QAon

Shashank Raj Gupta

Question: What is QAon, which was recently in news?
a) Supercomputer
b) Hypersonic missile
c) Computer game
d) A Conspiracy theory or movement
Answer: (d)
Related Facts:-

  • On 15 Otober 2020; YouTube announced that it would take additional measures to block content that promotes QAnon
  • QAon is a pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theory or movement.
  • QAnon has been under the spotlight in recent times.
  • In July, Twitter and TikTok blocked some hashtags and removed some accounts related to it.
  • In August, Facebook announced a ban on QAnon groups.
  • Last year, the FBI said fringe political conspiracy theories including QAnon are a domestic threat.
  • It is anticipated that these movements, likely to motivate some domestic extremists, wholly or in part, to engage in criminal or violent activity.
  • About QAnon:-
  • QAnon took shape around 2017 when an anonymous user called “Q” or “Q Clearance Patriot” started posting conspiracy theories.
  • “Q” refers to a security clearance given by the US Department of Energy for access to top-secret information.
  • Q, who claims to be a high-ranking intelligence officer with access to sensitive information of the Trump administration.
  • He started posting on the platform 4chan in 2017, and now posts on 8kun, a website run by the founders of 8chan.
  • 8chan was shut down after the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas in 2019 , the killers had posted hate content on 8chan.
  • The conspiracy theory:-
  • QAnon followers believe that the world is being run by a cabal of paedophiles who worship Satan and that one of Trump’s aims as US President is to unmask the cabal and punish them.
  • According to the conspiracy theorists, Trump is secretly preparing for a day of reckoning, “The Storm”, when members of the “deep state” will be executed.
  • This theory has been gaining traction among some far-right voters ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
  • The conspiracy theorists believe that Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama, and Hollywood actors Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey, are part of a global child sex-trafficking ring.
  • This takes off from the “Pizzagate” theory, long debunked, which circulated during the 2016 presidential election.
  • Far-right activists had claimed that Clinton, who contested against Trump, was running a child trafficking racket from the basement of a pizza parlour in Washington, DC.

By – Rajesh Tripathi

Link:-
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/qanon-a-conspiracy-theory-feeding-violence-6758120/