Small but growing Russian support for QAnon conspiracies seen online – By Joseph Menn (Reuters) / Aug 24 2020
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.
FILE PHOTO: 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
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.
Continue to article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-qanon-russia/small-but-growing-russian-support-for-qanon-conspiracies-seen-online-idUSKBN25K13T
