QAnon Goes Underground

In this episode we take a look at what happened when QAnon was taken off of mainstream social media and forced to go “underground” onto Telegram. 

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Q and On is now the most prolific online conspiracy
theory of the twenty one century. None of their predictions
came true. Q has vanished and the storm never came,
but Q and on is still alive. I'm Jake Hanrahan
and this is Series two of Q Clearance, a podcast
shedding light on the ongoing Q and on conspiracy theory.

(00:24):
This is a production of Kudata Media and I Heart Radio.
In the last episode, we spoke about the January six
storming of the Capitol Building and how that was heavily
tied to Q and On. We heard how many Q
followers literally posted footage of themselves committing federal crimes on

(00:48):
social media, often even using Q and on hashtags and
mottoes such as where we go One, we Go All
and hashtag us the Plan. After it was clear that
the Capitol Building rioters were in deep shit and largely

(01:09):
connected to Q, major social media companies launched a sweeping
set of restrictions against anyone promoting Q and on. Specifically,
the major players were banned, deleted, and removed from platforms
such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Of course, these tech

(01:32):
giants made themselves out to be holier than thou by
doing this. But don't forget they allowed Q and on
to thrive before deciding to collectively take action. But take
action they did. Some of the largest Q and on
personalities had hundreds of thousands of followers. They lost their

(01:54):
accounts overnight, and so did the most vocal Q and
ons on social media, even if they only had a
small following. So within the space of eight weeks, Q vanished,
posting his last drop on December eight, Trump lost the election,

(02:15):
and Q and ons were removed from social media. At
this point when it was absolutely clear that Qu's plan
was all a hoax. The plan was never gonna happen.
Many Q and On's lost faith. We'll talk about that
in another episode, but today we're focusing on the t

(02:35):
and On's that didn't lose faith, the ones who doubled down.
They refused to accept the feet, and ironically, they then
found themselves in the perfect spot to take their conspiracy
theories to new levels of absolute madness. Banished from all

(02:56):
the mainstream social media sites, Q followers locked to the
instant messaging app Telegram. Essentially, they went underground. It's here
where Q and on has taken on a new, even
stranger form. Now, before we go into that, first, let's
talk about Telegram. You might use it yourself. I do,

(03:19):
most journalists have it. It's a lot like WhatsApp, but
the sales pitch amongst users is often that it's more
cryptographically secure. It's also not owned by Facebook, as WhatsApp is,
and therefore it isn't in favor of deeply on democratic
censorship like Facebook is. Now. Because of this, there have

(03:42):
been some extremely over dramatic takes written about Telegram. Some
journalists have even claimed it's an app for the far right.
That's really not quite accurate. As I've said, Telegram is
a messaging app where you can create your own channels
or groups, which basically like chat rooms. You can add people,

(04:03):
people can subscribe, you can broadcast information, or you can
allow everyone to talk whatever however you want to do it,
There are many options. Telegram, for the most part, adheres
to free speech in an absolutist kind of way and
is therefore pretty much open to everyone. There are very

(04:24):
few rules. Really. Now, does that mean that neo Nazis,
racists and other horrific scumbags can use this app? Yes?
And if that shocks you. All I can say is
welcome to the Internet. Telegram is not, however, only used
by the worst people in our society, those people I

(04:46):
just mentioned. Telegram is also used by activists living in
authoritarian regimes and a kiss militant groups. I follow a
group of them. I've seen them on there a few times.
Journalists throughout the world, loads all over the place putting
in information. There were news aggregators, leftist media organizations, many,

(05:08):
many varying different people and facets of society are using Telegram.
Telegram is simply a tool, and as I mentioned, it's
one Q and On's when absolutely wild with and they
still are now. Trust me, I do not work for Telegram.
I don't particularly care about Telegram who runs it. I

(05:29):
just wanted to get that out of the way so
people understand that this is just a messaging app that
was already there. The Q and Ons they migrated onto
it because you know, when they were kicked off of
social media, they needed a place to go. So many
different channels popped up on Telegram to take on what
we're in a way que and on refugees if you like.

