QAnon conspiracy theories are experiencing a resurgence on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X. This comes after Musk acquired the company, formerly known as Twitter. A new study from Newsguard has revealed that QAnon-related slogans and hashtags have increased by a staggering 1,283 percent on X under Musk’s leadership.
From May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024, there were 1.12 million mentions of QAnon supporter phrases on X, a significant increase from the 81,100 mentions in the previous year. One of the most viral QAnon-related posts of the year, on the “Frazzledrip” conspiracy, has received more than 21.8 million views.
Most concerning is the support Musk has shown for certain right-wing influencers who post these conspiracy theories. For instance, @dom_lucre, a user who commonly posts far-right conspiracy theories, was suspended on then-Twitter in July 2023 for posting child exploitation pictures. However, Musk intervened in favor of @dom_lucre and reinstated his account. Since then, @dom_lucre has been able to monetize his posts via X’s official creator monetization program.
Read more: mashable.com