Small but growing Russian support for QAnon conspiracies seen online
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[August 24, 2020]
By Joseph Menn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Russian
government-supported organizations are playing a small but increasing
role amplifying conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns
of interference in the November U.S. election.
Academics who study QAnon said there were no signs Russia had a hand in
the early days of the movement, which launched in 2017 with anonymous
web postings amplified by YouTube videos.
But as QAnon gained adherents and took on new topics, with President
Donald Trump as the constant hero waging a misunderstood battle, social
media accounts controlled by a key Kremlin ally joined in.
In 2019 the Internet Research Agency, a Russian "troll factory" indicted
by Robert Mueller in his election interference prosecution, sent a high
volume of tweets tagged with #QAnon and the movement slogan #WWG1WGA,
short for Where We Go One, We Go All, said Melanie Smith, head of
analysis at social media analysis firm Graphika. The company dissects
propaganda campaigns and plans to publish an analysis of QAnon this
week.
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More recently, Russian government-backed media RT.com and Sputnik have
stepped up coverage of QAnon, which began with a false proclamation
Hillary Clinton would be arrested for an undetermined reason and now
includes theories about child trafficking by Hollywood elites, the novel
coronavirus and more.
Disinformation expert Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst, said RT, Sputnik
and other Kremlin-backed media have been writing more about QAnon, using
it to fit into their broader narrative of: "The U.S. is falling apart,
look how much division there is."
After Twitter banned thousands of QAnon accounts last month, RT.com
predicted the move would backfire by directing more attention to the
cause, adding that "it gave QAnon followers the validation they craved."
Last week, it ran a similar article after Facebook removed about a third
of QAnon groups and restricted the other two thirds.
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![](../images/082420PIX/news_f11.jpg)
A person wears a t-shirt with the anagram WWG1WGA, the QAnon slogan,
while participating in a "save the children" march and rally in New
York City, New York, U.S. August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Stephanie
Keith/File Photo
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RT's story began: "Facebook has removed thousands of groups and
pages related to the QAnon conspiracy after expanding its concept of
‘dangerous individuals’ to include those who merely ‘celebrate
violent acts.’ Streisand effect, meet slippery slope." The Streisand
effect refers to when singer Barbra Streisand sued to get photos of
her Malibu home removed from the internet, only to win them more
viewers.
The articles have fallen short of full-throated support, and others
have been critical. But they cast QAnon as channeling legitimate
outrage.
QAnon followers have taken note and begun to share more content from
the Russian outlets, according to Graphika.
"Russia is increasingly interested in QAnon, and it's being
reciprocated," said Graphika Chief Innovation Officer Camille
Francois.
Russia is actively interfering with the campaign season in other
ways, the government’s top counter-intelligence official said
recently, including by disseminating false stories about Joe Biden
in Ukraine. Democrats are pressing for the public release of more
instances.
Researchers at Graphika, Stanford University and elsewhere stressed
that QAnon for now remains a largely domestic phenomenon. Facebook
took down two QAnon networks for coordinated artificial behavior,
before its new content restrictions, and neither had Russian
connections.
But tracking QAnon has become increasingly tough, Graphika’s Smith
said. "It’s very difficult to understand what a QAnon account is,
versus a Trump supporter’s account versus an anti-vaxxer,"
(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Chris Sanders and Diane Craft)
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