative rating, and about half of what other political figures enjoy. Positive feelings toward QAnon were strongly correlated with susceptibility to conspiracy thinking. According to a March 2020 Pew Research Center, Pew survey, 76% of Americans had never heard of QAnon, 20% had heard "a little about it", and 3% said they had heard "a lot". The survey showed 39% of those identifying as liberal democrats knew a little or more about Qanon while only 18% of people who were republican or leaned republican reported knowing a little or more about Qanon. In September 2020, a Pew survey of the 47% of respondents who said they had heard of QAnon found that 41% of Republicans and those who lean Republican believed QAnon was good for the country, compared to 7% of Democrats and those who lean Democratic. 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. In February 2021, an American Enterprise Institute poll found that 29% of Republicans believe the central claim of QAnon, that "Donald Trump has been secretly fighting a group of child sex traffickers that include prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites." A March 2021 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and Interfaith Youth Core survey found similar results: Republicans (28%) were twice as likely as Democrats (14%) to agree that the "elites" would soon be swept from power by a coming "storm"; Republicans (23%) were three times as likely as Democrats (8%) to agree that "Satan-worshipping pedophiles" control the government and media; and Republicans (28%) were four times as likely as Democrats (7%) to agree that "true American patriots may have to resort to violence" to resolve the situation. Surveys have found that conspiracy theories such as QAnon are most popular among white Americans, especially evangelicals. A May 2021 PRRI survey confirmed that white evangelicals are among QAnon's strongest supporters, but also found that Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic Protestants are drawn to the movement in even larger proportions. According to the PRRI's figures, the core QAnon belief that global elites form a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles and child sex traffickers is held in the U.S. by 26% of Hispanic Protestants, 25% of White evangelical Protestants, 24% of other Protestants Person of color, of color, 18% of Mormonism, Mormons, 16% of Hispanic Catholic Church, Catholics, 14% of African Americans, African American Protestants, 14% of other Christians, 13% of non-Christian religious people, 11% of White Catholics, 11% of Irreligion, religiously unaffiliated people, 10% of white mainline Protestants, and 8% of Jews. An analysis of four 2021 PRRI surveys showed that belief in QAnon increased in the U.S. after Trump left office. In March 2021, 14% of Americans considered themselves QAnon believers, increasing to 17% by October. In the average of the four surveys, about 22% of Americans believed that there was a "storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power", and 16% shared the core QAnon belief that the government, the media and the financial elite are controlled by Satanic pedophiles. In 2024, another poll conduced by PPRI found that 19% of Americans believed in the core theories associated with QAnon, up from 14% in 2021, and that the number rose to 32% among Trump-supporting Republicans.


Pastel QAnon

Pastel QAnon, identified by Concordia University researcher Marc-André Argentino, 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. It co-opts the aesthetics and language of social media influencers, often using personal anecdotes and gateway issues (i.e. child sex-trafficking) to frame QAnon beliefs as reasonable.


