For the most part, social media companies have been content to treat QAnon like those relatives. (And those are actual QAnon beliefs.) None of the tech giants were really happy the amorphous online conspiracy movement was at their party, but it wasn\u2019t worth the trouble to disinvite them. As long as they kept to their own corner of the internet, the QAnon faithful could enjoy turkey and stuffing with everyone else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
But everything has changed. In the annus horribilis of 2020, the social networks can no longer afford to treat QAnon the same way. Why? Because it\u2019s left its corner and is messing with the rest of the table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Memes emanating from the conspiracy group\u2014which are tenuously united in the discredited belief that there\u2019s a plot to oust Trump from the presidency\u2014have made their way into the social media accounts of everyone from Michael Flynn (who was briefly national security adviser) to White House social media adviser Dan Scavino. Sometimes these memes can be as innocent as an image featuring Trump with a QAnon slogan (as was the case for Scavino), but at other times they take on more sinister overtones such as the oath to QAnon\u2014\u201cWhere we go one, we go all\u201d\u2014which Flynn\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0on July 4. Trump\u2019s account has been known to\u00a0retweet accounts aligned with QAnon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It goes down the political chain. QAnon-sympathetic Republican candidates may be on the ballot for the Senate and the House in November, including Lauren Boebert in Colorado, Jo Rae Perkins in Oregon, and Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia (who faces an Aug. 11 runoff). It also seems to be manifesting outside the U.S. In February, in Hanau, Germany, a lone gunman espousing QAnon-like beliefs\u00a0massacred nine people<\/a>\u00a0in bars frequented by immigrants before killing his mother and himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The\u00a0Covid-19 pandemic<\/a>\u00a0has only helped the movement expand: Hundreds of thousands of people with nothing else to do have been exposed to the\u00a0fringe fulminations<\/a>. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a London think tank, says that from March through June, QAnon-related posts surged on Facebook and Twitter. While its believers were far from the only ones trying to discredit the use of masks or cast doubt on vaccines, they were among the largest groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Twitter\u00a0took action<\/a>\u00a0on July 21, announcing measures targeting \u201cso-called \u2018QAnon\u2019 activity\u201d across its platform. \u201cWe\u2019ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm,\u201d the company\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0as it detailed the crackdown. Twitter is suspending accounts for breaking existing rules and will no longer highlight as \u201ctrending\u201d or recommend content and accounts associated with QAnon. It will also try to stop the movement from being played up in search. Users will no longer be able to share URLs associated with it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Twitter\u2019s plan has parallels with an earlier crackdown by Reddit in 2018 after its forums became QAnon hotbeds. The most prominent subreddits associated with the movement came down, and new ones even hinting they had something to do with it could not be created. Reddit\u2019s move is considered to be among the more significant blows against QAnon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But the tactics so effective on Reddit in 2018 may not work for Twitter. The QAnon movement is now a very different beast from the one that used to populate now-deleted subreddits such as r\/TheGreatAwakening. If Twitter no longer wants QAnon to come to Thanksgiving, the conspiracists can still put on a mustache and a hat and sneak in through the back door. There\u2019s nothing to stop banned QAnoners from returning to engage in \u201cdigital guerrilla warfare,\u201d says Marc-Andr\u00e9 Argentino, a researcher at Concordia University in Quebec who studies how extremist groups use online technology and co-authored a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from West Point\u2019s Combating Terrorism Center titled \u201cThe QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making?\u201d All they have to do is get \u201ca bunch of new sock puppet accounts\u201d\u2014camouflaged identities\u2014to stage incursions on Twitter with fresh tweets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For QAnon adherents, Argentino says, \u201cTwitter is the battlefield.\u201d A ban just reinforces and vindicates its ideology, which posits that any action taken against it is \u201cpart of war.\u201d \u201cIt might motivate people more, because you\u2019re doing something more than just posting memes,\u201d he says. \u201cThe damage can still be done, so I don\u2019t think they are going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Data from Facebook-owned analytics platform CrowdTangle show a surge in interactions around QAnon content on other platforms following Twitter\u2019s July 21 announcement. Posts on social networks seen to be friendlier to QAnon\u2014such as\u00a0Parler<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0MeWe<\/a>\u2014rallied supporters not to take the Twitter crackdown lying down. \u201cThe fight needs to continue on Twitter,\u201d as one Parler account put it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Argentino isn\u2019t the only one who\u2019s skeptical about the effect of bans. \u201cAccount and content takedowns play a useful role in limiting the spread of harmful content, but they can only ever be one part of the solution,\u201d says Jacob Davey, one of three authors of \u201cThe Genesis of a Conspiracy Theory,\u201d the ISD\u2019s\u00a0recent report<\/a>\u00a0on QAnon. It details the evolution of the movement from late 2017, when several anons\u2014nameless online personalities\u2014coalesced around posts by another who claimed to have \u201cQ\u201d security clearance from the U.S. Department of Energy. \u201cA cursory search of Twitter reveals that it still has a thriving QAnon community,\u201d Davey says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Indeed, a Bloomberg search of terms associated with the conspiracy movement brought up multiple Twitter accounts with tens of thousands of followers. While they didn\u2019t bear the usual hallmarks of QAnon supporters\u2014such as the use of an illustrated Q\u2014they all circulated QAnon posts from the forum 8kun, the movement\u2019s current home base. They shared misinformation about Black Lives Matter and Covid-19.