America Will Be Unified Again! 11.11.18. Q

Until recently, the fringe conspiracy theory known as QAnon was largely an American phenomenon — a belief that U.South. President Donald Trump is secretly contesting a "deep state" conduce of pedophiles that command the world.

The far-right theory has gained adherents throughout the The states as the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns heat up. Trump has repeatedly retweeted letters from accounts that promote QAnon while more than a dozen Republican candidates running for Congress have embraced some of its tenets.

All this has sparked concerns about conspiracy-theory-driven domestic extremists that the FBI has identified equally a potential domestic terror threat. But QAnon is no longer exclusively focused on U.Due south. politics.

Fueled by worldwide feet over the coronavirus pandemic, the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory has gone global, with adherents popping up in at least 71 countries, according to QAnon researcher Marc-André Argentino.

"There has been massive growth," said Argentino, a Ph.D. candidate at Canada's Concordia Academy and an associate at the Global Network on Extremism & Applied science.

Conspiracy theories thrive in times of crisis, experts say. With anxious people around the world trying to make sense of the killer pandemic as leaders struggle to deal with it, QAnon has plant an enthusiastic audience with the promise of salvation from tyranny at the end of a struggle dubbed "The Tempest."

Outside the U.South., Germany, though spared the worst of the pandemic, has get home to the largest number of QAnon followers overseas, co-ordinate to Argentino. One German QAnon channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram boasts 120,000 members.

In the past month, the biggest growth in QAnon'southward international followers has come from Brazil, a pandemic hotspot where the virus has killed more than 100,000 people.

FILE - A man holds a sign that reads "Q-Nited We Stand" during a rally held by members of Patriot Prayer and other groups supporting gun rights near City Hall in Seattle.

Here is a primer on QAnon:

What does Q stand up for?

"Q" is an online persona claiming to be a government insider with Q-level pinnacle security clearance and cognition of the deep state's inner workings. The anonymous poster first appeared online in October 2017 when he went to the 4chan image board with a wild premonition: Former secretary of land and Trump Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would soon exist arrested and riots would ensue.

The prediction, needless to say, proved fake, as did many others that followed, including the forecast of mass indictments of other Democrats. But that did non end Q from continuing to post most Trump's "hole-and-corner war" against a deep state cabal of pedophiles, with his cryptic online "drops" parsed and amplified by a growing ecosystem of believers.

Thus was built-in a new conspiracy theory motion, with Q taking off where before "anons" such equally "FBIAnon" and "CIAAnon" had petered out. What fabricated QAnon stick was that information technology came on the heels of Pizzagate, a 2016 conspiracy theory that claimed the Democrats were running a child sex activity trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington pizza shop.

No such thing was e'er uncovered. While Q'southward latest ramblings are focused on the deep country's efforts to thwart Trump'southward reelection, child corruption and sex trafficking remain a constant in its belief system.

In his last, long-winded "drop" on July 31, Q ranted that the coronavirus pandemic was partly designed to help "shelter" presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden from appearing in public and participating in debates and to "eliminate" or delay Trump rallies.

"At the core of the electric current estimation of this ideology, QAnon believes President Trump is the person who will relieve the world from this network of bad actors and he will uncover the Deep Country that be in the United States and overseas," said Kevin Grisham, associate manager of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California Land University at San Bernardino.

QAnon promoters say the deep country is all existent, and they reject the notion that they "worship" Trump or "Q."

"Qanon is a worldwide grouping of not-vehement truthers/patriots dedicated to God, saving our children from trafficking, and removing the Satanic DS (Deep State)," prominent QAnon promoter Joe Stroh, who goes past "Obiwan Qenobi" on social media, recently tweeted.

Who exactly is Q?

Despite rampant speculation, no one has unraveled the mystery person behind Q. Exterior QAnon circles, few take him as a real insider. Many experts believe more than than one person may have been behind the Q business relationship over the years.

FILE - Supporters of President Donald Trump shout downwardly a CNN news crew earlier a rally in Tampa, Fla.

Who are QAnon adherents?

While Q has hopped from one fringe imageboard to another, his followers accept thrived on mainstream platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram. On whatever given day, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people post nearly QAnon on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, co-ordinate to Argentino, who says that it would be a mistake to dismiss them every bit "lunatics with can foil hats living in their parents' basement."

Georgia businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who promotes the QAnon conspiracy theory, won a Republican primary race Tuesday for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is expected to win the seat in November in her heavily Republican congressional commune.

Former national security counselor Michael Flynn appeared in a July 4 video reciting a popular QAnon slogan: "Where we go ane, we go all." While Trump has non explicitly endorsed the motion, he enjoys broad support from QAnon followers who have attended his rallies wearing QAnon T-shirts.

A Trump entrada spokeswoman did non respond to a question about whether Trump welcomes their back up.

How has the pandemic impacted QAnon?

Since the offset of the coronavirus pandemic, QAnon following has speedily climbed. The number of QAnon Facebook grouping members has jumped 800% to ane.seven million while Twitter accounts that post on QAnon related hashtags take increased 85% to 400,000, according to Argentino'southward research.

In recent weeks, both Facebook and Twitter have taken downwards QAnon accounts for running afoul of their policies and standards. Further actions are expected.

Merely experts doubt the disciplinary measures volition banish the movement. For i, the conspiracy theory is protected speech and social media companies can't simply label QAnon nether their "dangerous group" category. Second, banning QAnon followers from Facebook and Twitter would only reinforce their belief that they're engaged in an data war against media elites and others in the deep state, according to experts.
"The crackdown only plays into their conspiratorial beliefs," Grisham said.

Romanian supporters of QAnon take office in a rally against the government's measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections, like wearing a face up mask, in Bucharest, Romania, Aug. 10, 2020.

How pop is QAnon overseas?

The vast majority of the recent growth in QAnon following has taken place overseas.

"You're starting to come across these sort of groups popping upwards everywhere," Grisham said.

Amidst countries that have seen the largest increases in QAnon activity: Frg, Great britain, Australia and Canada, followed past France, Italy and New Zealand.

"The fact that nosotros're seeing it spread all around the world shows its significance for a global audience," Grisham said.

While in some locales QAnon followers see Trump as their savior, in others, adherents believe local leaders will emerge to destroy their own deep states, Argentino said.

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Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_how-qanon-conspiracy-theory-went-global/6194444.html

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