Post-2020 election

After Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 election, the rate of Q's posts sharply declined and Q stopped posting altogether one month later. The last "drop" for 18 months was on December 8, 2020. Mike Rothschild, author of a book on QAnon, said in 2021 that he doubted Q would ever come back, as the movement had "outgrown the need for new drops" and Trump's election loss had invalidated the core QAnon prophecy. But he added that Q might resume posting if "the community really needed new drops to keep it moving forward". The inauguration of Joe Biden as president was a major disappointment for QAnon followers, who were convinced that "Trump Won" conspiracy theory, Biden had won the election through voter fraud and his victory would be invalidated. Many QAnon adherents believed that something momentous would happen during the ceremony, and Trump would remain in power. The inauguration ultimately went on as planned. 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 Major depressive disorder, deep melancholy, suicidal ideation, or engaged in self-harm". On inauguration day, Ron Watkins wrote in a message board post: "We gave it our all, now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able. We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility to respect the Constitution." Other QAnon followers believed Biden's inauguration was "part of the plan". Conservatives such as Steve Bannon and Bill Still denounced QAnon, calling it a Psychological operations (United States), psyop created by U.S. intelligence or the FBI. In a leaked conversation, Michael Flynn, once among the highest-profile QAnon supporters, called it a "disinformation campaign to make people look like a bunch of kooks", suggesting that it might have been conducted by "the Left" or the CIA. After Biden's inauguration, analysts expressed concern that the disillusionment could lead hardline QAnon adherents to be recruited by groups such as the alt-right, white nationalists or neo-Nazis. A group of
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
channels called the Sabmyk Network has been promoting a variation of QAnon by targeting followers of the conspiracy theory who have been disillusioned by Q's failures in prediction. Set up by German artist Sebastian Bieniek, the network (described as a new religious movement, new religion or cult) shares QAnon beliefs but also believes in a leader-prophet, Sabmyk, who will lead humanity's "awakening". The network has tried to link Trump to Sabmyk. On June 24, 2022, Q, or someone who possesses their details, posted on 8chan, 8kun after an 18-month hiatus. The post claimed that Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified at the Public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack#June 28, 2022, sixth public hearing on the January 6 Attack, was involved in a plot to disparage Trump. Other Q posts were published in 2022, notably one suggesting that the 2022 United States elections, midterm elections would be rigged, but these messages received much less engagement than previous "drops". An article in ''Vice News'' suggested that this showed the QAnon movement had "moved past requiring new Q drops to bolster itself": journalists Mack Lamoureux and David Gilbert commented that during Q's absence, the QAnon community had continued formulating theories and other influencers had "stepped into the power vacuum". As a result, conspiracy theories had continued influencing public discourse, while conservative politics and media became infused with a "more watered-down version of QAnon". Commenting in 2022 on the influence of QAnon on public discourses, social scientist Donald Moynihan said that "the most vivid importation of the QAnon worldview" was the use of the term ''groomers'' and other phrases associated with the LGBT grooming conspiracy theory. He accused Christopher Rufo, one of its main promoters, of having "construct[ed] a new moral panic using QAnon messaging", which he likened to "the McCarthyism, McCarthyite tactic of attaching a negative label" (in that case, pedophilia) to "people holding different beliefs". As of 2024, QAnon adherents are still active online. They rejoiced at 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump's return to power. According to Mike Rothschild, even though there seems to be less interest than before in content analyzing Q's "drops", ideas that QAnon helped popularize such as the need to confront an evil "
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
" or Anti-vaccine activism, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, have become commonplace on the right. Rothschild commented that "QAnon as a movement based around secret codes and clues and riddles doesn't so much exist anymore. But it doesn't need to exist anymore because its tenets have become such a major part of mainstream conservatism and such a big part of the base of people that reelected Donald Trump".


Incidents

QAnon's followers have been part of controversial, sometimes violent events. In 2020, QAnon followers were involved in the 2020 United States presidential election, presidential election, during which they supported Trump's campaign. QAnon personalities moved to dedicated message boards, where they organized to wage
information warfare Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from ''cyberwarfare'' that attacks computers, software, and ...
to influence the election. One in 50 tweets about voting in the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
came from QAnon accounts. Two in 25 accounts using the hashtag #voterfraud, which spread unsubstantiated allegations of Electoral fraud, voting fraud, were QAnon accounts.


Vandalism of America's Stonehenge

In 2019, America's Stonehenge was vandalized with power tools. On March 4, 2021, NH State Police arrested Mark L. Russo, a member of QAnon, and charged him with criminal mischief. Two inscriptions were etched into the so-called "sacrificial table": the QAnon slogan WWG1WGA meaning "Where we go one, we go all" and IAMMARK, Russo's Twitter handle. By using a pseudonym to search social media researcher Chris Walters found photographs showing the site as well as items later found by the police. Later it was determined that two QAnon followers with adult sons who had died. Both believed that the "sacrifical table" was real and that their sons had been killed by a worldwide conspiracy led by
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
in order to extract
adrenochrome Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While it has no current medical applic ...
which they believed could renew life.


Attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. election

QAnon followers supported the efforts of Trump's legal team to overturn the election through Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election, multiple lawsuits and submitted conspiracy theories of their own. They theorized that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had deleted millions of votes for Trump. This was repeated on the far-right cable news outlet One America News Network, and Trump tweeted the segment to his followers. One specific QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theory, known as Italygate and pushed in the last weeks of Trump's presidency, alleged that the American election had been rigged using technology from the Embassy of the United States, Rome, United States Embassy in Rome with the help of an Italian hacker, an Italian general and the Vatican City, Vatican. Several elected leaders, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Arizona House Election Chairwoman Kelly Townsend were well known QAnon adherents before the 2020 election and who helped lead attempts to overturn the election in the aftermath. In June 2020, Townsend posted a QAnon video with a flaming "Q" to her social media and followed high-profile QAnon accounts. Some local Arizona politics reporters have referred to Townsend as the QAnon Queen of the Legislature. Based on a misinterpretation of the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 by the sovereign citizen movement, according to which it transformed the federal government into a corporation and rendered illegitimate every president elected thereafter, some QAnon followers claimed that the 18th president (Ulysses S. Grant, in office from 1869 to 1877) was the last legitimate president. They believed that Trump would be sworn in as the 19th president on March 4, 2021. The original inauguration date until the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Twentieth Amendment changed it to January 20 in 1933, and that he would restore the federal government. Based on intelligence that an identified but undisclosed militia group might attempt an attack on the United States Capitol, Capitol on that date, the U.S. Capitol Police issued an alert on March 3. House leadership subsequently rescheduled a March 4 vote to the previous night to allow lawmakers to leave town. The Anti-Defamation League, British security firm G4S, and nonpartisan governance watchdog Advance Democracy Inc, studied QAnon posts and warned of the potential for violence on January 6, 2021. Violence did occur that day, as the attempts to overturn the election culminated with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Multiple QAnon-affiliated protesters participated in the disturbance. Rioters were either seen wearing clothing with Q-related emblems or identified as QAnon followers from video footage. One participant whose attire and behavior attracted worldwide media attention was Jake Angeli, a QAnon supporter nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman". Killing of Ashli Babbitt, 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. The day before the attack, she had tweeted: "the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours". The attack led to a crackdown on QAnon content on social media. On April 19, 2021, the Ali Soufan, Soufan Center reported that Russia and China had amplified and "weaponized" QAnon at the time of the Capitol attack "to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes."


German coup attempt

Several QAnon adherents were charged with participation in the 2022 coup d'état plot in Germany, which involved groups of far-right activists and conspiracy theorists, such as the Reichsbürger movement.


Reactions


Media, advocacy groups, and public figures

Journalists have debunked QAnon's basic tenets. In 2018, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called its proponents "a deranged conspiracy cult" and "some of the Internet's most ' Trump fans". 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". On March 13, 2018, Cheryl Sullenger, vice president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue (Kansas), 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". On March 15, Kyiv-based , the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Ukraine, published an article calling QAnon a "military intelligence group". On March 31, actor
Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...
appeared to promote QAnon, covered by
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, ''The Washington Post'', and ''The New York Times''. Radio talk show host Lionel (radio personality), Lionel became an outspoken QAnon supporter. In April and October 2021, actor Jim Caviezel appeared at conservative conferences and endorsed aspects of the QAnon. In June 2018, a ''Time (magazine), 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. On July 4, the Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County Republican Party (United States), 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 Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
activities and counter activities by President Trump". The posts were soon deleted. In August 2018, following the presence of QAnon supporters at Trump's Tampa, Florida rally for the midterm elections, MSNBC news anchors Hallie Jackson, Brian Williams, and Chris Hayes dedicated portions of their programs to the conspiracy theory. ''PBS NewsHour'' also ran a segment on QAnon the next day. 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."


Official responses


FBI domestic terrorism assessment

In May 2019, an FBI "Intelligence Bulletin" memo from the Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix field office identified QAnon-driven extremists as a domestic terrorism threat. The document cited arrests related to QAnon, some of which had not been publicized before. According to the memo, "This is the first FBI product examining the threat from conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists and provides a baseline for future intelligence products.... The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts." According to FBI's counterterrorism director Michael G. McGarrity's testimony before Congress in May, the FBI divides domestic terrorism threats into four primary categories, "racially motivated violent extremism, anti-government/anti-authority extremism, animal rights/environmental extremism, and abortion extremism", which includes both abortion-rights and anti-abortion extremists. The fringe conspiracy theory threat is closely related to the anti-government/anti-authority subject area. On December 19, 2018, a Californian man whose car contained bomb-making materials he intended to use to "blow up a satanic temple monument" in the Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, Illinois, Capitol rotunda to "make Americans aware of Pizzagate and the New World Order (conspiracy theory), New World Order, who were dismantling society" was arrested. 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".


