When Elon Musk introduced he was buying Twitter again in April, there was one group that determined to make their means again to the platform: QAnon believers.
QAnon — the far-right, pro-Donald Trump, false conspiracy concept that asserts the previous president was in a secret struggle towards a cabal of pedophile Satanists in Hollywood and the Democratic occasion — turned much less outstanding on Twitter after 2020 when the social media platform started cracking down on accounts promoting it. A brand new report from Media Matters, a progressive nonprofit watchdog group, discovered that nearly half of the accounts discussing QAnon on Twitter in late October — the identical time Musk’s takeover of Twitter turned a actuality — have been created in April.
QAnon supporters see Elon Musk’s takeover as a inexperienced mild to rejoin Twitter https://t.co/G2tNaOZybT pic.twitter.com/BSBar9FXyd
— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 2, 2022
Along with a rising variety of accounts speaking concerning the conspiracy concept, the report additionally discovered QAnon influencers who have been banned throughout the crackdowns had made their means again onto the platform.
Twitter did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
It’s been 5 years since QAnon began on the nameless imageboard 4chan. Since then, the conspiracy concept grew to a degree the place a 2022 research discovered that one in 5 Americans believed in it. QAnon made massive good points in believers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, main many believers to additionally grow to be anti-vaxxers.
Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 27 and proceeded to fireplace a number of executives. Layoffs on the social media firm started on Friday.