QAnon shifts into the mainstream, remains a far-right ally

Zihiri, Saifeldeen; Lima, Gabriel; Han, Jiyoung; Cha, Meeyoung; Lee, Wonjae

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08764

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Second, the generalizability of our findings is limited by the time frame during which we collected data. In the time leading up to the 2020 election, the presence of QAnon content online surged in response to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring and the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer (Jackson et al, 2021;Zihiri et al, 2022). While this increased presence led the QAnon movement to face some moderation on social media platforms, traffic to QAnon websites and QAnon groups on major platforms like Facebook increased or remained essentially unchanged (Hanley et al, 2022;Kim & Kim, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Q anonymously posts coded messages (called "Q drops") to fringe internet forums that their followers interpret to learn more about Trump's plans (Marwick & Partin, 2022). QAnon's beliefs and online activities have changed following Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election and a prolonged disappearance of Q, but the conspiracy theory continues to evolve amidst shifting political events, remaining a source of misinformation and political organization (Forberg, 2021;Zihiri et al, 2022).…”

Section: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Americans' Qanon Website Consump...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work examines patterns in QAnon-related discourse, revealing that QAnon discourses relate to Q drops and current events (Anwar et al, 2021;Papasavva et al, 2021;Sipka et al, 2022) and that QAnon discourses differ in explicit support for QAnon (Wang et al, 2022;Xu & Sasahara, 2022). Other studies have examined how elections (Zihiri et al, 2022) and platform moderation efforts (Engel et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2022) affect QAnon discourse online.…”

Section: Exposure To Qanon Content Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time period for data collection is important. In the five months preceding the start of data collection (August 2020), QAnon-related activity surged on social media platforms in response to political events such as COVID-19 lockdowns and Black Lives Matter protests (Jackson et al, 2021;Zihiri et al, 2022). One such event captured during our data collection was the November 2020 presidential election.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Private Life of QAnon: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Americans' Exposure to QAnon Content on the Web

Dahlke¹,

Moore²,

Forberg³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In an increasingly polarized political environment, heightened focus has been placed on the potentially devastating effects of misinformation on democracy. Emblematic of this concern is the viral conspiracy theory QAnon, which began during the Trump presidency and evolved to become a frequent distributor of misinformation. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which Americans are exposed to QAnon, in what contexts, and to what effect. To do so, we employ a mixed methods review of 21 million website visits from a nationally representative sample of 1,238 U.S. adults collected during the 2020 presidential election. We find that: (1) exposure to QAnon is limited and stratified by political affiliation and news consumption; (2) exposure tends to occur within right-wing media ecosystems that align with QAnon beliefs; and (3) mixed methods approaches to analyzing digital trace data can provide rich insights that contextualize quantitative techniques.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Americans' Qanon Website Consump...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Exposure To Qanon Content Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Private Life of QAnon: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Americans' Exposure to QAnon Content on the Web

Dahlke¹,

Moore²,

Forberg³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They add that German and Portuguese posts are more toxic than English posts. Finally, Zihiri et al [43] analyze 3.5M messages on Telegram from QAnon, far-right, and far-left communities. They show that QAnon is dissimilar to both the far-right and the far-left but mostly shares interests with the far-right.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waiting for Q: An Exploration of QAnon Users' Online Migration to Poal in the Wake of Voat's Demise

Papasavva¹,

Mariconti²

2023

Preprint

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Many controversial and hateful online communities on mainstream social networks get banned due to moderation efforts. One of the platforms known to have taken such measures is Reddit, which banned various communities and users in recent years. Although banning these communities eliminates the problem on one platform, the participants of those communities often tend to regroup on other, laxer alternative social networks. One alternative to Reddit was Voat, a Reddit-like social network that allowed its users to share their controversial ideas freely. Voat bloomed and became more popular with every Reddit ban and, although it had a troubled history, it managed to stay afloat for four years before shutting down in December 2020.In this work, we investigate the Voat shutdown and how the users of the conspiracy theory QAnon organized their online migration. We find that many users proposed Poal as a Voat alternative, resulting in about half of the QAnon user base of Voat migrating there. In addition, we find that only a few Voat users lost hope close to the end of Voat, turning against Q, while others encouraged their fellow conspiracy adherents to "wait for Q" to tell them where to go. Lastly, we find evidence that shortly after the Voat shutdown, users on Poal (most of them Voat migrants), start discussing and planning the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

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Conflict Over Conspiracy Theories: Face‐Work, Epistemic Identity, and the Structure of Interactions

Whitmer,

Jordan

2023

Symbolic Interaction

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Existing research on conspiracy theories rarely examines their impact on interaction or how these theories are perceived by non‐believers. We conducted in‐depth interviews with twenty non‐believers whose family members believed in the QAnon conspiracy theory. Using face‐work as the main framework, findings reveal the role of face in the structure of encounters between believers and non‐believers. Non‐believing participants experienced identity violations and responded to face‐threats through protective or defensive maneuvers; corrective processes, or aggressive uses of face. The study places conspiracy belief in social context, showing how epistemic identity is asserted in interactions, and demonstrating its relevance to our post‐truth era.

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QAnon shifts into the mainstream, remains a far-right ally

Cited by 17 publications

References 19 publications

The Private Life of QAnon: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Americans' Exposure to QAnon Content on the Web

The Private Life of QAnon: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Americans' Exposure to QAnon Content on the Web

Waiting for Q: An Exploration of QAnon Users' Online Migration to Poal in the Wake of Voat's Demise

Conflict Over Conspiracy Theories: Face‐Work, Epistemic Identity, and the Structure of Interactions

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