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QAnon is an ‘amorphous blob of conspiracy that can adapt to any situation,’ CSUSB professor says
The Washington Post
Nov. 12, 2020
President Trump’s electoral defeat has shaken American followers of QAnon. International believers are mostly keeping faith — and taking the conspiracy in new directions. Those who study the movement are not certain what comes next, but they think Q narratives will stick around in some form, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic rages.
“It’s just this amorphous blob of conspiracy that can adapt to any situation,” said Kevin Grisham, the associate director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino. “When things change, the story changes, too.”
Read the complete article at “In the United States, QAnon is struggling. The conspiracy is thriving overseas.”
‘MyMilitia’ social media app is ‘like Tinder for militia folks,’ CSUSB professor says
Rolling Stone
Nov. 12, 2020
There’s a great deal of bluster on the forums of MyMilitia, a social media site that links people up with militias around the country. It has come under scrutiny after a member was arrested for allegedly threatening to blow up and FBI building.
Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University, San Bernardino, refers to the website as “almost like Tinder for militia folks,” in that it connects people interested in finding militias with existing chapters in their area, or with other potential members to form new ones. “I don’t want to suggest everyone on there is a bomb-throwing lunatic,” Levin tells Rolling Stone. “But if I were a bomb-throwing lunatic, that’d be a place I’d want to check out.” (MyMilitia did not respond to requests for comment.)
Levin says it’s not surprising that activity on MyMilitia would increase in the wake of crackdowns by Facebook and Twitter. “When larger commercial platforms step up their game, that elevates the importance of these affinity-based platforms like MyMilitia where people now know to gather,” he says.
Read the complete article at “MyMilitia is like Tinder for the far-right.”
CSUSB professor discusses migration of far-right groups, restricted by mainstream social media, to smaller platforms
Rolling Stone
Nov. 12, 2020
As Twitter and Facebook crack down on misinformation, many on the right are joining smaller sites like Parler and MeWe— creating echo-chambers of extremist ideas.
“I think what you’re going to see is a leaner, meaner group of folks” migrating from larger platforms to smaller ones like MeWe and Parler, says Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University, San Bernardino. “[And] that will be problematic.”
Read the complete article at “‘Free speech’ social media apps see enormous growth after the election.”
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