Report: China, Russia fueling QAnon conspiracy theories (yahoo.com)
A recent poll indicates that 20 to 23 percent of Americans believe in the Q-Anon theories.
More than a third of those polled indicated that they believed elites, politicians, and/or celebrities were involved in global pedophile rings.
"Significant cognitive opening." Where do they come up with these euphemisms?
For its part, Facebook says it's trying to keep this kind of mischief under control.
For most of my life, I've heard various conspiracy theories - one of the first was about the JFK assassination. Then there were revelations about Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the misdeeds of the FBI, CIA, and NSA (among others). It became clear to a lot of Americans that our government was up to a lot of mischief that was kept secret and appeared to go against the spirit of democracy and freedom which we had been raised with.
Some of it could have been a result of the Cold War and what people were being asked to do, such as be prepared in the case of a nuclear war. Or send their loved ones off to fight in some war in places they never heard of before. These are the things that prompt people to ask questions such as "What's this all about anyway?"
The government tends to use language with a lot of legalisms and weasel words.
Foreign-based actors, principally in China and Russia, are spreading online disinformation rooted in QAnon conspiracy theories, fueling a movement that has become a mounting domestic terrorism threat, according to new analysis of online propaganda by a security firm.
The analysis by the Soufan Center, a New York-based research firm focused on national security threats, found that nearly one-fifth of 166,820 QAnon-related Facebook posts between January 2020 and the end of February 2021 originated from overseas administrators.
An advance copy of the report, which is being released today, was provided to Yahoo News.
“It’s very alarming,” said Jason Blazakis, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center and a former State Department counterterrorism official who is one of the authors of the report. “We have enough problems without the amplification of conspiracy theories by foreign actors, and that foreign impact really does stir up a hornet’s nest.”
The report injects a new element into the debate about how to counter QAnon — a bizarre but increasingly widespread conspiracy movement that has pushed the idea that the U.S. government is secretly run by Satan worshipers involved in a global sex trafficking ring.
Speaking to lawmakers last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed concern that the extremist nature of the movement could lead to violence, citing as an example the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He said the bureau is preparing a formal “threat assessment” of QAnon that he expects to share with Congress “very shortly.”
A recent poll indicates that 20 to 23 percent of Americans believe in the Q-Anon theories.
Despite the outlandish nature of QAnon claims, the report also suggests that adherents to the movement’s conspiracy theories may be far more prevalent than some previous studies have shown. A new poll of 9,308 U.S. adults, conducted for the Soufan Center by Limbik, a data analytics firm, found that between 20 and 23 percent of respondents self-identified as a QAnon believer, member or supporter — figures far higher than in some earlier surveys.
More than a third of those polled indicated that they believed elites, politicians, and/or celebrities were involved in global pedophile rings.
The numbers became even higher when those polled were asked about specific issues that QAnon has emphasized. For example, when asked whether they believe “elites, politicians and/or celebrities are involved in global pedophile rings,” 35.8 percent said they did, up from 26.7 percent from a similar sample last December.
Asked whether they believe COVID-19 was created in a lab, 30.6 percent said they did in February compared to 29.1 percent in December. The survey in February also found that 25 percent supported the actions of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
These data points, the report concludes, suggest that there may be a “significant cognitive opening” among the U.S. population “that makes Americans more susceptible to further radicalization within the QAnon movement.”
If true, it is an opening that, according to the report, foreign actors are aggressively seeking to exploit. Limbik, which uses artificial intelligence and other techniques to sift through huge volumes of data, analyzed Facebook content that pushed QAnon-related content and concluded a significant portion was coming from overseas, apparently for the purpose of sowing societal discord or distrust about the American political process.
"Significant cognitive opening." Where do they come up with these euphemisms?
Zach Schwitzky, the founder of the firm, acknowledged in an interview that identifying foreign content was not “an exact science” since there is rarely publicly available account information about individuals or groups who post on Facebook. But by conducting linguistic analysis of the posts and logos or photos posted, the firm was able to unmask Russian, Chinese, Saudi and Iranian actors who were posting messages or stories that advanced QAnon beliefs about child sex trafficking rings, election fraud, vaccines and COVID-19 and related issues.
For its part, Facebook says it's trying to keep this kind of mischief under control.
A Facebook spokesperson said the company couldn’t comment on the report because it hadn’t yet had a chance to review it. But the spokesperson said it took “aggressive action” to stop the spread of dangerous content on its platform last year by expanding its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy to include foreign conspiracy networks. This has resulted in the removal of about 3,300 pages, 10,500 groups and 27,300 Instagram accounts that were spreading QAnon content. “We remain vigilant to this evolving threat so we can stay ahead of it and keep people safe,” the spokesperson said.
For most of my life, I've heard various conspiracy theories - one of the first was about the JFK assassination. Then there were revelations about Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the misdeeds of the FBI, CIA, and NSA (among others). It became clear to a lot of Americans that our government was up to a lot of mischief that was kept secret and appeared to go against the spirit of democracy and freedom which we had been raised with.
Some of it could have been a result of the Cold War and what people were being asked to do, such as be prepared in the case of a nuclear war. Or send their loved ones off to fight in some war in places they never heard of before. These are the things that prompt people to ask questions such as "What's this all about anyway?"
The government tends to use language with a lot of legalisms and weasel words.