New from me, & my final piece of 2020:
In 2020, a false message board conspiracy theory harmed the pandemic response, significantly impacted our political process, & destroyed lives & families.
A deep dive into how QAnon's breakout year harmed us all: mediamatters.org/qanon-conspira…
In 2020, a false message board conspiracy theory harmed the pandemic response, significantly impacted our political process, & destroyed lives & families.
A deep dive into how QAnon's breakout year harmed us all: mediamatters.org/qanon-conspira…
This year in review of QAnon's impact is divided into multiple sections:
1. How QAnon began on 4chan in 2017 & slowly built a social media infrastructure, endorsements in the far-right, & offline support, leading to early 2020.
1. How QAnon began on 4chan in 2017 & slowly built a social media infrastructure, endorsements in the far-right, & offline support, leading to early 2020.
2. How the pandemic caused consumption of QAnon content to soar, & how QAnon-connected conspiracy theories & false claims -- some of which reached Trump -- undermined the pandemic & made QAnon a public health threat.
3. How QAnon impacted congressional & state legislative races, with 100+ candidates running for those this cycle who endorsed QAnon at some level (& some of whom got elected), & showing how some used QAnon in their campaigns or pandered to QAnon's social media infrastructure.
4. How QAnon reached into Trump's orbit, getting support, credence, or amplification from his current & former advisers & campaign officials -- along with positive remarks on QAnon this year from Trump himself.
5. How QAnon impacted the presidential race, with its supporters pushing false claims about Biden (some of which Trump embraced), & how QAnon has impacted the election's aftermath, as multiple QAnon-connected claims & figures have had Trump & his campaign's ear.
6. What the implications of QAnon's spread are, particularly in the GOP. Plus how QAnon made inroads this year with groups who may not have embraced QAnon before (such as through Wayfair & "Save The Children") -- including among other extremist/misinfo peddlers.
7. How social media platforms starting a few months ago finally cracked down on QAnon -- & how those efforts are still lacking in areas.
8. And finally, looking at what QAnon's future may be, as Trump leaves office, as the coronavirus vaccine operation effort intensifies, & as QAnon spreads internationally.
With this piece, I really tried to show how extensive QAnon's impact was this year, & how much of that is at the doorstop of the social media platforms, which gave years for this QAnon infrastructure to develop (& with some algorithmic help). mediamatters.org/qanon-conspira…
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