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Anonymous promises to uncover the truth behind 'QAnon' conspiracy theory

Online activist group claims to know the identity of the secret person behind the theory's spread

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 07 August 2018 16:45 BST
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Sarah Sanders asked about QAnon during White House Press Briefing

Anonymous has promised to uncover the truth behind the "Qanon" conspiracy theory spreading across the internet and Trump rallies.

Qanon and its supporters have become prominent in recent weeks . The conspiracy theory takes in much of the contemporary world, but its central beliefs are that there is a huge undiscovered paedophile ring among the elite and that Donald Trump is uncovering it.

The video claims to know who is behind the baseless conspiracy theory and suggests that those associated with Anonymous may launch attacks on people who are sharing it.

As the group and its beliefs have grown in popularity, many have voiced concern that they could slander or even endanger members of the public. The same happened during the Pizzagate conspiracy, which saw many public figures baselessly accused of being paedophiles and a man entering an innocent pizza restaurant with a gun.

Now Anonymous has committed to uncover the truth behind the Qanon conspiracy and "wreck" it. The hacking group said that the conspiracy was the consequence of a "brainless political agenda" and threatened to uncover the people secretly spreading it.

The warnings were posted to YouTube and Twitter, and shared by the most authoritative of Anonymous-aligned Twitter accounts. The hacking collective is a name for a loosely-formed and entirely unofficial group, meaning that it has no official spokesperson or even a public policy platform.

In the YouTube video, a person with a disguised voice said that it would become active in putting a stop to the conspiracy theory.

“We will not sit idly by while you take advantage of the misinformed and poorly educated,” the person says. “Someone is going to get hurt, so we have to put our foot down and start some shit with you all."

The fact that the two phenomena share a name is not accidental but largely coincidental. Both take the anon part of their name from the name users are given on chatboards like 4chan and 8chan, where both began.

Anonymous's might and popularity has declined in recent years, as it has launched fewer public operations. But it has nonetheless launched attacks on people including Donald Trump, whose websites were hit with vandalism in the wake of the election.

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