The social media platform that welcomes QAnon with open arms

But why is this growth in numbers of QAnon followers on Gab.com important?

First of all, banning these groups means that the followers who were organized on these platforms have to re-assemble. As Ofra Klein points out: “Shifting to more extreme platforms and using converted forms of hateful speech are tactics that underline the difficulties that platforms have with dealing with extreme content online.“

QAnon followers seem to have done just that: they first rebranded, and later migrated to other, more niche and arguably more extreme platforms, where their audience is considerably smaller, including Gab.com. The increasing numbers of QAnon group members indicates that the conspiracy belief and its followers remain virulent, but their reach is curbed.

From an economic perspective, and Gab.com.com is very much a business endeavour, QAnon followers are fitting into the broader target-group of the corporation. The company detailed in its 2018 annual report that they are seeking to attract users who rely on right-wing and conspiratorial news sources, like Breitbart and InfoWars. For these users, Gab.com finds itself in market competition with other Alt-Tech platforms, as well as end-to-end encrypted messaging services like Telegram – another favoured online sphere for QAnon followers.

Different from Telegram, however, Gab.com is a social network, where connections outside the designated QAnon channel are likely. What this means is that it affords a broader intimate publicity, a feature Ashley Mattheis conceptualized as vital, for understanding the formation of digital hate cultures.

Since its public launch in 2017, Gab.com has provided a safe space for all manner of online far-right communities, a significant portion of which place themselves squarely in the “#MAGA” camp. It presents itself as being at the forefront of the fight against large social media platforms, and routinely welcomes users that were banned on these larger platforms.

Decrying alleged censorship, including being banned from social media platforms, is one of the most common themes the Gab.com CEO addresses on the company-blog. This perception of persecution, has long become a staple in the weaponized victimhood narratives of the far-right and exhibits considerable traction.

Gab.com’s ideological orientation and it’s showcased victimhood narrative resonate with that of the QAnon followers. Additionally, Alt-Tech platforms, which often started out as imitations of Twitter or YouTube, afford the familiar structures of these social networks. Differently to these websites, Alt-Tech also affords minimal content moderation, as well as an audience, that is comparably coherent, when it comes to political views.

Gab.com and other Alt-Tech websites have been promoting themselves as alternatives for right-wing social media users for years. With the new influx and activity of QAnon followers on their webpages, the overall sense of victimhood, persecution, and the perception of fighting back against this injustice is likely to prevail.

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Open Democracy can be found here ***