The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that fringe conspiracy theories like QAnon are especially dangerous in times of social upheaval
Since QAnon’s first post in 2017, what was once an obscure fringe movement confined to the far-flung crevices of the internet, has proliferated, resulting in new followers, acts of terrorism, and a handful of devotees making bids to hold political office – and winning.
Tech companies have played a pivotal role in amplifying QAnon’s messaging. More recently, social media platforms have started to respond by cracking down on the group’s digital footprint, but policies around it remain inconsistent. That obviously never came to pass, but the fixation on Hillary Clinton is derived from a debunked conspiracy theory a year earlier: Pizzagate.
On the list of infinitely powerful boogeymen include the Clintons, the Obamas, Bill Gates, George Soros, Hollywood celebrities, the Rothschild banking family, and the Illuminati. What makes QAnon distinct from a run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory is religious zeal and eschatology. At the core is the notion that cleansing the world of evil will redeem a fallen, corrupt world and usher in a new golden age – in what could be described as the birth pangs of a millenarian sect.
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