People on social media are not immune to fake news, disinformation, misinformation and mal-information. With very less digital literacy levels, common people often find themselves struggling to decipher what is news on social media and which facts are correct about a particular issue. Similarly, conspiracy theories are making it difficult for rationalist thinkers or news media experts to prove confusing and conspiracy assertions as baseless and unfounded.
What is QAnon? What does its supporters believe?
QAnon is a conspiracy or unfounded theory. QAnon believers say that President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against elite, Satan-worshipping paedophiles in media, government and business world.
Ben Collins, a reporter on disinformation with NBC News debunked the conspiracy theory in his series of tweets thread. In one of his tweets, he writes, "We're living in a second, more profound and politically important Satanic Panic. This time, everyone's on it. People will look for coincidences as narrow and stupid as pricing glitches on furniture sites as "proof" a global cabal is eating children and controlling the world."
QAnon believers think that they will be succeeded in their attempts against alleged paedophiles when the former Presidential nominee Hilary Clinton will be arrested and executed.
Wayfair is an offshoot of QAnon that spread like wildfire because it got the support of several influencers on social media platforms. BuzzFeed reported that "Lifestyle influencers are now sharing some bogus far-right conspiracy theories about the coronavirus on Instagram" in April 2020. Several arguments are made in these conspiracy theories that coronavirus is a deep state plot. People who claim these baseless arguments are supporters of president Trump.
Some Q followers baselessly claim that the virus is a human-made bio weapon. They believe that it was created by Chinese or Bill Gates. There are many allegations and counter allegations that have been debunked by many media organizations.
The basic or fundamental premise of Wayfair conspiracy theory is related to expensive furniture sold by Wayfair- an online retail business, that the expensive cabinet were listed with girls' names. It prompted some people to believe that these expensive furniture have children hidden in them and it is a bigger part of a child trafficking.
Collins traced the theory back to an account @99freemind on Twitter. The user Amazing Polly's account was later suspended by Twitter. She posted a tweet on June 14 about Wayfair's expensive storage cabinets.
Online retailer, Wayfair explains that the company uses algorithms to name its products, hence it may have reflections of girls' names. Some media websites like Business Insider also reported that when this conspiracy theory hit Wayfair, the company withdrew some products and had planned to rename them. The official spokesperson of Wayfair was quoted as saying, "(We will) provide a more indepth description and photos that accurately depict the product to clarify the price point."
Facebook's independent fact checkers have also debunked this conspiracy theory. However, despite the brand's denials, fact checkers' 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 is being said'. Many micro blogging sites and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have suspended several QAnon groups, accounts and those who tweet or post about the conspiracy theories. It creates a polarizing atmosphere.
Even when Twitter and Facebook ban such accounts on the basis of reasonable restrictions or moderating hateful or misleading/fake content, these believers stay in their echo chambers. They hop from one social networking site to another such as Parler. It has been termed as 'Twitter without rules.' Many republicans, Trump supporters and other users are shifting their base to Parler while it has been suspended by Apple and Amazon.
How QAnon started?
It started in October 2017 when a user put a series of posts on a message board 4chan. The user claimed to have inside information or more precisely intelligence information and US security approval known as "Q Clearance." He signed off as 'Q'. One of the most popular QAnon slogans, is "where we go one, we go all." It is abbreviated as WWG1WGA. According to a report published in BBC, many people believe in this conspiracy theory. It triggered much traffic on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reditt, and YouTube since 2017.
Subsequently, the micro blogging sites suspended several accounts but still users subscribe to unverified and baseless views that there is a secret plot by a supposed 'Deep State' against president Trump and its followers.
QAnon followers also believe that Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in 2016 US election was to unearth thousands of cannibalistic paedophiles and then send them to Guantanamo Bay. Finally, when the 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 Research Center "Most Americans who have heard of QAnon conspiracy theories say they are bad for the country and that Trump seems to support people who promote them". The research also made clear that nearly half of the people in America have heard of QAnon.
Why QAnon believers are behind US Capitol attack?
The police in America have charged Jacob Anthony Chansley, known as Jake Angeli, a QAnon believer for disorderly conduct and violent entry. He was one of those behind the US Capitol riots. He is alleged to be a man whose photos went viral. He emerged bare-chested donning a painted face, fur hat and horns inside Congress on Wednesday and calls himself to be QAnon Shaman. Angeli told FBI that he had come to DC "as a part of the group effort, with other 'patriots' from Arizona, at the request of the President that all 'patriots' come to D.C. on January 6, 2021."
Angeli has been a constant part of protests, marches and political rallies. He carried a cardboard sign that read 'Q sent me'. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, he said that he carried a painted face and walked shirtless to catch attention.
Many QAnon believers discuss so called, false claims about stolen Presidential elections in America and they are mostly Trump supporters. The rioters were seen with slogans abbreviated as WWG1WGA and Q signs in the Capitol. It is clear that such conspiracy theories can prove to be dangerous. Apart from QAnon believers other people who stormed the US Capitol were the proud brothers and online influencers among others.