Report on mobilization of QAnon community members to violence
In June, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) website published a report analysing the phenomenon of conspiracy theories and how they fit into the realm of violent extremism research.
Using a case study of QAnon, the report looks at how the movement mobilizes people for violence on social media and attempts to determine how this differs from other forms of radicalization. Combining content analysis of posts shared by members and through interviews with former followers, this report identifies five areas - revenge (revenge), othering (othering), chosenness (chosenness), apocalypse and urgency of action (apocalypse and urgency of action) and altruism (altruism) - that are used to buoy audiences to adopt extreme views and behave in violent ways. It concludes with recommendations on how to deal with QAnon propaganda.