QAnon: The political capital of a conspiracy theory

The conspiracy theory surrounding QAnon, founded in some of the darkest corners of the internet in 2017, has spread like wildfire through the hybrid media system. I Some claim iit has turned into a political issue as connections were made to members of the mob who stormed the U.S. capitol on January 6th.

However, is it really about a Satan-worshipping sex-trafficking ring or does the focus lay on the bigger narrative? In what follows, we will look at the formation and spread of QAnon ideas, what  ultimate goal is and how this has turned into a political issue. 

A brief history of QAnon’s origins and ideas

Many have described QAnon as a follow-up movement which emerged from the popularity of the conspiracy theory Pizzagatec, which alleged that Hillary Clinton and her former campaign manager John Podesta, were the masterminds behind an international child sex-trafficking ring which has its headquarters in the basement of a popular pizza place in Washington D.C.

Following leaked emails of John Podesta published by WikiLeaks, members of the notoriously unhinged and extreme imageboard 4chan took it upon themselves to verify these bizarre claims. Sifting through emails upon emails, 4chan users frequenting the popular alt-right discussion board  developed a system of codes which were allegedly being used during the email exchanges. These include the word “cheese” which they claim stands for little girl, or the word “sauce” signifying an orgy. 

Wendy Kenigsberg/University Photography

These claims, even though completely unfounded, are said to be distributed by a high-ranking US government official using the nickname “Q” who is giving out highly classified pieces of information on Trump’s war against a transnational Satan-worshipping, child-trafficking sex ring led by popular politicians, businesspeople and media personalities.

A great number of posts by Q on 4chan, as well as Twitter or Reddit alluded to this sex-trafficking ring however, there seems to be a more important underlying idea to everything, namely that the liberal elite controls all government activities, and more generally speaking the world, through the deep state , which can be seen as a “hidden” network of high-ranking people secretly manipulating and controlling government policies and decisions. 

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The construction of discourse surrounding QAnon

Even though the QAnon grouponly exists for a few years, the underlying idea  the liberal deep state has been at the core of new right movements for quite a while now. For example, after his first term Obama was accused of not having been able to overthrow the “double government”, essentially describes the same system of control as the deep state.

Further, Illuminati conspiracies as we know them today are said to have originated in the Enlightenment-era more than two centuries ago which also detail a system of control kept in place by a secret society. However, still today, the liberal deep state rhetoric guides any and all discourse surrounding the QAnon ideas therefore it is important to look at exactly how the ideas of QAnon spread and how this discourse is constructed. 

Fabricating theories

After quickly gaining popularity on 4chan and 8chan, the intelligence information provided by Q was taken up on other popular media, such as Reddit, where r/GreatAwakening amassed tens of thousands of subscribers in a very short amount of time following its creation.

The catch with the messages posted by Q is that they are often very cryptic and supposed to be deciphered by the people following these threads. Hence messages left by Q are often referred to as breadcrumbs, and the people reacting to them as bakers. This  the constructed and heavily mediated nature of the discourse surrounding this theory, as followers of Q are encouraged to actively fabricate major parts of the theory, which can be seen in Figure 2 below  are supposed to ‘connect the dots’.

Lauren Singer

In this particular post Q is referring to the owner of Victoria’s Secret who was later discovered to have had close ties with the late Jeffrey Epstein, who was also faced with sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. However, what is more important to consider is the way in which the content of QAnon ideas is inherently collectively constructed. As Q’s announcements spread to almost all popular social media platforms, more and more actors got involved in constructing the discourse surrounding it. This interaction leads to a constant production and reproduction of theories based on small snippets of information. 

Influential momfluencers

One specific group of actors on Instagram managed to amplify the QAnon ideas in a repackag more “innocent-looking” way, namely momfluencers. Momfluencers are, as the name suggests, mothers who are also influencers on various social media platforms, however primarily on Instagram. They often build large followings by posting very relatable content about their life as a mother, raising their child, and their family life in general. Key to this movement is the fact that they have access to crucial audiences  typically fall between the age range of 35-45. 

What these self-proclaimed “QAmoms” do is take slogans, for example, “down the rabbit hole” or “the great awakenin” and repackage them in a visually appealing, pastel-colored Instagram post, like the on which can be seen below in Figure 3. 