(05:51):
I saw a few of them referring to themselves as that, which,
depending on some of their political views, is quite ironic.
They needed to the somewhere, though, and they wanted to
talk to each other, talk about the plan. Keep it
moving now. I've been following a few of these channels,
and to give you an idea of what they're about,
here's some content from one that has over one and

(06:15):
ten thousand subscribers. Brace yourself for this. This is pretty
much a standard message from this group. By the way,
it's wild, okay, so quote President Trump, Pompeo, Miller, Coms
and more popcorn emoji. Trump's statement on Afghanistan troops plus

(06:38):
decode follow the money zero day. The time has come
to take back our country. What is mill intel fees
a gate coming very soon to a fear near you?
Rats running timing is everything. Enjoy the show. Trump's statement
on terrorism plus decode Cuomo equals murderer, voter ideal or
will be mandated? Who fun isis HRC connected? Biden equals

(07:03):
cheatah what must be done first? Muslim brotherhood is not
the same thing as Islam. Pompeo to a right to
bear arms tweet ts ten eleven Q ten eleven gun
control coincidence. Miller Queen tweet t S one zero zero
Q one d who is the Queen of England, secret Society,
Evil Satan who follows spirit cooking represent Lynn Wood Cue

(07:27):
is the truth Trump, It's going to take a little
while to show pertaining to showing Pedo Biden's anti American policies.
I didn't fun help by the way, that's exactly how
it's written there. Very weird, Flynn. We need to renew
our faith in God. The truth is going to come out,
Ben Carson. We need to have strong beliefs to whether
the storm that's coming, keep the faith we will win.

(07:51):
End quote and breathe. As you can see, it is
absolute madness, but this does make sense to the people
in the group. Along with this message is over ten
different images and videos. The images are mostly screenshots from
various different que drops and Trump's statements. On the screenshot,

(08:16):
someone has tried to decode secret messages that are clearly
not there. There are arrows of different colors pointing here, there,
and everywhere. There are numbers, labels. Is all a massive
mess It's like Robert Langdon on meth and fair amine.
But a lot of them are still going along with this.
There are many comments on this saying yeah, we're gonna

(08:38):
win where we go, one we go all we know
the truth, that sort of thing they think. They're still
moving ahead with the so called plan. Being on telegram
has effectively lead the most hardcore of the hardcore Q
and Ons to each other all in one place. Something
interesting that seems to be happening now as well is

(09:00):
how they're all being coaxed into even more extremist ideologies
on telegram. Actual neo Nazis are coordinating with each other
and infiltrating Q and on Telegram group chats, trying to
push a more extremist ideology in the midst of the
madness of Q. I spoke to an independent researcher and

(09:21):
journalist named Matt Taylor who has been investigating various far
right groups on telegram. He's witnessed firsthand how they're trying
to turn Q and On's into something even more grotesque. Basically,
you've seen like more far right groups kind of what

(09:44):
trying to recruit from Q and on or what like
what are they doing? I think they're from what I'm seeing,
it looks like they're either trying to recruit from Q
and On or use Q and on as a sort
of vehicle for accelerationism, specifically the groups I monitor on
there they are accelerationists in nature and they see Q

(10:06):
and on. So they see Q and on as a
larp basically, right, Um, Like, they see it as nonsense
and they see it as sort of a just a
way that's like creating even more I guess diversion amongst
the right. So you mean like these these more hardline

(10:29):
far right groups, they look at Q and on they're like,
these people are idiots, but we can use it to
our advantage of basically yeah, yeah, exactly that they I mean,
they even they'll say it. They're like, yeah, it's absolutely
a psio, but we can use this. And how do
they use it? They use it by going in like
you'll see, um, one of the members of the Chats
forward a Q and on group and be like, hey, guys,

