By Joseph Menn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Organizations backed by the Russian government have a limited but developing role in amplifying conspiracy theories promoted through QAnon, raising considerations about interference in november’s US elections.
Academics who read QAnon said there is no sign that Russia played a role in the early days of the movement, which was introduced in 2017 with anonymous Internet posts amplified through YouTube videos.
But as QAnon gained fans and addressed new issues, with President Donald Trump as the constant hero waging a misunderstanding, social media accounts connected to a key Kremlin best friend joined them.
In 2019, accounts deleted via Twitter and suspected of being controlled through the Russian Internet Search Agency sent a lot of tweets tagged with #QAnon and the motto of the WWG1WGA motion, short for Where We Go One, We Go All, Melanie Smith said. , head of analysis of the social media analysis company Graphika. The IRA accused Robert Mueller of his demand for election interference.
More recently, the Russian government-backed media RT.com and Sputnik have stepped up QAnon’s policy, which began with a false proclamation that Hillary Clinton would be arrested for an indeterminate explanation of why and now includes theories about child trafficking through Hollywood’s elites, the new coronavirus. And more.
Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and incorrect information expert for the Alethea group, said that RT, Sputnik and other Kremlin-backed media had written more about QAnon, to have compatibility with its broader narrative of: “America is collapsing, look how much department there is.”
After Twitter banned thousands of QAnon accounts last month, RT.com predicted that the resolution would be counterproductive if it got closer to the cause, adding that it “gave QAnon subscribers the validation they dreamed of.”
Last week, he published a similar article after Facebook got rid of about a third of QAnon’s teams and limited the other two-thirds.
RT’s account began: “Facebook has disposed of thousands of computers and pages connected to the QAnon conspiracy after expanding its concept of “dangerous individuals” to reach those who alone “celebrate acts of violence.” The Streisand effect is found with a slippery slope.”
The Streisand effect refers to the moment when singer Barbra Streisand sued to download photos of her home in Malibu, California, which got rid of the Internet, to gain more viewers.
The items have gained unwavering support and others have been critical. But they called QAnon a valid channel of outrage.
QAnon fans took note and began sharing more content from the Russian media, according to Graphika.
In a late-released report on Monday, he said QAnon accounts he was tracking had released curtains from 69 other Internet sites rather than RT articles in 2018.
Earlier this year, RT was the 23rd highest shared site in the community. By the month he finished on August 20, he had climbed to 12th place. Https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_report_interpreting_social_qs.pdf
“While Russia is just a foreign actor capable of targeting american political audiences through the QAnon network, its track record seems to be ideologically more aligned with QAnon’s global theory,” the report says. “Russia has also made every effort to gain credibility within the network so far.”
QAnon has been named by the FBI as an instigator of national terrorism, and his supporters have been charged with terrorist threat, murder and other crimes.
Russia is actively interfering with the cross-season through other means, the government’s most sensible counterintelligence official recently said, adding spreading false stories about Joe Biden in Ukraine. Democrats are pushing for more cases to be made public.
Researchers from Graphika, Stanford University and elsewhere have pointed out that QAnon remains a largely national phenomenon at the moment. Facebook has disposed of two QAnon networks for coordinated synthetic behavior, prior to its new content restrictions, and none had connections to Russia.
But tracking QAnon is getting harder and harder, Graphika’s Smith said. QAnon supporters have drastically moved to other social media groups, helping to organize real-life protests against child trafficking last weekend and worrying about a pro-police demonstration in Portland that turned into violence.
“It’s very difficult to perceive what a QAnon account is, compared to a Trump supporter’s account as opposed to a anti-vaccine,”
Smith said.
(Report through Joseph Menn; edited through Steve Orlofsky and Tom Brown)