The Feed

The traction which they generate within and outside their audience is monumental, as they  reach a completely new set of people who otherwise most likely would have never stumbled upon the r/GreatAwakening subreddit or the 4chan thread. Even avid Trump-opponents can now potentially be exposed to these ideas and will maybe digest the content in a different way due to its aesthetic delivery.  the momfluencer community specifically focus on the #saveourchildren topic which seems to be fitting to their online personas, their underlying ideas are way more far-reaching. 

umbrella 

As seen by the hashtags used in Figure 3, th sex-trafficking rings anymore.  encompasses a wide array of conspiracy theories, including covid-deniers, those who believe that Conservative voices are being silenced by a liberal elite, and recently also those who are promoting the #stopthesteal in connection to the 2020 election. In this way, the QAnon movement can be seen as an umbrella movement, encompassing many different, smaller conspiracies, which at their core, all operate on the same basic idea outlined in the following QAnon post, that America is living in an illusion of democracy fabricated by a liberal elite. 

Miah Moos

 the movement encompasses so many smaller niche conspiracy theories it is able to be so successful and transcend social media by making its way into traditional mass media, essentially spreading their ideas in a hybrid media system.

Trump recognizes and supports

Figure 4 above already alludes to the fact that the QAnon movement has been taken up by one of, if not the most powerful man in the world, the current President of the United States, Donald Trump. Trump publicly acknowledged the movement and responded by saying he believes “these are people who love our country”, and that “they like me very much”. Further, as shown below, numerous Trump rallies held during his campaign hosted avid members of the movement who were not afraid of clearly presenting themselves as QAnon members.

Trump's statements as well as his willingness to h QAnon members at his rallies show that the movement is engaged in politics of recognition, where widespread acknowledgement further fuels those passionate about the conglomeration of fringe conspiracy theories. Headlines like the one shownin Figure 5,  one of the biggest news outlets CNN provides extensive coverage on the movement, can lead to an increased willingness of QAnon members to spread their ideas through as many ways as possible. The way in which QAnon is presented as “ruling them all” further highlights the notion that QAnon transcends more traditional, small-scale conspiracies and is able to provide a space where all kinds of conspiracy believers can gather under one overarching idea. 

This overarching idea of a manipulative liberal deep state is what lies at the core of smaller conspiracies comprised under the QAnon movement. Because they have all been bundled together, their power to actually change the socio-political field is stronger than ever before. However, in order to be able to spread their ideas to the widest array of people, their ideas also need to be popular. This can only be done if the algorithms fueling what is popular, and hence seen by the largest amount of people, are working in their favor. 

Using the algorithm 

This is where the concept of algorithmic populism comes into play, whereby the interactions a post receives can sometimes be even more important than the actual content. The algorithm needs to be used in such a way that it reaches as many of those who would potentially subscribe to the ideas perpetuated by the movement.

This is where bots come into play.  has shown that up to 13% of the accounts on Twitter actively interacting and constructing the narrative around the QAnon movement are bots. That constitutes a significant part of the interaction and shows the agency exercised by non-human actors in constructing the discourse surrounding QAnon theories. A connection can be drawn to momfluencers here, who, more often than not, are present on multiple social media platforms, meaning that they can pertain and activate multiple algorithms at once to work in their favor, hence employing the concept of algorithmic populism. 

This shows that QAnon is not just a conspiracy theory about a Satan-worshipping sex-trafficking ring. Actually, this is just at the very surface of a much deeper, fundamental idea, namely that the liberal left is perpetuating a system of control through the form of a deep state. This system of control is exercised through “fake news” which “shape the public narrative”, and in that way shape the agenda leading to certain political decisions. Their ultimate goal is to bring the “truth to light”, and they want to do this by spreading their ideas about the elite-governed deep state. 

Miah Moos

This highlights the metapolitical nature of the whole QAnon movement,  its essence, it is not even a political movement. It does provide information about current political events; however, it always alludes to the bigger picture, namely that there is a certain truth which is being concealed.

The bigger goal: cultural change

Hence it is about much more than politicians, parties or policies, it is about the transformation of society towards the “Great Awakening”, which inherently renders it as metapolitical. The movement aims to bring about real cultural change through the spread of their ideas and in turn does become political through this process, especially when the most powerful leader in the world is standing right there with them and commending them for loving their country. 

