A Qanon supporter marches in route to the Supreme Court during the Million Maga March protest regarding election results on November 14, 2020 in Washington D.C. (Chris Tuite/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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Looking through the popular QAnon channels and groups on Gab and Parler on Tuesday shows that while some believers are beginning to question the conspiracy theory’s wild claims, most followers are “holding the line” and “trusting the plan” that Trump will prevail and Biden’s inauguration won’t happen.Many followers shared a variation on the theory that Biden has already been arrested or killed and that a body double or a CGI version of Biden will be speaking in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
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While QAnon followers have flooded Telegram and Gab with posts and updates in recent days, there is one voice who has been conspicuously absent: Q.The anonymous person or group that posts as the movement’s leader has not posted an update since Dec. 8, and they have only posted four messages in total since Trump lost the election. The resulting power vacuum will create an opportunity for the influencers and grifters who have come to dominate the QAnon landscape in the last 12 months.“Q is pretty rudderless at the moment without Q's drops to guide it, and when Q goes quiet, the big influencers tend to take over the direction the movement goes in,” Mike Rothschild, who is writing a book about QAnon’s impact on people’s live, told VICE News.“Most are too busy right now holding on to hope about Trump pulling a royal flush at the last second, but once that's gone, the power vacuum will be very real—and followers will need someone to guide them into Q's next direction.”But whatever happens on Wednesday, the one thing for sure is that QAnon is not going to disappear.“[Biden’s inauguration] will be a devastating blow to what the narrative is now but it will not end the movement,” Mike Rains, a Massachusetts-based QAnon researcher, told VICE News.“Some people will find a need to fight on against the Deep State and they’ll start looking for new heroes and new means by which to engage them.”