New Qanon hit-piece from mediamatters.org

Google is selling (and profiting from) QAnon apps despite prohibiting apps with content that “incites violence”

The apps’ creators have also pushed workarounds on Apple’s App Store, which had previously removed all QAnon apps

WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN

Google is making money off of multiple apps in its Google Play Store that promote the QAnon conspiracy theory, even though Google prohibits apps that can incite violence and an FBI field office has listed the conspiracy theory – multiple adherents of which have committed violent acts – as a potential domestic terrorism threat.

Google, which runs the Google Play Store, lists a section among “restricted content” on its developer policy center that says, “We don't allow apps with content related to terrorism, such as content that promotes terrorist acts, incites violence, or celebrates terrorist attacks.” Yet a review by Media Matters found multiple apps on the Play Store that support QAnon.

QAnon, which revolves around an anonymous account known as “Q,” started on far-right message board site 4chan. It later moved to fellow far-right message board site 8chan, which has since relaunched as 8kun. (Beyond the QAnon conspiracy theory, 8chan/8kun has been linked to multiple instances of white supremacist terrorism, including the 2019 massacre in El Paso, Texas.) The “Q” account’s claim – and the conspiracy theory's premise – is that President Donald Trump was working with then-special counsel Robert Mueller to take down the president’s perceived enemies, the “deep state,” and pedophiles. Multiple adherents to the conspiracy theory have been tied to acts of violence, including multiple murders and an attempted kidnapping. Last May, an FBI field office released a memo that listed QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat.

https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/google-selling-and-profiting-qanon-apps-despite-prohibiting-apps-content