Kash Patel is QAno’s Waiting for Hero

Contrary to popular belief that QAnon supporters are typically older people who spend more time on conspiracy websites, PRRI data shows that 22 percent of those under 50 believe in QAnon conspiracy theories, compared to only 14 percent of older adults. Over 65.

“I have no doubt that belief in conspiracy theories like QAnon will collapse anytime soon,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told WIRED. “Trump supporters in particular are more willing than the public to support conspiracies that are not based on any facts. Coupled with a historic level of mistrust of government and a number of other institutions among many Americans, the conditions that allow such theories to thrive and even grow are unfortunately not going anywhere anytime soon.

Trump’s return to the White House has been widely celebrated by the QAnon community, whose members believe that all of Q’s wild predictions in his thousands of posts will now come true.

“The general consensus is that Trump will crush the Deep State and all the bad suits will be arrested as soon as possible, we’ll go back to the gold standard and the Fed will be destroyed,” Mike Rains, a researcher who closely follows the QAnon community, tells WIRED. “Ukrainian biolabs will be exposed as the source of Covid and (Anthony) Fauci, and the company will all be sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.”

This can be seen in Telegram channels and fringe platforms such as Gab and Truth Social, where QAnon influencers have resulted in mass deletions of QAnon accounts on major platforms since the 2021 Capitol attack.

But it can increasingly be seen on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and most notably X. capture of centibillionaire Elon Muskit created fertile ground for conspiracy to thrive, while also providing income for influencers who could cash in on their folly.

Meta, TikTok and X did not respond to comments about QAnon content on their platforms.

“Of course, it doesn’t help that under Musk, unproven QAnon conspiracy theories have flourished all over X, giving them a huge audience and a veneer of legitimacy,” Cook said.

After the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Trump was among those who launched the site, called Twitter. Forced to post on his own little platform, Truth Social, he wholeheartedly embraced QAnon and promoted QAnon-affiliated accounts nearly 1,000 times. October analysis by Media Matters.