Congressional resolution

In August 2020, two U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Representatives, Democrat Tom Malinowski and Republican Denver Riggleman, introduced a bipartisan simple resolution (H. Res. 1154) condemning QAnon. Malinowski said the resolution's aim was to repudiate "this dangerous, anti-Semitic, conspiracy-mongering cult that the FBI says is radicalizing Americans to violence". The resolution urged law enforcement and homeland security agencies "to continue to strengthen their focus on preventing violence, threats, harassment, and other criminal activity by extremists motivated by fringe political conspiracy theories" and encouraged the U.S. Intelligence Community, U.S. intelligence community "to uncover any foreign support, assistance, or online amplification QAnon receives, as well as any QAnon affiliations, coordination, and contacts with foreign extremist organizations or groups espousing violence". In September 2020, Malinowski received death threats from QAnon followers after being falsely accused of wanting to protect sexual predators. 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. The resolution passed on October 2, 2020, in a 371–18 vote. Seventeen Republicans (including Steve King, Paul Gosar, and Daniel Webster (Florida politician), Daniel Webster) and one independent (Justin Amash) voted no; Republican Andy Harris (politician), Andy Harris voted "present". According to Will Sommer in ''The Daily Beast'', the resolution does not have the force of law. Before the vote, Malinowski told ''Slate (magazine), 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."


Republican individuals and organizations

In 2019, two Republican congressional candidates expressed support for QAnon theories. In early 2020, Jim Watkins (businessman), Jim Watkins created the "Disarm the Deep state, Deep State" Political action committee, super PAC, whose stated aim was to "mobilize a community of patriots in order to remove power from Deep state, Deep State members". In November 2020, it was reported that the PAC had raised just $4,736, including a $500 loan from Watkins's lawyer. In 2020, there were 97 QAnon followers in the United States presidential primary, primaries, of whom 22 Republicans and two independents ran in the 2020 United States elections, elections of that year. Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene won an August 2020 runoff to become the GOP nominee in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia#District 14, 14th Congressional District in Georgia. In 2020, she said many of Q's claims "have really proven to be true". Months into the Trump presidency, she stated in a video: "There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it". Jo Rae Perkins, the 2020 Republican Senate candidate in Oregon, tweeted a video on the night of her May primary victory showing her holding a WWG1WGA sticker and stating that she "[stood] with Q and the team. Thank you Anons, and thank you patriots." She expressed regret at having later deleted the video on the advice of a political consultant. The next month she took the "digital soldiers oath" that Q had requested followers to do three days earlier. On June 30, 2020, incumbent Republican U.S. representative Scott Tipton lost 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado#District 3, a primary for Colorado's 3rd congressional district to
Lauren Boebert Lauren Opal Boebert ( ; ; born December 19, 1986) is an American politician, businesswoman, and gun rights activist serving as the U.S. representative for beginning in 2025, having previously represented from 2021 to 2025. From 2013 to 202 ...
in an upset. Boebert expressed tentative support for QAnon in an interview, but after winning the primary, attempted to distance herself from those statements, saying "I'm not a follower." Boebert was elected to Congress that November. Angela Stanton-King, a Trump-backed candidate running for the Georgia House seat of the late congressman John Lewis, posted on Twitter that Black Lives Matter is "a major cover up for pedophilia and human trafficking" and "the storm is here". Stanton-King told a reporter that her posts did not relate to QAnon, asserting, "It was raining that day." Weather records did not show precipitation in her area on the day of the post. 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. In May 2021, representative Louie Gohmert and Texas Republican Party chairman Allen West (politician), Allen West attended the "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup" conference organized by QAnon followers in Dallas. 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". Other Republican Party members who have spoken out against QAnon include senator Ben Sasse, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. 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". Representative Adam Kinzinger launched a Political action committee, PAC called "Country First", aimed at countering conspiracy theories and Donald Trump. In April 2024, the ''Washington Post'' published an article saying that since 2021 QAnon had "mostly evaporated" after Q stopped posting new messages, but that the movement and its worldview had "largely been folded into the broader Republican Party".


