People on social media are notimmune to fake news, disinformation, misinformation and mal-information. Withvery less digital literacy levels, common people often find themselves strugglingto decipher what is news on social media and which facts are correct about aparticular issue. Similarly, conspiracy theories are making it difficult forrationalist thinkers or news media experts to prove confusing and conspiracy assertionsas baseless and unfounded.
Whatis QAnon? What does its supporters believe?
QAnon isa conspiracy or unfounded theory. QAnon believers say that President Donald Trump is waging a secret waragainst elite, Satan-worshipping paedophiles in media, government and business world.
Ben Collins, areporter on disinformation with NBC News debunked the conspiracy theoryin his series of tweets thread. In one of his tweets, he writes, "We'reliving in a second, more profound and politically important Satanic Panic. Thistime, everyone's on it. People will look for coincidences as narrow andstupid as pricing glitches on furniture sites as "proof" a globalcabal is eating children and controlling the world."
QAnon believers think that theywill be succeeded in their attempts against alleged paedophiles when the formerPresidential nominee Hilary Clinton will be arrested and executed.
Wayfairis an offshoot of QAnon that spread like wildfire because it gotthe support of several influencers on social media platforms. BuzzFeed reported that"Lifestyle influencers are nowsharing some bogus far-right conspiracy theories about the coronavirus onInstagram" in April 2020. Several arguments are made in these conspiracytheories that coronavirus is a deep state plot. People who claim these baselessarguments are supporters of president Trump.
SomeQ followers baselessly claim that the virus is a human-made bio weapon. They believe that it was created by Chinese orBill Gates. There are many allegations and counter allegations that have beendebunked by many media organizations.
Thebasic or fundamental premise of Wayfair conspiracy theory is related to expensivefurniture sold by Wayfair- an online retail business, that the expensive cabinetwere listed with girls' names. It prompted some people to believe that theseexpensive furniture have children hidden in them and it is a bigger part of achild trafficking.
Collinstraced the theory back to an account @99freemind on Twitter. The user AmazingPolly's account was later suspended by Twitter. She posteda tweet on June 14 about Wayfair's expensive storage cabinets.
Onlineretailer, Wayfair explains that the company uses algorithms to name itsproducts, hence it may have reflections of girls' names. Some media websiteslike Business Insider also reported that when this conspiracy theory hitWayfair, the company withdrew some products and had planned to rename them. Theofficial spokesperson of Wayfair was quoted as saying, "(We will) providea more indepth description and photos that accurately depict the product toclarify the price point."
Facebook'sindependent fact checkers have also debunked this conspiracy theory. However, despite the brand's denials, factcheckers' claims that the theory is baseless people still believe it. In a post-truth or alt-truth world 'who says it' matters more than 'what isbeing said'. Many micro blogging sites and social media platforms like Facebookand Twitter have suspended several QAnon groups, accounts and those who tweetor post about the conspiracy theories. It creates a polarizing atmosphere.
Even when Twitter andFacebook ban such accounts on the basis of reasonable restrictions or moderatinghateful or misleading/fake content, these believers stay in their echochambers. They hop from one social networking site to another such as Parler. It has been termed as 'Twitter without rules.' Many republicans, Trump supportersand other users are shifting their base to Parler while it has been suspendedby Apple and Amazon.
How QAnon started?
It started in October 2017 when a user put aseries of posts on a message board 4chan. The user claimed to have insideinformation or more precisely intelligence information and US security approvalknown as "Q Clearance." He signed off as 'Q'. One of the most popularQAnon slogans, is "where we go one, we go all." It is abbreviated asWWG1WGA. According to a report published in BBC, many people believe in thisconspiracy theory. It triggered much traffic on social networking sites likeFacebook, Twitter, Reditt, and YouTube since 2017.
Subsequently, the microblogging sites suspended several accounts but still users subscribe tounverified and baseless views that there is a secret plot by a supposed 'DeepState' against president Trump and its followers.
QAnon followers also believethat Robert Mueller's investigationinto Russian interference in 2016 US election was to unearth thousands ofcannibalistic paedophiles and then send them to Guantanamo Bay. Finally, whenthe report was published, it didn't mention anything about paedophiles. Thus,believers started to drift their attention to other so cold pressing matters.
According to Pew ResearchCenter "Most Americans who have heardof QAnon conspiracy theories say they are bad for the country and that Trumpseems to support people who promote them". The research alsomade clear that nearly half of the people in America have heard of QAnon.
WhyQAnon believers are behind US Capitol attack?
The police in America have chargedJacob Anthony Chansley, known as Jake Angeli, a QAnon believer for disorderlyconduct and violent entry. He was one of those behind the US Capitol riots. Heis alleged to be a man whose photos went viral. He emerged bare-chested donninga painted face, fur hat and horns inside Congress on Wednesday and callshimself to be QAnon Shaman. Angeli told FBI that he had come to DC "as apart of the group effort, with other 'patriots' from Arizona, at the request ofthe President that all 'patriots' come to D.C. on January 6, 2021."
Angeli has been a constantpart of protests, marches and political rallies. He carried a cardboard signthat read 'Q sent me'. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, he said thathe carried a painted face and walked shirtless to catch attention.