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Crackdowns by one platform may no longer have much of an impact on the movement. Travis View, a longtime observer of QAnon and presenter of the\u00a0QAnonAnonymous<\/em>\u00a0podcast<\/a>, says that even if companies were able to push the movement off their platforms, the \u201cdelusional QAnon style of thinking\u201d would survive. He says there\u2019s no way to \u201cstamp down every single delusional conspiracy theory that grabs hold in the online community.\u201d Case in point is the recent popularity in QAnon and far-right circles of the \u201cdemon sperm\u201d video, featuring several self-described medical experts pushing the merits of hydroxychloroquine, including Dr. Stella Immanuel, who made the claim about the\u00a0satanic origins of the illness<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n If crackdowns don\u2019t work, how can tech companies and others deal with a movement built around this miasma of misinformation? A good start would be for social media platforms to enforce existing rules, Davey says. \u201cIf platforms were more effective in enforcing policies around authentic and transparent use, this could help strike a blow to the network.\u201d Better enforcement of Facebook\u2019s\u00a0community standards<\/a>\u00a0on authenticity and safety could have devastating effects on the QAnon presence on its platforms. Policies designed to tackle\u00a0disinformation<\/a>\u00a0also need to be more rigidly enforced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, it\u2019s complicated. There are corporate regulations and then there are constitutional guarantees. Argentino points out that many of QAnon\u2019s followers aren\u2019t actually doing anything against the law. \u201cIs QAnon really a problem to solve?\u201d he asks. Before the pandemic, a lot of what QAnon did, as toxic as it was, could be classified as protected speech. Argentino says \u201cthere\u2019s a delicate balance where you can be very shortsighted and want to deal with QAnon, especially ahead of an election. But what are the ramifications where this can be applied in other contexts that may have impacts on freedom of expression?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cQAnon is not ISIS,\u201d he says. The Islamic State group used platforms such as Twitter for recruitment or propaganda, and QAnon isn\u2019t that sophisticated. While QAnon beliefs have a way of rapidly radicalizing some adherents, Argentino says, it would require \u201cindividuals with greater organizational skills and operational acumen\u201d to become an actual threat. But, says View, \u201cthe potential for greater harm is there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n QAnon isn\u2019t likely to be as harmlessly batty as the flat Earth movement. Not with friendly platforms continuing to let its followers post what they want. The conspiracy isn\u2019t going to go away soon and, as the Republican Party begins to\u00a0count on QAnoners for votes<\/a>, its paranoid style is almost on the verge of political normalization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In one important aspect, though, QAnon is like Islamic State: Adherents often start from a feeling of alienation and then acquire an unquestioning faith in the righteousness of a cause that gives vent to their frustrations. Davey says longer term solutions are needed to minimize the damage. These include the \u201cmass rollout of digital literacy initiatives, which can help limit the uptake of conspiracy theories.\u201d He says it\u2019s necessary to engage with and talk to believers and \u201chopefully help them disengage from the QAnon movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A model for that kind of dialogue can already be found on Reddit. Created in July 2019, the subreddit\u00a0r\/QAnonCasualties<\/a>\u00a0aims to be a resource for people with loved ones who\u2019ve been taken in by the movement. It currently has more than 9,000 members. Posts with titles such as \u201cA letter to my Q BF!\u201d and \u201cThis madness cost us our home\u201d detail the consequences of having a friend or family member start believing in QAnon. The posts, describing angry confrontations in families, closely echo the experiences of people who confront friends and relatives who\u2019ve joined cults.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Underneath each post about losing a friend or relation to QAnon, the subreddit\u2019s users leave advice or words of encouragement. \u201cFeeling like their whole personality has changed is such a shock,\u201d said one comment. \u201cThe next few days are gonna suck,\u201d another said on the prospect of having to spend just a few days with their QAnon-believing mother. \u201cWe can\u2019t deprogram people or get a loved one out of the cult, but at least we can offer support,\u201d said \u2018OreWins,\u2019 one of the moderators of the subreddit, communicating via Reddit\u2019s chat function. OreWins said the forum \u201chelps people understand what QAnon is and how it gets its hooks into people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Bloomberg couldn\u2019t verify the accounts in the forum, but they match what View has seen. \u201cI sometimes call it the digital zombie apocalypse, because it feels like this virus that has been spreading to people\u2019s minds through the internet,\u201d he says. He urges more investment in mental health as one way of dealing with QAnon, but he\u2019s one of several experts who recognize that\u2019s just one part of the battle. A lot of QAnon supporters \u201cfeel like they\u2019ve been let down by institutions, and they don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on behind the scenes,\u201d he says. Recent criminal cases\u2014including the Hanau shootings and a 2019 mob boss\u00a0murder<\/a>\u00a0in New York\u2014involved apparently troubled and erratic individuals who\u2019ve latched onto the catch-all ideology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The big social media companies are now turning against QAnon and its theories. But it may not matter if Twitter is joined by Facebook and all the other apps in this campaign. QAnon and its followers still have ways to come to Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps the best thing to do is what should have been done all along. Don\u2019t relegate your crazy relatives to the far side of the table. Learn to engage with them even if you disagree, even if it\u2019s difficult. Maybe that\u2019s the best way to save them\u2014and help everyone\u2014while we still have time.<\/p>\n Read next:\u00a0Who Is Germany\u2019s Self-Proclaimed King Peter Fitzek?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"QAnon](\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iWeEPCZX11Tc\/v4\/560x-1.jpg\")
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