This is the second installment of “Beyond ‘Q,’” a series examining QAnon's evolution in 2021 after its central figure stopped posting and the conspiracy theory grew into a lasting movement. Read the first installment here and the third installment here.
As the world struggled with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the QAnon conspiracy theory experienced rapid platform growth and a breakthrough year in 2020, a turnaround from a bit of a rut the conspiracy theory faced after “Q” -- the central figure of QAnon -- was knocked offline in mid-2019. Studies found that traffic for and consumption of QAnon content on social media platforms boomed during 2020. As this content boomed, so did false conspiracy theories about COVID-19. Q even joined in on the community’s conspiracy theories.
That focus on COVID-19 continued into 2021, as the QAnon and anti-vaccine communities became increasingly intertwined.
One notable example of the connection came in July, when Jeffrey Pedersen and Shannon Townsend — the co-hosts of the QAnon-promoting MatrixxxGrooove Show, who are known online as “intheMatrixxx” and “ShadyGrooove,” respectively — interviewed Andrew Wakefield, the godfather of the modern anti-vaccination movement. During the interview, Wakefield even said part of the QAnon slogan -- “Where we go one, we go all.”
This all unfolded months after Q’s last post on December 8, 2020 -- signaling the spread of the conspiracy theory beyond its central figure.
As the QAnon community attacked vaccines, anti-vax figures saw allies
By the beginning of 2021, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok had finally announced crackdowns on QAnon. But it was not enough to extensively hamper the growth of QAnon. The QAnon community remained engaged throughout the year, in part because of the emergence of what they called “the death jab” -- safe and effective coronavirus vaccines.
The QAnon community is notably anti-vax, with polling in July finding a significant percentage of the unvaccinated had QAnon beliefs. And when coronavirus vaccines were released to the American public in early 2021, the community turned its attacks on the shots.
In January, QAnon supporters -- some of whom were radicalized during the pandemic -- were able to temporarily shut down a Los Angeles vaccination site. A QAnon influencer, Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman (known online as “Tore”), organized anti-vaccine mandate lawsuits in every state in the country, seeking to file a lawsuit with the Supreme Court -- which she now claims to have done. Multiple QAnon influencers shared schemes to get people religious exemptions from the vaccines, and others got their followers to harass hospitals about COVID-19 treatments. QAnon supporters participated in anti-vaccine events, including protesting at places with vaccine mandates.