Let me add my thanks for your continuing advocacy for the truth. A while back I wrote on this forum about my brother who was a QAnon follower. He was totally anti vax, pro Trump, the whole nine yards. Fox News or a right wing YouTube show was constantly playing on his tv. He “did his own research”. Eventually he decided he knew better than his doctors, stopped taking his BP medication and started a YouTube diet to control his high blood pressure. No one could reason with him. He was otherwise healthy, financially successful, college educated, retired from a professional job and had a beautiful wife and three great sons. You’ll notice I am talking about him in the past tense. About 8 months ago he dropped dead in his tracks. Flynn et al is literally a death cult.
Call It a QRevival: QAnon Slogans Surge 1283% on X
By Jack Brewster
Dramatic growth in mentions of QAnon phrases on X. (Jack Brewster)
It’s boom time for QAnon on X.
What happened: On X, the use of QAnon hashtags and slogans has increased 1,283 percent from May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024, as compared to the previous one-year period, according to a NewsGuard analysis using a social media analytics tool.
Mentions of specific QAnon phrases — including "The Great Awakening," "WWG1WGA" (Where we go one, we go all), and "QSentMe,” among others — surged from 81,100 instances between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, to 1.12 million from May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024.
This uptick highlights the continued impact of relaxed moderation on X, as well as the platform owner Elon Musk's decision to allow dozens of prominent QAnon influencers to return to the platform after they were previously banned.
Previously banned QAnon influencers include @dom_lucre, who has more than 1.2 million followers (for context, that’s nearly double the X follower count of the Axios news website), and @PunishDem1776, who has more than 290,000 followers (that’s more than three times the X follower count of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Some of the most widely shared QAnon posts over the past year include:
Pizzagate: A March 2024 post from a user named @ChrisMcNelly said, “#pizzagate is real & will come back full circle & go mainstream. It’s just the surface layer of the depths of evil that has infiltrated our society …”
Actually: Pizzagate is not real. It’s a wild QAnon conspiracy theory positing that high-ranking officials and celebrities are involved in a global child trafficking ring, supposedly centered around a Washington, D.C., pizzeria.
The post, which does not feature a Community Note fact-check label, had 2.1 million views as of May 8, 2024.
Interdimensional portals: A March 2024 post from anonymous X user @prolotario1 claimed that "Q," believed by QAnon followers to be a government insider, had warned of an interdimensional portal opening during the April 2024 solar eclipse. (Actually: No interdimensional portal opened during the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse.)
@prolotario1 wrote, “Keep in mind regardless of how you feel about Q, the information transcends our personal grievances. WWG1WGA is a military protocol to supposedly activate the Tesla time machines under Cheyenne mountains that has been locked down since 2016 under the order of D. Trump.” (Editor’s note: If you’re having trouble following, so are we.)
The post, which does not feature a Community Note fact-check label, had 836,000 views as of May 8, 2024.
Frazzledrip: A January 2024 post from @dom_lucre advanced the popular QAnon conspiracy theory known as “Frazzledrip.” The claim posits that there is a video on the dark web showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton torturing a young girl.
@dom_lucre’s post stated, “Horrific Hillary Clinton snuff film circulating on dark web.” (Snuff films are movies that purport to show scenes of homicide.)
The post, which features a Community Note fact-check label, had 21.8 million views as of May 8, 2024. The same claim was repeated multiple times on X in viral posts by the previously mentioned QAnon influencer @PunishDem1776 over the past year.
Some context: QAnon supporters contend that former U.S. President Donald Trump and an anonymous government operative who goes by the name “Q” are engaged in a struggle to take down a “deep state” network of child sex traffickers.
QAnon has been linked to numerous violent incidents, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; an armed standoff at the Hoover Dam in 2018; and the 2021 killing of two infant children by their father, who allegedly told prosecutors that he had been “enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories.”
In response to NewsGuard’s emailed questions about NewsGuard’s findings, X’s press office sent an automated response: “Busy now, please check back later.”
I'm grateful for all the people that have to be looking into the abyss on the regular. I've been subjected to some serious AI pysop. It is incredibly dangerous. It uses everything you have read or stated and tailors it to get into your mind based on your personal worldview. America would not be divided if truth was hijacked. I see you Jim 💖
I truly appreciate your efforts to shine a light on this. While I am no longer on twit, I have passed this on to a very dear friend of mine, a former Army commander in Spec Ops who knew Flynn on a personal level. I have also passed it onto my two sons, age 31 and 24 who were into Halo and alternative reality games intensively. (My eldest's wife even more so.) They can then better understand why Q has become a dangerous cult and help their friends understand this. My eldest builds electric guitars, was a guitarist in several bands before Covid and is a machinist who has a great ability to approach people and help them understand what the fuck is actually going on with their friends. My youngest is in forestry management and deals with a wide range of people on the spectrum of age and social status. He too is liked by people of all ages and has been a great mentor to many high school friends. We can only work in our realm, Ohio, to commence an education of those who have gone down the rabbit hole.
I’m so grateful that you are who you are, Jim, and that you knew you had to play this role. It is a rare and precious thing to know what you are supposed to do. It comes with a world of stress so far, but I sure am glad to know you.
Hi Jim. Thanks so much for sharing your story. You are doing extremely important work. I'm glad to follow you and your updates. Do what you need to take care of yourself.
