Down the rabbit hole: how QAnon conspiracies thrive on Facebook

Guardian investigation finds more than 3m aggregate followers and members support QAnon on Facebook, and their numbers are growing....
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/25/qanon-facebook-conspiracy-theories-algorithm

Decoding the Grotesque Symbolism of Trump’s Tulsa Rally | Vanity Fair

....And then there was this, Trump's biggest Q "drop" of the night, an escalation that should concern us all: Biden, he said, will "subsidize late-term abortion and after-birth execution." After-birth execution. This is Pizzagate rhetoric straight from the president's mouth, a pillar conviction of QAnon, the remarkably widespread belief among his supporters that Democratic elites traffic children, ritually kill them (cue Protocols of the Elders of Zion again), and even eat them. The first time a Trumper told me Democratic elites practice cannibalism, I dismissed it as fringe. By perhaps the fourth or fifth time, I understood cannibalism to be part of the mythos, a minority belief within Trumpism but a potent one in that it validates as "moderate" the belief that the Clinton-Obama–Biden axis merely abuses children.
This obsession with what is done to the bodies of children by Democrats is, like the rape fantasies with which Trump has taken to lacing his rally speeches, grossly sexualized. It is the most violent pedophilia of all, projected onto Trump's enemies. It allows his followers to wallow in the most grotesquely taboo thoughts and to relish the revenge they'll take on those whom they imagine actually committing such horrors. And it's an escalation of the any-means-necessary methods of abortion-clinic bombers. If you really believe abortion is murder, isn't assassination justified? Take that view up (or down) a notch: If you really believe Democrats are raping and eating children, what punishment would not be merited? What rage would not be righteous? The Trump rally—the collective voicing of such fantasies, their sanctification by way of the flag and, implicitly, the cross—is the ritual by which Trump remakes the American dream into a fetish for revenge.....
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/decoding-the-grotesque-symbolism-of-trumps-tulsa-rally

A QAnon caucus? Fringe conspiracy theory advocates aim for Congress

A half-dozen Republican congressional candidates who will be on the ballot on Nov. 3 have promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory that Trump is leading a secret battle against a sprawling and powerful liberal child sex trafficking ring — and more could be joining them. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/qanon-caucus-fringe-conspiracy-theory-advocates-aim-congress-n1231225

QAnon marches toward the halls of Congress - POLITICO

Prior to this primary season, the conspiracy theorists had mostly kept their activities to the internet. But QAnon boosters are now aiming for elected office. ....
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/13/qanon-congress-316289

Senate Republicans are staking their political future on lies and conspiracy theories - The Washington Post

Senate Republicans have made their choice: They’re putting on their tinfoil hats and staking their political future on transparent lies and wild conspiracy theories. The onetime “Party of Lincoln” threatens to become the “Party of Q.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/senate-republicans-are-staking-their-political-future-on-lies-and-conspiracy-theories/2020/05/21/7feadc0a-9b9a-11ea-ac72-3841fcc9b35f_story.html

Qanon Deploys 'Information Warfare' to Influence the 2020 Election | WIRED

The conspiracy movement lost its online home when 8chan was shut down. Followers migrated to other sites—and have set their sights on the presidential race.
https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-deploys-information-warfare-influence-2020-election/

Four political candidates shared QAnon messages during campaign | TheHill, NBC:

At least four GOP candidates currently running for the House next year have voiced support for the "QAnon" conspiracy theory, an NBC News investigation found. NBC News reported Monday that two of the candidates, Minnesota's Danielle Stella and Rich Helms of Texas, have directly posted content or hashtags on social media in support of the wide-ranging conspiracy theory that baselessly accuses prominent Democrats of being involved in a global pedophile cabal. ...
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/469878-nbc-3-political-candidates-shared-qanon-messages-during-campaign

Conspiracy theories like QAnon could fuel 'extremist' violence, FBI says

Social media companies could lessen threat with ‘significant’ crackdown on related content, bureau says....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/01/conspiracy-theories-fbi-qanon-extremism

The pro-Trump conspiracy theory known as 'QAnon' has moved from the fringes of the internet to feature prominently at Trump rallies - Business Insider

Believers in the "QAnon" conspiracy theories are increasingly making their presence known offline, including at President Donald Trump's campaign rallies. The theories hold that a cabal of elites, including celebrities, Democratic Party leaders, and the deep state, are the source of all evil and that Trump will conquer them all...
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-qanon-right-wing-conspiracy-theory-surfaces-at-trump-rally-2018-8

Russian troll accounts purged by Twitter pushed Qanon and other conspiracy theories

The accounts’ tweets featured the hashtag #MAGA, usually in support of President Trump, almost 38,000 times — the most of any hashtag...
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-troll-accounts-purged-twitter-pushed-qanon-other-conspiracy-theories-n966091

Q-Anon supporters are outraged over Trump's border wall cave-in - ThinkProgress.org

Supporters of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory are reacting with outrage to President Donald Trump's announcement Friday that had reached a deal with lawmakers to end the partial government shutdown without the $5.7 billion he had previously demanded for his border wall. ....
https://thinkprogress.org/q-anon-supporters-are-outraged-over-trumps-border-wall-cave-in-1921b21f2fee/

Conspiracy theorist shares Oval Office photo with Trump - The Washington Post

Michael Lebron, promoter of the "QAnon" conspiracy group, also posts video of him poring through a White House "swag bag." ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/conspiracy-theorist-shares-oval-office-photo-with-trump/2018/08/24/8363548a-a816-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html

Sitting Down with QAnon Conspiracy Theorists - The Jim Jefferies Show

https://youtu.be/VGrfN3v5JL8

New Rule: I, Q | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube

In his editorial New Rule, Bill reveals the truth about #QAnon....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtXniAZL4jE

A list of the right-wing amplifiers of the QAnon conspiracy theory

While the unhinged conspiracy theory known as “QAnon,” or “The Storm,” has been gaining traction online among President Donald Trump’s supporters since October 2017, it was Tuesday night when it finally jumped to the mainstream in the form of shirts and signs that were prominently visible at a Trump campaign rally in Tampa, FL. Supporters of QAnon believe “a high-level government insider with Q clearance” is anonymously posting clues informing the public of Trump’s master plan to undermine the “deep state” and dismantle pedophilia rings supposedly linked to powerful celebrities and politicians....
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/08/02/list-right-wing-amplifiers-qanon-conspiracy-theory/220890

We analyzed every QAnon post on Reddit. Here’s who QAnon supporters actually are - Vox

The QAnon subreddit, analyzed with data. ....
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/8/17657800/qanon-reddit-conspiracy-data

There’s a virus in Trumpland - The Washington Post: Analysis

QAnon was the second-most popular political figure at Trump's Pennsylvania rally on Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/03/theres-a-virus-in-trumpland/

Enema of the People | Real Time with Bill Maher Monologue(HBO)

https://youtu.be/MIVIQl-z5ew

QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader - The Daily Beast

Believers used to think someone close to Trump was leaving them clues to the president's plan to defeat the deep state. Now they've got an even crazier idea. ....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-the-pro-trump-conspiracy-theory-now-believes-jfk-jr-faked-his-death-to-become-its-leader

Meet the Trump fans of Q-Anon - VICE

Trump's rally in Tampa Tuesday was a kind of coming-out party for Q, a bizarre conspiracy theory that's kicked around some of the darkest corners of the internet. ....
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/vbjym3/meet-the-trump-fans-of-q-anon