I get asked quite a lot about the difference between the original US QAnon movement and the recent rise of a new, soft, global QAnon. Here's how I understand it: The original QAnon, until this year, was primarily an American movement deeply steeped into US culture and politics.
President Trump, the US culture war, partisan party politics and religious narratives of good vs evil and God vs Satan were central to the original QAnon movement. But the Covid-19 pandemic was a game changer. Suddenly, millions of people who'd previously barely heard of QAnon
found themselves in lockdown with hours and hours of time to spend on social media. Some people lost their jobs, were frightened by the impact of a virus about which we knew little, anxious about their loved ones, the wider community and the economy. And they found online content
that acknowledged their fears about lockdown, vaccines, masks, social distancing, jobs, civil liberties and the economy. Naturally, some of that content came from the US QAnon movement, who believed the virus was a plot by the deep state cabal and/or hostile enemies like China
to put an end to the Q operation, Trump presidency and the ensuing "storm". So US QAnon suddenly found a whole new global audience of Covid sceptics who might not necessarily have been interested in internal US politics and culture. And then the big shift happened in June/July,
when social media companies began restricting the famous QAnon terms, phrases and hashtags on their platforms. Suddenly, the reach of QAnon narratives and its ability ro recruit new believers was weakened, and therefore they came up with the idea of hijacking some
well-known, established hashtags and phrases like #SaveTheChildren and #SaveOurChildren. This was such a clever move. Millions of people around the world saw these hashtags pop up on their social media feeds. Who can possibly disagree with the idea of saving children and
opposing child abuse and trafficking? That's something literally all of us, regardless of our politics and personal views, can get behind. This is precisely why global "Save Our Children" marches have become popular, featuring diverse crowds from all walks of life/backgrounds.
Posts, memes and videos about the plight of hundreds of thousands of children around the world resonated with ordinary people in different countries. While some political, religious or cultural aspect of US QAnon might not have been too appealing to these people,
the secret paedo global elite aspect, brought to their attention by #SaveOurChildren, was. This is what I would describe as soft QAnon. And it probably explains why women and young people are heavily involved in these new rallies we are seeing in different parts of the world.
I spoke to people in a London "Save Our Children" march. While most were QAnon followers, some knew little about it or the nitty gritty of US politics, and were only there to campaign for children being trafficked by elites. However, the organisers are proper QAnon believers.
This is a distinction we need to make in our reporting if we want to understand the movement better. Not everyone who posts #SaveOurChildren on social media is necessarily a hardcore QAnon believer. And as QAnon spreads globally, the specifics will differ from one country
to another. So to sum up, two things happened this year which gave rise to US QAnon and made it a global movement with soft QAnon marches around the world: Covid-19 and the hijacking of #SaveOurChildren after social media companies clamped down on original QAnon terms.
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THREAD: There have been questions about this video published by Iranian media today, which shows a deadly Israeli strikes on Tehran's Tajrish district on 15 June, with claims that the video is AI-generated and fake.
But the video is real and can be corroborated. Here's why.
First of all, the version that first went viral was very low-res and grainy, and that was the reason for some inconsistencies that could be seen in the footage.
The higher-resolution version, published later, looks more authentic.
But how can we confirm the strike happened?
Multiple videos were published by Iranian social media users on 15 June showing the aftermath of the strike.
The first strike targeted this building (35.805264, 51.435845) on Bahonar Street, just 100 metres from the second impact.
THREAD: New high-res satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on 24 June show new signs of damage at the Fordo nuclear site following an attack by Israel a day after the US bombed the facility.
New craters are visible at tunnel openings and buildings have been destroyed.
At Iran's Natanz enrichment facility, two craters right above the undergound buildings housing centrifuges that were visible after US strikes on 22 June have now been covered with dirt.
Before: 22 June
After: 24 June
📷@Maxar
@Maxar New Maxar Technologies satellite images show previously unseen damage to tunnel entrances at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre caused by US strikes on 22 June.
The claim in this viral tweet that US Marines have arrested the chief master sergeant of the California National Guard for opposing President Trump's orders is baseless and false.
RealRawNews is a notorious fake news website.
This video has racked up millions of views and been shared by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
While there's very real footage of LA protesters setting multiple vehicles on fire on Sunday, this particular video is from the George Floyd protests in 2020.
As is often the case with major developing events, expect a surge in fake news posted by users looking to farm engagement and clout.
There are currently no reports indicating that the Mexican government is considering a military intervention over the LA protests.
A LinkedIn profile in Rodriguez's name suggests he’s based in Chicago and has been working at the American Osteopathic Information Association since 2024.
The profile photo bears a resemblance to the suspect arrested at the scene.
Prior to that, Rodriguez appeared to work as a researcher at HistoryMakers, a research and educational institution based in Chicago that aims to preserve the African-American historical record.
This matches his staff information page on the HistoryMakers website.
Two online pages, one by the People's Congress of Resisatnce and the other by the newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, featuring Rodriguez's name in relation to a 2017 protest in Chicago over the killing of Laquan McDonald are no longer accessible.
THREAD: As India launches strikes against Pakistan tonight, misinformation is rapidly spreading online. I'll fact-check viral falsehoods in this thread.
This video, viewed over 160,000 times, shows Israeli air strikes on Gaza in October 2023. It's unrelated to tonight's strikes.
Be wary of online accounts using tonight's events for engagement farming by posting unrelated yet dramatic images and videos and falsely linking them to Indian strikes.
This video shows the Beirut explosion in 2020. It's unrelated to tensions between India and Pakistan.
This image, viewed over 150,000 times, faslely claims to show an Indian fighter jet shot down by Pakistani air defence.
The image is in fact taken from footage of an Indian MiG-29 fighter jet crashing in Barmer, Rajasthan, due to a technical fault in September 2024.
While Elon Musk recommends sending around X posts so people can "learn the truth", here's a thread of viral misinformation on X about Hurricane Milton.
Alex Jones baselessly claims hurricanes Milton and Helene were deliberately started by the US government as "weather weapons".
This post by one of X's most prominent conspiracy theorists, viewed 4.8 million times, suggests without any evidence that Hurricane Milton is a result of geo-engineering.
Conspiracy theorist Stew Peters claims Hurricane Milton was pre-planned to directly hit Tampa Bay, in a post viewed 4 million times.
Obviously, Hurricane Milton is not pre-planned. No-one can plan to create hurricanes.