Donald Trump

According to Media Matters for America, as of August 2020, Trump had amplified QAnon messaging at least 216 times by retweeting or mentioning 129 QAnon-affiliated Twitter accounts, sometimes multiple times a day. QAnon followers came to refer to Trump as "Q+". On August 24, 2018, Trump hosted Lionel (radio personality), Michael William "Lionel" Lebron, a leading QAnon promoter, in the Oval Office for a photo op. Shortly after Christmas 2019, Trump retweeted over a dozen QAnon followers. On August 19, 2020, Trump was asked about QAnon during a press conference; he replied: "I don't know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate." An FBI Field Office in Phoenix has called QAnon a potential Domestic terrorism, domestic terror threat, but Trump called QAnon followers "people who love our country". When a reporter asked Trump if he could support a notion that suggests he "is secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals", he responded: "Well, I haven't heard that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?" Presidential candidate
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
responded that Trump was aiming to "legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a domestic terrorism threat". 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. 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. "They believe it is a satanic cult run by the
deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...
," Guthrie informed him. When Guthrie asserted that the conspiracy was not true, Trump responded, "No, I don't know that. And neither do you know that." In September 2022, an Associated Press analysis found that Trump was embracing QAnon more openly than before. Trump was reposting Q drops and QAnon memes on Truth Social, and more than a third of the accounts he had reposted in the last month had themselves shared QAnon slogans, videos or imagery. Trump has played the song ''Mirrors'' at public events. The song has been associated with QAnon since it was re-published as ''WWG1WGA'' by a YouTube user named "Richard Feelgood". The song's author, Will van de Crommert, has disavowed Trump and QAnon.


Mike Pence

On August 21, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence said that he did not "know anything about" QAnon except that it was a conspiracy theory that he "dismisse[d] out of hand". When asked whether he would acknowledge the administration's role in "giving oxygen" to the belief, Pence shook his head and said, "Give me a break." Pence also commented that the media giving attention to QAnon amounted to "[chasing] Shiny object syndrome, shiny objects". After the election, as the date of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count approached and Pence showed no intention of blocking the certification of Biden's win, QAnon figures vilified him as a traitor. After Pence's lawyers fought a lawsuit that aimed to make him refuse to count electoral votes for Biden, Lin Wood said that Pence would "face execution by firing squad" for "treason". A few hours before the count started on January 6, Wood tweeted that Pence should resign immediately and that charges should be brought against him. After the attack on the Capitol, Wood called Pence a "child molester" on Twitter. After his Twitter account was suspended, Wood used Parler to call again for Pence's execution by firing squad.


Michael Flynn

Former lieutenant general and head of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn, who served as Trump's National Security Advisor (United States), 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" and started calling themselves "digital soldiers". QAnon followers also adopted three stars as a symbol to display solidarity with Flynn, as a reference to Flynn having been a three-star general in the U.S. army. In August 2019, a "Digital Soldiers Conference" was announced for the next month in Atlanta. The stated purpose was to prepare "patriotic social media warriors" for a coming "digital civil war" against "censorship and suppression". The announcement of the event prominently displayed a Q spelled in stars on the blue field of an Flag of the United States, American flag, with the three stars making up the tail of the "Q" being highlighted separately to reference Flynn's military status. Scheduled speakers for the event, which was hosted by Yippy CEO Rich Granville, included Flynn and George Papadopoulos, as well as Gina Loudon, a Trump friend and member of his campaign media advisory board, singer Joy Villa, and Bill Mitchell, a radio host and ardent Trump supporter. On July 4, 2020, Flynn posted to his Twitter account a video of himself leading a small group in an oath with the QAnon motto, "Where we go one, we go all". Analysts said the oath was part of QAnon's attempt to organize "digital soldiers" for the political and social apocalypse they see coming. Flynn's apparent declaration of allegiance to QAnon made him the most prominent former government official to endorse the conspiracy theory. Member of Trump's legal team and Flynn's representative
Sidney Powell Sidney Katherine Powell (born May 1, 1955) is an American attorney and former federal prosecutor. In August 2023, she was indicted along with Donald Trump and eighteen others in the Georgia election case. In October 2023, she pleaded guilty ...
denied that the oath was related to QAnon. During the preceding days, numerous QAnon followers took the same "digital soldier oath" on Twitter, and used the same #TakeTheOath hashtag Flynn did. After his November 2020 pardon and the election results, Flynn became more closely associated with QAnon, endorsing a website that sold QAnon merchandise, creating a Digital Soldiers media company, and saying he planned to launch a news media outlet also called "Digital soldiers". He appeared on various far-right media, pushing QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theories. Flynn's activism fueled speculation among QAnon followers that he would help them take control, or that he was Q himself. QAnon supporters expressed their commitment in social media posts by using the phrase "Fight like a Flynn" or variations thereof. In February 2021, several weeks after the 2021 United States Capitol attack, Capitol riot, Flynn distanced himself from QAnon theories by saying in an interview: "There's no plan. There's so many people out there asking, 'Is the plan happening?' We have what we have, and we have to accept the situation as it is." But he did not outright disavow the QAnon movement. In May 2021, Flynn was a keynote speaker at the "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup" conference organized in Dallas, Dallas, Texas by QAnon influencer John Sabal. At the end of the year, though, Flynn appeared to have rejected QAnon as a whole. 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. They asserted that the video Flynn had posted in July 2020, which CNN had broadcast, depicted their pledging an oath to the Constitution, not to QAnon. 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. The plaintiffs also said they "are not followers or supporters of any extremist or terrorist groups, including QAnon". In December 2021, federal district court judge Gregory Howard Woods largely rejected CNN's motion to dismiss the case, allowing it to proceed to determine whether the Flynns had been portrayed in a false light.


