

The number of QAnon adherents is unclear, but the group maintains a large online following. QAnon followers came to refer to Trump as "Q+". According to analysis by Media Matters for America, as of October 2020, Trump had amplified QAnon messaging at least 265 times by retweeting or mentioning 152 Twitter accounts affiliated with QAnon, sometimes multiple times a day. This occurred hours after the FBI published a report calling QAnon a potential source of domestic terrorism, the first time the agency had so rated a fringe conspiracy theory. At an August 2019 Trump rally, a man warming up the crowd used the QAnon motto, later denying that it was a QAnon reference. QAnon believers commonly tag their social media posts with the hashtag #WWG1WGA, signifying the motto "Where We Go One, We Go All", derived from the 1996 film White Squall. Bill Mitchell, a broadcaster who has promoted QAnon, attended a White House "social media summit" in July 2019. QAnon adherents began appearing at Trump reelection campaign rallies in August 2018. Japanese QAnon adherents are also known as "JAnon" ( Japanese: Jアノン). Although American in origin, there is now a considerable QAnon movement outside of the United States, including in the United Kingdom and France since 2020, with a "particularly strong and growing" movement in Germany and Japan. QAnon was preceded by several similar anonymous 4chan posters, such as FBIAnon, HLIAnon (High-Level Insider), CIAAnon, and WH Insider Anon. NBC News reported that three people took the original Q post and shortly thereafter spread it across multiple media platforms to build an Internet following for profit. Q claimed to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, who has access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the United States. A stylometric analysis of Q posts claims to have uncovered that at least two people wrote as "Q" in different periods. Īlthough preceded by similar viral conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate, which has since become part of QAnon, the conspiracy theory began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous imageboard website 4chan, by "Q" (or "QAnon"), who was presumably an American individual it is now possible that "Q" has become supported and or mirrored by a group of people acting under the same name who have a connection to Trump. QAnon's conspiracy theories have been amplified by Russian and Chinese state-backed media companies and social media troll accounts and the Falun Gong-associated Epoch Media Group. Some of QAnon's claims have been described as antisemitic or rooted in antisemitic tropes. presidential election to enlist Robert Mueller to join him in exposing the sex trafficking ring, and preventing a coup d'état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros. QAnon has also claimed that Trump simulated the conspiracy of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. QAnon supporters have baselessly accused many Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians, and high-ranking government officials of being members of the cabal. One shared belief among QAnon members is that Trump was planning a massive sting operation on the cabal, with mass arrests of thousands of cabal members to take place on a day known as the "Storm". President Donald Trump during his term in office. ə ˌ n ɒ n/) is an American far-right political conspiracy theory and movement centered on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals, known by the name "Q", that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operate a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against the former U.S.