(10:51):
let's go in here. Look at what I said here
about Jewish people. Let's really try to push that point. Like,
so they're really trying to push the anti Semitism even further.
And also like Holocaust denial, praise for Hitler, pretty much
anything in that sort of vein. They're really trying to
push that in these groups. And I think it's easier

(11:12):
for them to do it on Telegram because there's not
really a there's not really a risk of getting banned,
you know, Like on Facebook, it would be really hard
for them to do that because groups get banned very quickly. UM.
And videos and articles and all that stuff about like
Holocaust denial UM usually at least from what I've seen,

(11:33):
get banned pretty quickly. Yeah. I mean they're going in
there too for infiltration purposes, just to like, like I said,
whether it be or whether it be for a recruitment,
or just to like further like poke and prod Q
and On into acting on some of these beliefs and everything. Yeah,
And how effective are they that you seeing Q and

(11:56):
On pushing back saying no, you know it because a
lot of Q and On, you know, as insane as
they were and as right wing as they were, they
won't all far right or racist at the start, you know,
as much as the media wanted to portray them as that,
they a lot of them actually won't. You know, they're
very lost, in my opinion, but they weren't all racists
and stuff like that. Um. Are you seeing like pushback

(12:18):
from them or are they kind of getting with it now?
Things are getting a little bit more bizarre in the ideology.
There's pushback in these channels, but I mean there's also
people saying like, oh, can you send me more resources
on that? That's really interesting. I've never thought of that before.
I think that's a pretty dangerous place to get into
because they are taking like somebody will drop in a

(12:39):
a bit shoot link to like a Hitler documentary and say, hey,
you know Hitler is not the bad guy or wasn't
the bad guy here? He was actually doing good, And
you know, some people will be like, well, no, he
was terrible, And then other people are like, wait, wait,
wait a second, I want to get can I see
some more information on that? Like that's kind of iopenning,

(13:01):
and that's I don't know. I just think that's a
very dangerous place or to the ant because it's you know,
not they're not accepting it, but they're not necessarily rejecting
it either, and that's a slippery place to be, you know. Yeah,
I think I think not completely immediately rejecting Nazism is

(13:23):
quite a step towards it exactly. And it's um I
think The issue with Q and On being on telegram
is I mean not to say that the anti Semitism
hasn't always been there. It's you know, it's always been
there in some degree, but it seems more pronounced, at
least from my point of view, on telegram. As like
I said, they don't have to worry about that band.

(13:44):
But one of these groups I monitor, one of these
like blatantly far right, like neo Nazi groups, were like, hey, guys,
go into this Q and on channel right now. They're
so demoralized you can pretty much say whatever you want.
They're not going to push back. He's like, I've been
saying too semitic stuff all day long and they're not
pushing back at all. It's great. And it's not just

(14:05):
like they're not just doing it on telegram right Like
I'll see um like even like Pole on four Chune,
like the poll board, like they'll they'll be like, hey, guys,
I posted this and this guy replied this. Can you
guys help me come up with a reply to him
to try to like pill this guy even further. And
so you'll have like two or three people be like, hey,

(14:27):
you should say this, or you should say this. And
it kind of like create this like Frankenstein's monster of
a response and put it on the board or whatever,
and they do the same thing, and the Q and
On chats as well. Um, So that's that's the thing
to consider. When you see like somebody say something like
super anty semitic or like full on like Nazi talking points,
it might not just be from that one person. It

(14:49):
might be from like a few people kind of collaborating
on a response. So it seems that now Q and
on is going to underground. It's being infiltrated by people
who want to make it more extreme. Out of sight,
out of mind. For some however, this could have a
potentially catastrophic reaction later down the road. What's more, the

(15:11):
Q and On ideology is evolving or devolving, depending on
how you look at it. Since Trump lost the election,
they've sort of broken off into two separate but also
sometimes converging threads of thought. On one hand, there's the
stop the Steel side of things, a concept the Trump