Lin Wood

Lin Wood, a lawyer who worked with Trump's reelection campaign and participated in the election lawsuits, promoted QAnon conspiracy theories. His Twitter profile included the hashtag #WWG1WGA, a slogan associated with QAnon.References: * * Among other baseless QAnon-associated claims, he accused Chief Justice John Roberts of child rape and murder. Wood also claimed that QAnon supporter Isaac Kappy was murdered for attempting to transmit information to Trump.References: * * On January 11, 2021, Delaware Superior Court Judge Craig A. Karsnitz cited Wood's social media postings in his reasons for an order revoking Wood's right to appear before the court.References: * * via bloomberglaw.com. Karsnitz said that he had "no doubt" that Wood's tweets played a role in inciting the attack on the Capitol.


Sidney Powell

Attorney Sidney Powell, a member of Trump's legal team, denied knowledge of QAnon in January 2020, though in the following months she retweeted major QAnon accounts and catchphrases and appeared on QAnon channels on YouTube. After leaving Trump's team, Powell remained involved in post-election lawsuits and was embraced by QAnon followers, discouraged that predictions of a Trump landslide victory and coming revelations about his enemies had not materialized.References: * * Powell's evidence in the Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election from Georgia#Pearson v. Kemp, lawsuit she filed in Georgia to overturn the election result included an affidavit from Ron Watkins. In this document, Watkins stated that his reading of an online user guide for Dominion Voting Systems software led him to conclude that election fraud might be "within the realm of possibility". Watkins did not provide any evidence of fraud. In May 2021, Powell asserted that Trump "can simply be reinstated", that "a new inauguration date is set". The date for this was supposedly August 13 of the same year.References: * *


Kelly Townsend

Former Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend is a longtime conspiracy theorist, feeding conspiracies such as the Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, Obama birther conspiracy to Trump before he was elected. She posted the QAnon "Q" symbol to her social media account in 2018 and has consistently aligned with QAnon theories, including calling all vaccines "communist". In 2021, Townsend supported activists active in the Election denial movement in the United States, election denial movement in a spirit similar to the events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, urging parents to take control of school board meetings related to COVID-19 restrictions and mask mandates. Throughout the process of securing the Arizona audit conducted by QAnon conspiracy theorist Doug Logan from Cyber Ninjas, Townsend worked closely with QAnon adherent Liz Harris (Arizona politician), Liz Harris, who rented one of her condos to QAnon board owner Ron Watkins so he could run for office in Arizona in 2022. Along with Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and 2020 Maricopa County Sheriff candidate and then chief Arpaio staffer Jerry Sheridan, Townsend worked with informant Dennis L. Montgomery, Dennis Montgomery. In 2020, she worked with Corsi again, claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and emailing Corsi a document of Arizona senators endorsing Trump electors in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. In the lead-up to January 6, 2021, Townsend sponsored a bill that would designate Trump electors from Arizona and promoted the Arizona audit and stolen election claims.


Liz Harris

When Ron Watkins, son of Jim Watkins, who owned the image board that QAnon posts were posted on, came to the U.S. from Japan to run for Congress, he listed a property owned by Liz Harris (Arizona politician), Liz Harris who is also a prominent QAnon influencer, as his primary address. After QAnon supporter Kelly Townsend was voted out of office in Arizona during the 2022 midterms, Harris was elected for a short time before being expelled for lying during an ethics investigation that was investigating her for promotion of conspiracies.


