And 47 percent of social media users said that conspiracy theory content, including QAnon ideas, should be removed from the platforms -- the lowest share for any other type of content listed in the question. Thirteen percent said the content shouldn’t be removed or receive a warning, the highest share of any other content type tested.
A small but notable group of social media users also said that their friends or family members are engaging with QAnon content: 13 percent said their friends have engaged positively with QAnon content online, and 11 percent said the same about their family members. Those figures were similar no matter the respondent’s political affiliation.
The proliferation of QAnon content since the pandemic lockdowns started has made completely eradicating the group’s online spaces impossible now, Carusone said.
QAnon’s members are nimble, with many of them able to rally around a new hashtag, forum or other online organizing tool much faster than others after their old groups or hashtags have been removed or flagged by social media moderators. For instance, in recent months, the group has started to mobilize around the hashtag #SaveTheChildren as a recruitment tool.
“Everything that happened before April was bad and a concern, but the reason we’re having a conversation about QAnon right now is because it’s never going away,” Carusone said. “The ship has sailed.”
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