Srs Bsns: Explaining QAnon And The Ongoing War Between Social Media Companies And Their Attempts To Stem Its Tide

Although many people have only heard of QAnon just this year, the conspiracy theory has circulated the web since 2017 and appeared on platforms from 4chan to Facebook and Twitter to TikTok. The concept of an underground pedophile ring stemming from Satanic politicians isn’t exactly new (as seen with Pizzagate in 2016), but QAnon’s prevalence and impact on the internet are certainly more pronounced than its predecessors.

In recent months, the conspiracy theory has manifested itself all across the web, and social media companies have started to crack down heavily in an attempt to stem the tide. Between May and August, Twitter, Facebook and even TikTok have either banned, blocked or removed content related to QAnon and its throng of followers. Despite their attempts, the conspiracy continues to creep its sprawling tendrils into the feeds and minds of social media users everywhere, but many still don’t even understand who “Q” is or what “QAnon” even really means.

Before we delve deeper into how social media companies are trying to curb its spread, let’s take a brief look at what exactly QAnon is, how it originated and who some of its biggest proponents are.

What is QAnon?

The first step to understanding why QAnon has become so popular in 2020 is knowing just what the hell it is. For starters, “QAnon” is comprised of two different words. “Q” refers to the original 4chan user who posted the first cryptic messages online, but it also stems from “Q Clearance,” which is one of the U.S. government’s highest levels of security clearance. Within the Department of Energy, Q Clearance is the highest level, above even Top Secret. It’s from this definition that QAnon claims to have access to their information surrounding the theory. “Anon” is simply shorthand for “Anonymous,” as all users on 4chan where the original posts kicked off the conspiracy are anonymous.

The theory surrounding QAnon is that there’s a secret global faction of Satanic pedophiles who rule the world and control every aspect of our daily lives. From Hollywood to politics and mainstream media, they control it all and do so in secret. The theory is often associated with fringe supporters of Donald Trump, who believe his election in 2016 was an event outside of the cabal's control. In addition, some of them believe that his election was the first act in bringing down the underground world order, which is also why he’s so often demonized and criticized by many. The event of Q sharing this information is referred to as “The Great Awakening.”

The final piece of the theory lies in “The Storm,” which refers to the imminent event where the thousands of members in this devil-worshipping ring will ultimately be arrested and locked away. The conclusion to this event is that the U.S. military will take control of the country, resulting in a utopia for those who remain.

QAnon’s Origin Story and Spread

So, how exactly did this whole thing begin? Back in late October 2017, a 4chan user with the ID “BQ7V3bcW” made a comment on the /pol/ board under a thread discussing the Robert Mueller investigation. Contained in the post was a series of cryptic messages and questions about the U.S. military and politicians. One such claim was that Hillary Clinton would soon be arrested and that riots would ensue shortly after across major cities “in defiance.”

That same day, the 4chan user who used the moniker “Q” first appeared and posted on the /pol/ board under the title “Calm Before the Storm.” Q claimed to be a high-level insider in the government with Q clearance who was specifically tasked with sharing the information of Trump’s plan to bring down the underground group. The post also contained predictions of events to come, as well as photos of themselves as proof they were aboard Air Force One while Trump was visiting Asia.

As mentioned earlier, this “Storm” referenced in Q’s 4chan post is the ultimate conclusion of the secret order, but it also refers to a seemingly random comment Trump said just weeks before the initial post that kicked off the conspiracy. During a press conference in early October, Trump made a vague comment and said “maybe it’s the calm before the storm” before adding that the U.S. has the “world’s great military people in this room.” A reporter then asked, “What storm?” to which he replied, “You’ll find out.”

A few days later, another 4chan user who identified themselves as “Q Clearance Patriot” made another post on the /pol/ board, which contained similar questions and theories to the earlier posts, under the title “Bread Crumbs.”

From here, the conspiracy theory spread to the /r/conspiracy subreddit in early November, then to YouTube, Twitter (such as Rosanne Barr’s infamous tweets) and finally, “The Book of Q” was released on Google Drive near the end of the month as a complete collection of the QAnon posts.

In the following months, several major media outlets picked up the story and began reporting on the conspiracy theory, and in 2018, both merchandise and billboards promoting it began popping up around the country.

While even one 4chan user submitted a post referring to QAnon as "pols greatest achievement" and merely a "big prank" designed to trick "normies and boomers" in 2018, it continued to spread, slowly attracting new believers on a range of websites and social media platforms.

Social Media’s QAnon Crackdown

This brings us to some of the first attempts at cracking down on QAnon from social media companies. In September 2018, Reddit was the first major platform to do so when it banned the QAnon-themed subreddit /r/The_GreatAwakening. Their reasons for doing so included that the sub was “inciting violence, harassment, and the dissemination of personal information.” Aside from this subreddit, many others associated with the conspiracy were also banned.

Over the summer this year, major platforms have begun shutting down groups, accounts and posts related to QAnon and its followers en masse. In mid-July, Twitter removed thousands of accounts that spread messages regarding the conspiracy theory. In an official statement from the social network, Twitter said these posts were harmful and violated its policy. In addition to the bans, Twitter also blocked any trends related to QAnon from its search results and trending pages.

While Twitter was among the first in 2020 to kick off this wave of QAnon-related crackdowns, TikTok also announced in late July that it would begin blocking any hashtags referencing QAnon. Terms and phrases appearing on TikTok, such as “QAnon,” “QAnonTruth” and “Out of Shadows” have all since been blocked. Despite this, TikTok still allows posts and videos associated with QAnon to remain on the platform and doesn’t remove them outright.

In April, Facebook removed a small group of QAnon pages that it said were promoting the conspiracy as part of a push to stem the spread of false information, but also voter manipulation leading up to this year’s election. Just today, Facebook also announced the removal of 790 QAnon groups, restricted another 1,950 groups, 440 pages and over 10,000 accounts on Instagram — its largest wave of action to curb the spread of the conspiracy theory.

Despite these attempts to stem the tide of QAnon’s spread and its followers’ zealous belief in the conspiracy, it’s almost undeniable that QAnon will remain relevant for quite some time. Even if the entire conspiracy theory is just an elaborate 4chan troll, we haven’t seen the last of QAnon, nor social media’s arduous endeavor to keep it off their platforms. For now, the Qaren’s will continue their fervent pursuit of converting new followers.