And contrary to the popular belief that QAnon followers are typically older people with more time to visit conspiracy websites, PRRI data shows that 22% of people under 50 believe in conspiracy theories QAnon conspiracy, compared to just 14% of people in this age group. over 65.
“I don't doubt belief in conspiracy theories like QAnon will fade away anytime soon,” Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI, told WIRED. “Trump supporters, in particular, have been willing to support conspiracies that are not based on any facts at a higher level than the general public. Combined with the historic level of distrust of government and many other institutions among many Americans, the conditions that allow such theories to arise and even flourish are sadly unlikely to go away any time soon.”
Trump's return to the White House was widely celebrated by the QAnon community, members of which believe that all the wild predictions Q made in their thousands of posts will now come true.
“The general agreement is that Trump will destroy the Deep State and all the evil liberals will go to jail ASAP, that we will go back to the gold standard,” said Mike Rains, a researcher. and the Fed will be destroyed.” closely monitors the QAnon community, told WIRED. “Ukrainian biological laboratories will be exposed as the source of Covid and (Anthony) Fauci and company will all be sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.”
This can be seen in Telegram channels and fringe platforms like Gab and Truth Social, where QAnon influencers have gathered following the mass purge of QAnon accounts on mainstream platforms in 2021 following the attack on the Capitol.
But it can increasingly be seen on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and most notably X, since then. takeover by billionaire Elon Muskhas created fertile ground for the conspiracy to flourish, in addition to providing income for influencers who can monetize their bullshit.
Meta, TikTok and X do not respond to comments about QAnon content on their platforms.
“It certainly doesn't help that under Musk, evidence-free QAnon conspiracy theories have flourished across X, giving them a huge audience and a veneer of legitimacy,” Cook speak.
Among those who launched what was then known as Twitter after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was Trump. Forced to post on his own tiny Truth Social platform, he quickly embraced QAnon wholeheartedly, promoting QAnon-linked accounts nearly 1,000 times, according to an October analysis by Media Matters.