QAnon Believers Committed Nearly 80 Conspiracy-Motivated Crimes, Report Finds
Topline
Former President Donald Trump once described QAnon believers as people who “love our country” but a new report finds that 79 Q followers have committed crimes seemingly motivated by the baseless conspiracy theory.
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 03: A person wears a QAnon sweatshirt during a pro-Trump rally on October 3, … [+]
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Key Facts
As of Wednesday, QAnon adherents have committed 79 ideologically motivated crimes across the United States, researchers from the Domestic Radicalization Project at the University of Maryland found.
Over half of those crimes (40) were committed by QAnon believers who stormed the Capitol on January 6.
Other crimes include a man who set fire to a Washington, D.C. pizzeria at the center of the baseless “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory—an offshoot of QAnon—in 2019 and another man who fired shots in the pizzeria during a rampage in 2016.
In 2019, a 37-year-old Illinois woman who had posted frequently about the QAnon conspiracy theory online was arrested after she drove to New York City with a collection of knives and threatened to “take out” President Joe Biden.
The researchers found that many of the QAnon believers were radicalized in a very short time period, including 61% in less than a year.
A vast number of the criminal QAnon believers—61%—have mental health issues while 43% were radicalized following a traumatic event, such as premature death of a loved one, or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.
Surprising Fact
Three believers who were previously arrested for QAnon-influenced crimes participated in the Capitol riot, the researchers said. Two QAnon adherents died during the January 6 riot.
Key Background
The FBI has warned about the dangers of QAnon as far back as 2019, when it identified the conspiracy theory as a potential domestic terrorism threat in an intelligence bulletin. “Although conspiracy-driven crime and violence is not a new phenomenon,” the FBI bulletin warned, “today’s information environment has changed the way conspiracy theories develop, spread and evolve.” During his most substantial public remarks since the Capitol riot, FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers domestic terrorism was “metastasizing across the country.” The January 6 riot was organized on many right-wing message boards where the conspiracy theory originally thrived, and several news outlets identified QAnon influencers in the mob in the days following the attack.
Big Number
59. That’s the number of criminals listed in the report who are male. At least 25 of the criminals had previous records, while 16 were unemployed.
Contra
A report published by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab on Wednesday concluded that QAnon-related “chatter” has drastically declined since the social media companies cracked down at the beginning of this year.
Further Reading
QAnon Content Is ‘Evaporating’ From The Internet, New Report Finds (Forbes)
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