(15:32):
family has promoted. Stop the Steel refers to the belief
that the election was stolen from Trump by a deep
state operation to rig voting machines. In Joe Biden's favor.
This has been promoted heavily by eight chan's Ron Watkins,
one of two men I believe was running the Q

(15:53):
account for the most part of last year, as we
documented in series one. Then, on the other hand, there's
the Patriots are in control side of things. This is
the theory that actually Joe Biden's victory was allowed to
happen by Trump and Q. The idea is that Q

(16:13):
and Trump are secretly in control. They genuinely believe that
the Q team is working behind the scenes allowing everything
to happen as it is as a means of allowing
these so called bad guys to expose their evils further. Then,
they still believe Trump will swoop in and take over.

(16:33):
They believe that only then will there be enough evidence
to show everyone that Queue was right all along. Essentially,
they've shifted the goalposts to convince themselves and other people
that this is all still part of the plan. They
then think a new cuebact economic reform called Nassari take
hold when Trump comes back. Will be covering that in

(16:56):
detail in the future episode. One of the most add
and Q and On supporters that I've been watching for
years now is a man named Craig Mason. He had
a large following on YouTube before his channel was shut
down by them. Craig is one of the most optimistic, chirpy,
and very naive Quanns out there. Mason honestly seems like

(17:20):
without all of this nonsense, he'd probably be a genuinely
fun guy to grab a drink with. He's not as
embedded in the nastiness, perhaps as many of the other
Quanns are. Unfortunately, he is completely and utterly wrapped up
in Q still. I watched one of his recent videos
on bits you a YouTube clone that is next to

(17:43):
no community rules. This is what he had to say
on one of his live streams. This was recorded January twelve,
twenty one. He's reading an old Q drop from November one, seventeen.
This is something a lot of the Q no ons
are doing now that Q has vanished. They're reading over

(18:04):
old Q drops and quote decoding them to retroactively give
them meaning to what's currently happening now. So before before
Trump was voted out of office, they were saying, Okay,
this is what Q is saying, this is the plan
that is coming up. Now they're saying, actually, Q was
giving us a code to deal with ourselves once he vanishes.

(18:28):
When Trump is removed from office, it's quite unhinged. Have
a listen. Okay, So how about this for a little
potential decode action of an interesting post. If we look
at this here, four carries and escorts in the Pacific,
why is that relevant to prevent other state actors from
attempting to harm us during this transition old transition or

(18:50):
transitioning to a new administration, a second administration probably Trump,
I think largely at the time, and everything is happening,
not increased military movement. We've seen an increase military movement.
Note and g National Guard deployment is starting tomorrow. Our
National Guard deployment is going to start on Wednesday. We've
already seen that they're making movements in Washington, d C.
Note ffs, they're trying follow humor. I don't know. Human

(19:14):
is prepared messages of reassurance based and what was dropped
here to spread in different platforms. This has got to
be it, right, This has got to be it. This
has got to be it. What other timing can it be?
The inauguration is in nine days, and I really think
beyond that, it's got to be now Momophor procsven versus,
I feel that my bones something is dropping. I could

(19:35):
not agree more. Andy Girls says, how the heck did
did you know this would all happen? I mean it
is so spotted spot on it's insane. I know right,
It's been planned for many years. So there we have it.
As you can hear, they are desperately holding onto this
idea that Q is alive and kicking planning and will

(19:59):
eventually turn. It's actually quite sad to listen to Q
and On has not gone away. It's just gone underground,
and now it's more outlandish and potentially dangerous than ever.
Q Clearance is brought to you by I Heart Radio

(20:20):
and cou Data Media. I'm Jake Hanrahan. You can find
me online at Jake Underscore Hanrahan. That's h A N
A h A N. This episode was produced by myself,
with fact checking and additional research by Sarah Hightower. The

(20:43):
music is by Sam Black and the sound was mixed
by Thomas Griffin. That Splicing Block unperson of and Comperton

(21:06):
of Burton actor