Anonymous vows to take down, expose QAnon
The hacking collective Anonymous is pledging to expose the people behind the "QAnon" conspiracy theory.
The anarchist hacking group slammed the QAnon conspiracy as potentially dangerous and driven by a “brainless political agenda” in a video posted Sunday to what is widely considered the most reliable Anonymous Twitter account.
“We will not sit idly by while you take advantage of the misinformed and poorly educated,” the group said in the video, which was posted with the hashtags #OpQ and #OpQAnon.
The video depicts various figures with Anonymous masks acting out certain aspects of the QAnon conspiracy against a constant backdrop of the letter “Q.”
The video claims that Anonymous “knew who was responsible for Q” and thought it was funny at first. However, the group now believes the conspiracy theory has gone too far.
“Someone is going to get hurt, so we have to put our foot down and start some shit with you all,” the group said in the video.
QAnon shifted into the spotlight after numerous attendees at President Trump's rally in Florida last week held Q-shaped cutouts and posters alluding to the conspiracy theory.
The wide-ranging and vague “QAnon” touches on a number of popular conspiracy theories: Democrats and prominent Hollywood figures are orchestrating underground pedophile rings; special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe is a front for investigating 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Obama for their ties to said rings; and hundreds of sealed indictments may have already been handed down in the Clinton case.
The theory was started by a person on the message board 4chan last year claiming to be a high-ranking security official in the Trump administration. The individual or individuals goes by the identity of "Q" and has continued to fan the theory on online platforms.
A number of conservative figures have pushed back against the conspiracy theory on Twitter in recent days, including Michael Flynn Jr., the son of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Anonymous has been adamantly opposed to Trump since he announced his candidacy in 2015. The group declared "cyber war" on Trump in March 2016, directing its followers to take down the then-candidate's websites.
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/400526-anonymous-vows-to-take-down-expose-qanon