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Chapter 14 - QAnon, Folklore, and Conspiratorial Consensus

A Case Study in the Computational Analysis of Conspiracy Theory Narratives

from Part IV - The Role of Communication in Promoting and Limiting QAnon Support

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

By
Timothy R. Tangherlini ,
Shadi Shahsavari ,
Pavan Holur  and
Vwani Roychowdhury
Edited by
Monica K. Miller
Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
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Summary

QAnon, a conspiracy theory composed of a complex series of interlocking narratives detailing the machinations of malign actors whose seemingly insurmountable powers pose an existential threat to social order, is anchored in a folkloric process. It includes a wide range of characters from bad guys who kidnap, traffic, and cannibalize children, to good guys who rally “patriots” to fight elements of the “deep state.” We consider ~2 million discussion posts to social media forums where community members puzzle out the cryptic messages of the eponymous “Q.” Predicating our work on folklore theory, we apply a computational pipeline of AI methods to reveal the underlying narrative framework of the QAnon discussion forums, and identify the various links between otherwise largely unlinked domains of interaction and events that animate the conspiracy theory. We present a real-time user interface that allows users to monitor the changing topological features of the QAnon narrative framework.

Keywords

conspiracy theorycomputational folkloristicsnatural language processingdynamic data analysissocial mediastorytellingnetwork analysisartificial intelligence
Type
Chapter
Information
The Social Science of QAnon
A New Social and Political Phenomenon
 , pp. 234 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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