Let me add my thanks for your continuing advocacy for the truth. A while back I wrote on this forum about my brother who was a QAnon follower. He was totally anti vax, pro Trump, the whole nine yards. Fox News or a right wing YouTube show was constantly playing on his tv. He “did his own research”. Eventually he decided he knew better than his doctors, stopped taking his BP medication and started a YouTube diet to control his high blood pressure. No one could reason with him. He was otherwise healthy, financially successful, college educated, retired from a professional job and had a beautiful wife and three great sons. You’ll notice I am talking about him in the past tense. About 8 months ago he dropped dead in his tracks. Flynn et al is literally a death cult.
Recently from News Guard.
Call It a QRevival: QAnon Slogans Surge 1283% on X
By Jack Brewster
Dramatic growth in mentions of QAnon phrases on X. (Jack Brewster)
It’s boom time for QAnon on X.
What happened: On X, the use of QAnon hashtags and slogans has increased 1,283 percent from May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024, as compared to the previous one-year period, according to a NewsGuard analysis using a social media analytics tool.
Mentions of specific QAnon phrases — including "The Great Awakening," "WWG1WGA" (Where we go one, we go all), and "QSentMe,” among others — surged from 81,100 instances between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, to 1.12 million from May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024.
This uptick highlights the continued impact of relaxed moderation on X, as well as the platform owner Elon Musk's decision to allow dozens of prominent QAnon influencers to return to the platform after they were previously banned.
Previously banned QAnon influencers include @dom_lucre, who has more than 1.2 million followers (for context, that’s nearly double the X follower count of the Axios news website), and @PunishDem1776, who has more than 290,000 followers (that’s more than three times the X follower count of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Some of the most widely shared QAnon posts over the past year include:
Pizzagate: A March 2024 post from a user named @ChrisMcNelly said, “#pizzagate is real & will come back full circle & go mainstream. It’s just the surface layer of the depths of evil that has infiltrated our society …”
Actually: Pizzagate is not real. It’s a wild QAnon conspiracy theory positing that high-ranking officials and celebrities are involved in a global child trafficking ring, supposedly centered around a Washington, D.C., pizzeria.
The post, which does not feature a Community Note fact-check label, had 2.1 million views as of May 8, 2024.
Interdimensional portals: A March 2024 post from anonymous X user @prolotario1 claimed that "Q," believed by QAnon followers to be a government insider, had warned of an interdimensional portal opening during the April 2024 solar eclipse. (Actually: No interdimensional portal opened during the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse.)
@prolotario1 wrote, “Keep in mind regardless of how you feel about Q, the information transcends our personal grievances. WWG1WGA is a military protocol to supposedly activate the Tesla time machines under Cheyenne mountains that has been locked down since 2016 under the order of D. Trump.” (Editor’s note: If you’re having trouble following, so are we.)
The post, which does not feature a Community Note fact-check label, had 836,000 views as of May 8, 2024.
Frazzledrip: A January 2024 post from @dom_lucre advanced the popular QAnon conspiracy theory known as “Frazzledrip.” The claim posits that there is a video on the dark web showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton torturing a young girl.
@dom_lucre’s post stated, “Horrific Hillary Clinton snuff film circulating on dark web.” (Snuff films are movies that purport to show scenes of homicide.)
The post, which features a Community Note fact-check label, had 21.8 million views as of May 8, 2024. The same claim was repeated multiple times on X in viral posts by the previously mentioned QAnon influencer @PunishDem1776 over the past year.
Some context: QAnon supporters contend that former U.S. President Donald Trump and an anonymous government operative who goes by the name “Q” are engaged in a struggle to take down a “deep state” network of child sex traffickers.
QAnon has been linked to numerous violent incidents, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; an armed standoff at the Hoover Dam in 2018; and the 2021 killing of two infant children by their father, who allegedly told prosecutors that he had been “enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories.”
In response to NewsGuard’s emailed questions about NewsGuard’s findings, X’s press office sent an automated response: “Busy now, please check back later.”
I'm grateful for all the people that have to be looking into the abyss on the regular. I've been subjected to some serious AI pysop. It is incredibly dangerous. It uses everything you have read or stated and tailors it to get into your mind based on your personal worldview. America would not be divided if truth was hijacked. I see you Jim 💖
I truly appreciate your efforts to shine a light on this. While I am no longer on twit, I have passed this on to a very dear friend of mine, a former Army commander in Spec Ops who knew Flynn on a personal level. I have also passed it onto my two sons, age 31 and 24 who were into Halo and alternative reality games intensively. (My eldest's wife even more so.) They can then better understand why Q has become a dangerous cult and help their friends understand this. My eldest builds electric guitars, was a guitarist in several bands before Covid and is a machinist who has a great ability to approach people and help them understand what the fuck is actually going on with their friends. My youngest is in forestry management and deals with a wide range of people on the spectrum of age and social status. He too is liked by people of all ages and has been a great mentor to many high school friends. We can only work in our realm, Ohio, to commence an education of those who have gone down the rabbit hole.
I’m so grateful that you are who you are, Jim, and that you knew you had to play this role. It is a rare and precious thing to know what you are supposed to do. It comes with a world of stress so far, but I sure am glad to know you.
Can hackers play a role in disrupting this cult’s work?
Hi Jim. Thanks so much for sharing your story. You are doing extremely important work. I'm glad to follow you and your updates. Do what you need to take care of yourself.