Last week it was a party in the world of QAnon. For the first time since Trump’s election defeat, Leader Q made his voice again. “Are you ready to serve your country again?,” asked an anonymous figure named Q on the far-right internet forum 8kun (previously known as 8chan) on Friday, June 25. Supporters of Leader Q and his plots believe former President Donald Trump is waging a covert battle against the… deep state: A worldwide group of pedophile Satanists that rules various governments, business and media. His conspiracies are spread worldwide millions of people believed.
It is not clear whether the new messages from Q – also called Q drops – were posted by the original Q. Experts suspect that 8kun’s administrators assisted in his return, facilitating or even fabricating his post. In QAnon groups on messaging app Telegram, there is little doubt. “Praise GOD”, “God is winning” and “Another big win”, that’s how it sounds.
I took a look at the social media platform truth social, of the still-banned Trump from Twitter and Facebook to watch Q’s return fall there. Truth Social has been an echo chamber for QAnon conspiracies from the start. 24 hours before the developers created an account for Trump themselves, they had already created one for Q. Since then, the platform has provided many QAnon influencers with a verified profile. Trump is helping spread QAnon conspiracies by further sharing posts from these profiles.
What I saw was a small group of conspiracy theorists who believe that Q’s return is an important historical moment for their movement. “Q is sharing messages again and Trump is holding rallies again. Get ready patriots. We go on the attack again,” writes verified QAnon influencer Qtah.
Whether the new Q is real or fake, Q’s messages are stirring the hearts of QAnon supporters the old-fashioned way.