Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a rabbit hole called QAnon, as it's a necessary step before we delve deeper into US vatniks such as Michael Flynn. QAnon is the origin of many active fringe movements inside the US today and it has spread virally around the world.

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The main idea behind the QAnon cult is that there's a global, satanic cabal of cannibalistic pedophiles that rule the world through what's called a "deep state". QAnon combines elements from various other conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate and Project Mockingbird.

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The movement has a lot of anti-Semitic undertones, and QAnon members often demonize Jewish people such as George Soros and the Rotschilds. It also suggests that the cabal drinks children's blood to stay young, referring to an anti-Semitic trope of blood libel.

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QAnon started on anonymous social media platform, 4chan back in 2017. The first "Q drop" - as the Q-related posts were called - was titled "Calm Before the Storm". After a while, Q moved to another platform, 8chan, because of its more free administration policies.

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4chan & 8chan were a perfect breeding ground for QAnon, as the general atmosphere was very counter-cultural & the Russians had been throwing their disinformation & propaganda around there for years. These platforms are often a testing ground for disinformation and propaganda.5/16

In many ways, Q was just an amalgamation of other, smaller conspiracy theories discussed on 4chan. Hillary Clinton had been connected to several conspiracy theories years before she was connected to QAnon. There's a good chance some of these theories were of Russian origin.

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Q refers to the highest security clearance in the US, and it allows to people to see the "top secret restricted" data on nuclear weapons and materials. At its early stages, Q was connected to Donald Trump, ...

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... and this message was amplified by Trump himself - as of Aug, 2020, he had retweeted QAnon related messages over 200 times. Apparently the movement fed on Mr. Trump's egoistical nature.

He even hosted a leading QAnon promoter "Lionel" Lebron at the oval office.

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In Aug, 2020, he commented on QAnon: "I don't know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate." Today Trump is still embracing QAnon on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

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Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump's National Security Advisor was especially popular among the QAnon followers. Flynn's followers called themselves the "digital soldiers", and Flynn was one the speakers at the 2019 event, "Digital Soldiers Conference".

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Flynn has also posted video of himself leading a small group in an oath with the QAnon motto:
edition.cnn.com/2020/07/07/pol…

Flynn has also endorsed a website that sells QAnon merch, created a Digital Soldiers media company and appeared on QAnon-related media.

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QAnon members have been involved in many acts of violence around the US. Q fanatics were involved on the 6th Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Also, David DePape, the suspect on the Paul Pelosi attack, was a devout Q follower.

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At its peak, QAnon was banned from most social media platforms and Google even scraped it off from the top search results. This only added fuel to the fire, making the most fanatic followers of the movement become even more devout to Q.

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In 2019, Twitter removed Russia-related accounts spreading QAnon material. After the US Capitol attack, Twitter removed some high-profile people connected to QAnon, including Michael Flynn. After the company was bought by Musk, some of these accounts have been reinstated.

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Even though QAnon has mostly dissipated, its legacy lives on in other conspiracy theories. It's theories have also been spread by Russian & Chinese state-backed media companies. So next time you hear talk about a satanist cabal,"deep state" controlling the media,Hollywood...15/16

... stars drinking kids' blood to stay young, or Donald Trump taking out the "corrupt politicians", there's a high chance that you are talking to a (former) QAnon follower.

Related soups:
Russian info ops:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1600752100966662144

Troll farms:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1601115023589658624

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