And contrary to popular belief that QAnon followers are typically older people who have more time to spend on conspiracy websites, PRRI data shows that 22 percent of people under the age of 50 believe in QAnon conspiracy theories. believe in religion, while among older people it is only 14 percent. Over 65.
“I don't think belief in conspiracy theories like QAnon will go away anytime soon,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told WIRED. “Trump supporters in particular are already willing to support conspiracies based on no facts at a higher level than the general public. With historic levels of distrust in government and many other institutions among many Americans, the conditions that allow such theories to flourish and even grow are sadly not going anywhere any time soon.
Trump's return to the White House has been widely celebrated by the QAnon community, whose members believe that all the wild predictions Q made in his thousands of posts will now come true.
“The consensus is that Trump is going to crush the Deep State and all the bad guys are going to jail as soon as possible, that we will be back on the gold standard and the Fed will be destroyed,” said Mike Raines, a researcher who tells WIRED, closely monitoring the QAnon community. “Ukrainian biolab to be exposed as source of COVID [Anthony] Fauci and company will be given the death penalty for crimes against humanity.
This can be seen in Telegram channels and fringe platforms like Gab and Truth Social, where QAnon influencers retreated in the wake of the massive purge of QAnon accounts on mainstream platforms in 2021 following the attack on the Capitol.
But it can also be seen on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and most notably Acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk Provided fertile ground for conspiracies to flourish, as well as income for influential people who can monetize their nonsense.
Meta, TikTok and X did not respond to comments about QAnon content on their platforms.
Cook says, “It certainly doesn't help that under Musk, unproven QAnon conspiracy theories have flourished throughout the United States, giving them a massive audience and a cloak of legitimacy.”
Trump was among those who shut down what was then called Twitter after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Inspired to post on his own small platform Truth Social, he immediately embraced QAnon wholeheartedly, promoting QAnon-associated accounts nearly 1,000 times, according to him. October analysis by Media Matters,