Explainer: What is QAnon?
QAnon: a sprawling conspiracy theory whose supporters believe U.S. President Donald Trump is fighting a secret battle against a ‘deep state’ run by Satan-worshipping paedophiles.
Understanding QAnon
How did QAnon begin?
Why is QAnon so dangerous?
What is being done to combat QAnon?
How did QAnon begin?
The conspiracy theory was started off by a series of anonymous posts on 4chan, an alt-right online forum, from a user known as “Q”.
“Q” told readers he was a senior official in the U.S. Government, and starting sharing so-called intelligence about the Satanic, paedophile-filled deep state.
The theory was picked up by minor far-right figures on Reddit, 8Chan and YouTube, before entering the mainstream with larger figures on the right ranging from InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to Fox News television host Sean Hannity.
It’s hard to know how many people believe the QAnon conspiracy. In one recent U.S. poll, more than half of Republican respondents said they believe QAnon is at least partly true. Some top QAnon Facebook groups had millions of followers at their peak.
The QAnon conspiracy has a global following - including tens of thousands of Australians.
Why is QAnon so dangerous?
The conspiracy has driven some people to commit violence.
At least two 2019 murders in the U.S. were committed by killers who were in part motivated by QAnon. Ealier this year, a U.S. man pled guilty to terrorism after blocking a bridge with an armoured vehicle near the Hoover Dam in the country’s west.
The FBI identified the theory as a potential domestic terrorist threat in a 2019 intelligence bulletin.
QAnon is also linked to Pizzagate, a separate conspiracy theory that motivated a man to enter a Washington pizzeria before the 2016 U.S. election and fire shots.
And it’s started to be a powerful force in mainstream U.S. politics. At least 22 Republican candidates running for election in 2020 have endorsed or promoted QAnon conspiracy theories.
What is being done to combat QAnon?
Last week, Facebook said it was banning groups, pages and accounts that supported QAnon.
It joined Twitter, which removed 7,000 QAnon accounts in July, citing a risk the content would lead to “offline harm”. An additional 150,000 Twitter accounts were hidden from the site’s trends and search functions. Reddit has also banned key QAnon groups.
But experts fear the action from social media giants may be too little too late.
“The people that are part of these [banned] groups that are down the rabbit hole - true believers - they’re just going to find a different platform… It’s just going to be, probably, a minor annoyance to the actual true believer.”
Assistant Professor Adam Enders, a political scientist at the University of Louisville.