Kash Patel

Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has actively promoted QAnon. On Truth Social, Patel promoted an account with the handle ''@Q'', which distributed messages related to the conspiratorial movement. According to Media Matters for America, Media Matters, Patel has shared an image featuring a flaming Q on it and has gone on multiple QAnon shows in order to urge members to join Truth Social. Patel said in 2022 that Truth Social was trying to adopt QAnon "into our overall messaging scheme to capture audiences", and that the figurehead of the QAnon movement "should get credit for all the things he has accomplished". Patel has appeared on multiple far-right podcasts promoting conspiracy theories such as on Stew Peters, and appeared over 50 times in at least a dozen podcasts that have promoted the QAnon movement. Patel has signed ten copies of his children's book about "King Donald" with the QAnon motto "WWG1WGA". He has also promoted the ''#WWG1WGA''
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
on Truth Social.


Online


QDrops app

QDrops, an app that promoted the conspiracy theory, was published on the Apple Inc., Apple App Store (iOS), App Store and Google Play. 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. On July 15, 2018, Apple pulled the app after an inquiry from NBC News. In mid-May 2020, Google removed three other appsQMAP, Q Alerts! and Q Alerts LITEfrom the Android app store for violating its terms of service.


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.


Removal of content

In March 2018, Reddit banned one of its Subreddit, communities discussing QAnon, /r/CBTS_Stream, for "encouraging or inciting violence and posting personal and confidential information". Some followers moved to Discord (software), Discord. 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, a Switzerland-based Reddit clone that has been described as a hub for the alt-right. 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. 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 presidential election, 2020 United States election. 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". 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. 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. 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. Etsy also announced that it would remove all QAnon-related merchandise from its online marketplace. The products were still available there as of January 2021. 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%. 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. It would still allow content discussing QAnon if it did not target individuals. Hashtags and accounts associated with QAnon have since been banned by numerous social networks including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
. 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 and those of
Sidney Powell Sidney Katherine Powell (born May 1, 1955) is an American attorney and former federal prosecutor. In August 2023, she was indicted along with Donald Trump and eighteen others in the Georgia election case. In October 2023, she pleaded guilty ...
,
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born 24 December 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports tha ...
and other high-profile QAnon figures the next day. On January 12, Facebook and Twitter announced that they were removing "Stop the Steal" content and suspending 70,000 QAnon-focused accounts, respectively. More waves of deletions followed on various platforms. Amazon removed a pro-QAnon book after the 2021 United States Capitol attack, Capitol riots, and many platforms took action against QAnon-related content after the incident. In May 2021, a report published by the Atlantic Council concluded that QAnon content was "evaporating" from the mainstream web.


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. Notably, Parler grew in popularity among QAnon followers and conservatives in general in early 2021. Gab (social network), Gab also became increasingly popular in these environments, especially after Parler went offline for several weeks following the Capitol attack. In the course of 2021, various alt-tech platforms allowed QAnon influencers and adherents to regroup, with Gab and
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
becoming particularly important hubs of QAnon communities.


Return to Twitter/X

In April 2022, QAnon followers celebrated Elon Musk's Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, proposed purchase of Twitter, believing that Musk's free speech approach would allow them back onto the platform. After Twitter under Elon Musk, Musk acquired the platform in October of the same year, various QAnon-related accounts were reinstated and resumed posting about the conspiracy theory. By December the conspiracy theory began to make a comeback on Twitter. Suspected Q author Ron Watkins was subsequently reinstated on the platform in January 2023, while in March Musk defended the "QAnon shamon" by calling for Jacob Chansley to be freed. In May, the Anti-Defamation League documented a surge of QAnon content on Twitter, now X, described as a resurgence.


See also

* Apophenia, the tendency to perceive connections and meaning between unrelated things * Cult of personality * List of conspiracy theories * Secret decoder ring, a promotional item that taps into a common fascination with secret codes * Sound of Freedom (film), ''Sound of Freedom'', 2023 film with alleged ties to the QAnon movement * "Epstein didn't kill himself" * Radical right (United States), Radical Right * Satanic Panic


Further reading

*
Excerpt
* * Bleakley, Paul (2021). "Panic, Pizza and Mainstreaming the Alt-Right: A Social Media Analysis of Pizzagate and the Rise of the QAnon Conspiracy". ''Current Sociology'': 00113921211034896. . * * * Forberg, Peter L. (2022)
No Cult Tells You to Think for Yourself': Discursive Ideology and the Limits of Rationality in Conspiracy Theory QAnon"
. ''American Behavioral Scientist''. . * Hodwitz, Omi, Steff King, and Jordan Thompson (2022). "QAnon: The Calm Before the Storm". ''Society'': 1–12. . *


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


External links

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