The discourse of QAnon and all those who produce and reproduce it pertains to the idea that, as liberals control the deep state, their ideas are hegemonic in society. In other words, the ideas of liberals are what is seen as normal in the state of the world right now. The ideas about culture, politics and society are controlled by the left and they claim that there is a huge network of fake news which perpetuates exactly these ideas.

Trip Advisor

As shown in the meme above, they are depicting the left as sheep following the herd, which in this case is CNN. They are actively perpetuating the claim that the left is leading the agenda, as it possesses power over the cultural ideas present in the United States.

Going back to the idea of politics of recognition,  claims are recognized and perpetuated by Donald Trump , he said about Twitter that “they are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely” of course not including himself in the group of those vicious people. Following this, their goal is to make their ideas hegemonic and therefore bring about social change which results in far-right ideas as the new normal. 

Online discourse goes offline

,  continuously put themselves in the position of the victim, while claiming that members of the are actively being silenced and that the 2020 election was stolen by the .

nown sympathizer of QAnon and Georgia representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene, wore a face mask with the word “censored” on it, while appearing on national live television to deliver a speech regarding Trump’s second impeachment. This shows that the metapolitical nature of the QAnon movement has now gained a significant political dimension, as politicians and party members are taking up the fundamental ideas and further constructing the narrative.

Trip Advisor

Greene is a representation of how this online movement is actively influencing offline discourse as well. Further, the recent attack taking place on January 6th on the symbol of democracy of the United States, shows how this online network of bundled conspiracies brought together a raging mob encompassing people from all kinds of niche groups.

Transforming into real-life violence

It was surely no coincidence that this real-life violent attack  on the exact day that the electoral votes were being counted. It was pre-planned in order to further amplify their message, namely that the election was stolen by the liberals and that the far-right will become hegemonic. In Figure 9 below we can first see a man wearing a QAnon t-shirt with the slogan “trust the plan” alluding to the desired hegemony of the far-right. Next to him and behind him we see three men wearing the red version of the MAGA- hat and sweatshirt. Another man is wearing the camouflaged version of the MAGA hat, which esinmight be a representation of him being a veteran. 

Miah Moos

In Figure 10, which went viral right after the attack, a man is depicted showing a confederate flag with two portraits The one on the right is of Charles Sumner, a former senator of Massachusetts who stood against racism. On the left  John C. Calhoun, an influential figure in forming the ideology which led to the succession of the South and an avid proponent of slavery.

Figure 10 is especially jarring, as the portraits behind him convey the message of the deep divide during the Civil War in the United States and the deeply embedded history of slavery, however the man is flaunting a symbol of white supremacy, and the glorified lives slave owners lived during the times of slavery.

On top of all of this, Trump once again did not condemn this mob, he simply responded to them by saying “Go home, we love you”, which once again shows the significant political dimension of this metapolitical conspiracy theory group.

What all of this brings to the foreground is that QAnon comprises a wide variety of people from all kinds of smaller, far-right extremist groups and was only able to gain this much traction due to the interaction and active reproduction of the group’s ideas, carried out by the President himself and various other high-ranking Conservative officials. Due to the shared fundamental idea of the liberal deep state being in control and silencing Conservative voices they can now function as one big collective. 

Another note to add is that none of this is about child sex-trafficking rings or Satan-worshipping, QAnon is now a movement comprising many niche far-right theories with the desire to bring about social and political transformation, which ultimately leads to cultural change. 

Conclusion

What QAnon has shown is that contemporary conspiracy theory groups are not just discussed by anonymous people on 4chan or reddit threads. The discourse has moved to all corners of the internet while actively being produced and reproduced by an array of human and non-human actors. On the surface it may seem like an outrageous conspiracy theory about liberal masterminds who have constructed a transnational sex-trafficking ring, however if one looks deeper than that it becomes clear that there is an underlying idea bringing together all kinds of niche far-right movements. 

This is the idea that a liberal deep state, or double government, or secret society, is controlling not only the US but ultimately also the world and that they do this through the proliferation of fake news. QAnon claims that this is a system which is purposefully disadvantaging and silencing Conservative voices producing a fundamentally rigged political and social system. 

Because this idea is at the root of all movements under the QAnon umbrella, their ultimate joint goal is to achieve far-right hegemony replacing the existing liberal normality. Hence, this is far bigger than just one single theory, it is an attempt to change an entire system of existing conditions, with the ultimate goal of achieving a cultural transformation favoring the far-right discourse above all else.