FBI warns that QAnon’s ‘digital soldiers’ may engage in ‘real world violence’
A vast online-driven conspiracy theory movement, growing frustrated with calls to “trust the plan” as QAnon’s predictions fail to materialise, may begin to engage in “real world violence” against lawmakers and their perceived political enemies, the FBI has warned in a recently unclassified report.
QAnon proponents – immersed in a decentralised belief system that has laundered disinformation and conspiracy theories tied to violence from obscure corners of the internet into mainstream channels across social media – may begin to believe they have an “obligation” to accelerate beyond “digital soldiers” to carry out their prophesied violence rather than continue to wait for instruction, according to a document prepared by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and viewed by The Independent.
Fuelled by the false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, at least 20 QAnon proponents joined the mob that breached the US Capitol on 6 January to overturn millions of Americans’ votes, according to federal law enforcement.
The violence at the Capitol has underscored “how the current environment likely will continue to act as a catalyst for some to begin accepting the legitimacy of violent action,” according to the FBI and DHS report.
The report was first reported by CNN.
Other QAnon adherents “likely will disengage from the movement or reduce their involvement” following the election of Joe Biden and changes across the administration, the report says.
Their disengagement from the movement may be tied to sweeping bans and the removal of QAnon-related content on social media platforms, as well as the “failure of long-promised QAnon-linked events to materialize.”
But QAnon followers’ loyalty to the movement may be strengthened as they migrate to other fringe platforms, the increased social polarisation in the US, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the “frequency and content of pro-QAnon statements by public individuals who feature prominently in core QAnon narratives,” according to the report.
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