Where to now for QAnon?

Dr Kaz Ross, Independent researcher

The viral spread of the American based QAnon conspiracy to Australia was one of the more unexpected aspects of the 2020 global pandemic.

Started in 2017 by an unknown person claiming high level military or ‘Q’ clearance, the conspiracy began by predicting the imminent arrest of Trump’s enemies such as Hillary Clinton.

Over the next three years, the sporadic release of cryptic ‘intel’ or ‘Q drops’ drip-fed a large community of ‘anons’ who took it upon themselves to pore over obscure hints and create increasingly fanciful interpretations.

Gradually, the QAnon conspiracy took shape: President Trump was said to be battling a satanic global cabal of pedophiles in government and business who use corrupt government structures known as the deep state to amass power and cover up heinous sexual and physical abuse of children held in tunnels under the world’s cities. Needless to say, no children have been rescued and Clinton is yet to be arrested.

Despite none of Q’s predictions coming true, the Q community expanded by many hundreds of thousands of followers during 2020. The pandemic supercharged the QAnon conspiracy. In lockdown conditions, wild rumours about SARS-COVID’s origin, faked death rates, the unreliability of tests and even the belief that the virus has yet to be isolated all got folded into the QAnon world view. This view is underpinned by a belief that governments are covering up the truth. Many followers believe the virus isn’t real or deadly, or it was deliberately introduced to hasten government control of populations.

The anti-vaccine movement, the sovereign citizen community and alternative wellness influencers all found the QAnon realm a fertile recruiting ground

Sergiy Tryapitsyn /123rf

Yet QAnon the conspiracy is remarkably adaptable. Despite being deeply rooted in American presidential politics, the basic conspiracy has seamlessly incorporated local details.

Australian versions have included stolen generation Aboriginal children being held under Uluru by reptilian aliens, or Chinese government secret flights bringing surveillance technology into Melbourne to use 5G towers to track people after being microchipped via the COVID-19 vaccine.

QAnon has provided an opportunity for fringe groups to promote their own beliefs and movements. The anti-vaccine movement, the sovereign citizen community and alternative wellness influencers all found the QAnon realm a fertile recruiting ground. In turn, the QAnon community itself has grown dramatically and emerged into mainstream public consciousness.

Australia has one of the largest QAnon communities outside north America and shares many of the factors that have allowed conspiracy theories to flourish there. Real or perceived personal grievances such as the restrictions due to lockdowns and including loss of income, social isolation, and disruption to travel plans leave people feeling vulnerable. The pandemic has created a climate of fear as we face an uncertain future.

QAnon is also structured along culturally familiar lines. It is very similar to evangelical religions in which followers feel superior to non-follower ‘sheeple’ who need to be ‘woken up.’ In the case of QAnon, Trump is the saviour who is battling global evil. Leaders frequently talk about a great awakening, the pursuit of freedom, and finding one’s own truth.

At the same time, the ability to connect with others and find people with similar beliefs has been strongly enhanced by social media. The QAnon world is also very welcoming to all and provides a strong sense of community united by a noble purpose and hope for a better future. The many hours spent on social media is valued as doing 'research' and seen as a useful antidote to the so-called fake news of the mainstream media.

To the non-QAnon community, however, QAnon is a dangerous cult that divides families and creates division and suffering. Serious acts of violence have been committed by QAnon followers, particularly the mass murder committed in Germany in 2020.

Fears about the potential for more widespread violence by QAnon followers were realised with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The QAnon community was over-represented amongst those who stormed the building under the mistaken belief that they were saving the nation.

There are less obvious dangers, too. Conspiracies theories rest on some basic assumptions: that nothing is a coincidence, that everything has meaning, and nothing is at it seems. Such thinking undermines traditional forms of authority whether it is of the government, the media, scientists and academics. This is clearly dangerous in a global health pandemic.

Finally, any talk of 'global bankers and cabals' directly taps into longstanding anti-Semitic conspiracies about supposed Jewish world domination often centred on the figure of billionaire George Soros. The pandemic and QAnon have also proven to be fertile ground for neo-Nazis and the extreme right in Australia.

So what is to be done? Presenting counter evidence is not particularly effective. Despite a core pillar of the QAnon conspiracy view collapsing (Trump was not re-elected and Q drops of intel have dried up), a sizeable number of believers are still loyal. Banning or deleting groups runs the danger of confirming the beliefs of QAnon followers. After all, one of the claims of the Q community is that the media is corrupt and trying to shut down truth-tellers. Yet 2020 was the year of de-platforming QAnon and other conspiracies. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have all carried out extensive de-platforming efforts with hundreds of thousands of accounts being deleted.

De-platforming has its dangers. Instead of giving up their beliefs, true believers may flood fringe sites and thus become part of more extremist communities. On encrypted applications and platforms, QAnon followers are being exposed to recruiting from extremists such as far right anti-Semitic neo-nazis. As communities shrink, they are in danger of becoming more toxic. Despite this, de-platforming does ensure that conspiracists face barriers in recruiting new adherents. This is crucial for limiting the impact of QAnon.

The QAnon conspiracy was enabled by social media. Social media users may feel like they are part of a civic society public square yet social media sites are private commercialised spaces which have benefitted financially from the growth in conspiracy theories. We must ensure, therefore, that unsafe and potentially threatening conspiracies are not allowed to flourish for reasons of profit.

Dr Kaz Ross coordinated Asian Studies at UTAS from 2004–2020. She is now an independent researcher into digital politics, far-right extremism, and conspiracies Conspiracies theories rest on some basic assumptions: that nothing is a coincidence, that everything has meaning, and nothing is at it seems.