Buy Me a Coffee: The crowdfunding platform that QAnon figures have used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars

Crowdsourcing platform Buy Me a Coffee has become a notable revenue stream for QAnon figures seeking to monetize their promotion of the dangerous conspiracy theory. Based on a new Media Matters analysis, QAnon figures have raised nearly $200,000 combined from the platform, which also received a cut of the money in transaction fees.

Buy Me a Coffee was a startup founded in 2018 that aims to allow “creators to focus on what they enjoy most and make it easier for fans to offer their support” financially. The platform’s terms of use prohibit “information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate,” or any content that is “unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent … or is otherwise inappropriate as determined by us in our sole discretion.”

Supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory — which multiple government agencies issued internal warnings about after it has been repeatedly tied to violent incidents — have been encouraging their followers to send them money through Buy Me a Coffee. Their audiences responded, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars combined, with numerous donors praising the figures and writing QAnon-related phrases on their Buy Me a Coffee pages.

A Media Matters review of the platform and of QAnon influencers’ activity since at least early 2022 has found numerous QAnon figures launching Buy Me a Coffee pages, and they’ve had quite a bit of success: At least 27 QAnon figures using the platform have raised a combined total of more than $195,000 before Buy Me a Coffee’s “5% transaction fee,” which means Buy Me a Coffee has made money off of these QAnon figures.

Media Matters also found more than 240 donor posts featuring variations of the QAnon slogan “where we go one, we go all,” or “WWG1WGA.”

The QAnon figures or entities making money on Buy Me a Coffee include the following:

• Charlie Freak, a QAnon influencer connected to the QAnon JFK Dallas cult, has made more than $40,000 from the platform before fees, with donors writing that they “have been following you … since the beginning of 2020’s Plandemic” and praising him for teaching “ALL THE TRUTH” “ABOUT THE CABAL,” thanking him for “everything you do for Donald Trump, the Patriots, Q, and all of Mankind,” and thanking him for “how you’ve helped us digital soldiers by arming us with Truth.” A donor even recommended Charlie Freak’s content on “Taking Down of the Cabal from A–Z” when trying “to get someone up to speed on what’s really going on.” In reply to his donors, Charlie Freak wrote back “thank q.”

• Liz Crokin, a QAnon influencer and prominent promoter of the debunked “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, has made at least $540 before fees. While Crokin currently controls her Buy Me a Coffee page, she has claimed that “someone, who has stolen my identity for years on Instagram, had set this [page] up and fraudulently requested donations from my supporters often using private photos of me in the hospital.” She also praised the platform for “taking this account away from the con artist who stole it.”