Jacob Chansley, also called the QAnon shaman, famously joined a mob supporting former president Donald Trump on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
QAnon began on fringe web site 4chan, the place a poster calling themselves Q left messages claiming to be a senior federal official and purporting to disclose a ‘deep state’ cabal intent on bringing down then-president Donald Trump.
Q grew out of the discredited ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy that prime Democrats had been concerned in pedophilia and cannibalism from the basement of a Washington DC restaurant, however shortly picked up steam with Q’ leaving ‘clues’ and claims that Trump was going to convey down the deep state.
A core tenet of the conspiracy idea is {that a} cabal of child-sex predators that features outstanding Democrats, Hollywood elites and ‘deep state’ allies ran establishments and a world youngster intercourse ring.
It has change into a ‘massive tent’ conspiracy idea encompassing misinformation about subjects starting from alien landings to vaccine security. Every time the conspiracies prove to not be true, followers rationalize that the inaccuracies are a part of Q’s bigger plan.
Followers of QAnon say a so-called Nice Awakening is coming to convey salvation.
The ‘Q’ posts, which began in 2017 on the message board 4chan, have additionally been posted on 8kun, a rebranded model of the shuttered net board 8chan.
Main social media platforms together with YouTube, Fb and Twitter have banned content material related to QAnon and have suspended or blocked accounts that search to unfold it. That is pressured a lot of the group’s actions onto platforms which have much less moderation, together with Telegram, Gab and Trump’s struggling platform, Fact Social.
A rising checklist of legal episodes has been linked to individuals who had expressed help for the conspiracy idea, which US intelligence officers have warned might set off extra violence.
QAnon supporters had been amongst those that violently stormed the Capitol through the failed January 6, 2021, revolt, which tried to derail the outcomes of the 2020 election.
In November 2020, two males drove to a vote-counting web site in Philadelphia in a Hummer adorned with QAnon stickers and loaded with a rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition and different weapons. Prosecutors alleged they had been making an attempt to intrude with the election.
Final 12 months, a California man who informed authorities he had been enlightened by QAnon was {accused} of killing his two youngsters as a result of he believed that they had serpent DNA.
A Colorado lady was in August discovered responsible of trying to kidnap her son from foster care after her daughter stated she started associating with QAnon supporters. Different adherents have been {accused} of environmental vandalism, firing paintballs at army reservists, abducting a toddler in France and even killing a New York Metropolis mob boss.
Police final month fatally shot a Michigan man who they are saying had killed his spouse and severely injured his daughter. A surviving daughter informed The Detroit Information that she believes her father was motivated by QAnon.
