Unmasking “Clandestine,” the Figure Behind the Viral “Ukrainian Biolab” Conspiracy Theory
April 5, 2022 >reads like a bad soap opera
might have already been note?
Unmasking “Clandestine,” the Figure Behind the Viral “Ukrainian Biolab” Conspiracy Theory
Update: On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, Creech appeared on the Alex Jones Show, where he confirmed his identity – and his role in perpetrating the biolab conspiracy theory.
The ADL Center on Extremism has, with a high degree of confidence, identified “Clandestine,” the man behind the viral biolab conspiracy theory, as Jacob Creech, a self-described former restaurant manager and Army National Guard veteran living in rural Virginia. The discovery highlights how a fringe QAnon figure, harnessing the power of social media, sparked a viral conspiracy theory that – in just a few weeks – made its way from QAnon to the world stage, amplified by Tucker Carlson, white supremacists Nick Fuentes and Vincent James, members of the Proud Boys, and Steve Bannon – and even the Kremlin.
…InfoWars, a conspiracy site run by Alex Jones, published a story promoting the biolab conspiracy, crediting @WarClandestine for uncovering what it dubbed the “ulterior motive theory.”
QAnon forums and Telegram channels also began to share the theory. Meanwhile, the hashtag #USBiolabs began trending on Twitter and TikTok, where posts promoting the conspiracy racked up tens of thousands of likes.
Unmasking “Clandestine,” the Figure Behind the Viral “Ukrainian Biolab” Conspiracy Theory
Within hours of his initial thread, Creech’s biolab theory began to spread across QAnon communities on Telegram and greatawakening.win.
Creech, under his aliases WarClandestine and BioClandestine, has twice appeared on RedPill78, a popular QAnon show hosted by Zak Paine, to promote the biolab theory. “I'm the one who wrote the [Twitter] thread that kind of took the world by storm. If you're hearing about the bio labs it was me,” Creech said during a February 26 appearance on the show. He also promoted the theory, under his alias BioClandestine, during a March 15th appearance on election fraud conspiracy theorist Seth Holehouse’s show Man in America, saying, “they're trying to establish a narrative that Russia is going to be the one releasing these biological weapons after they said there were no biological weapons in Ukraine. So now they're in this mass cover-up phase.”
Unmasking “Clandestine,” the Figure Behind the Viral “Ukrainian Biolab” Conspiracy Theory
Jacob Creech called into RedPill78, an online show hosted by QAnon influencer Zak Paine, on February 26, 2022.
Creech has attempted to distance himself from QAnon, criticizing news reports that refer to him as a “QAnon influencer.” A review of Creech’s prior social media activity, however, shows he’s been following Q since 2018.
Creech has repeatedly invoked “Q” over the years. In 2018, he tweeted from his @ClandestineRos1 account, “There are many stances on Q, but we cannot deny the reality and magnitude of the movement.” In 2020, he tweeted under @arbiter1776, “… what is our role as Anons to assist the Q team and carry on The Great Awakening? It is our personal responsibility to be informed.” Creech also appeared on RedPill78 in November 2020, under his alias Clandestine Rosenstein, just a few weeks after the election, where he, alongside host Zak Paine and fellow QAnon influencer Beer at the Parade, peddled false claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen.”
https://www.adl.org/blog/unmasking-clandestine-the-figure-behind-the-viral-ukrainian-biolab-conspiracy-theory