20 August, 2020

How to talk — and ask — about QAnon

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/20/how-talk-ask-about-qanon/

MIT Technology Review’s Ohlheiser: QAnon has essentially become a distribution mechanism for a whole bunch of linked conspiracy theories. … During the pandemic, QAnon has become the brand name for a whole bunch of circulating conspiracy fueled misinformation.

As researchers like [Stanford Internet Observatory’s Renee] DiResta have documented, there’s been cross-pollination between QAnon/Pizzagate content and anti-vaccine Facebook groups for years. The pandemic has accelerated that connection, and now QAnon accounts and networks are also key distributors of health misinformation. More recently, they’ve also kind of laundered their secret pedophile ring content through a few more mainstream-friendly arguments: for instance, they’ve helped to propel an easily debunked conspiracy about Wayfair and child trafficking onto Twitter’s trending list, where it was then picked up on Instagram and TikTok and spread even further, and hijacked the #savethechildren hashtag across social media.

Right Wing Watch’s Holt: The movement has inspired criminal action among some of its followers, including kidnapping, violence​ and murder. The FBI considers it a threat to national security.