2021/10/31 by Wentao Xu, Xu, Wentao, Kazutoshi Sasahara +1
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Advanced Malware Detection Techniques #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #J.4 #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI) #Spam and Phishing Detection
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.00537
openalex publication_date 2021/10/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
QAnon is an umbrella conspiracy theory that encompasses a wide spectrum of people. The COVID-19 pandemic has helped raise the QAnon conspiracy theory to a wide-spreading movement, especially in the US. Here, we study users' dynamics on Twitter related to the QAnon movement (i.e., pro-/anti-QAnon and less-leaning users) in the context of the COVID-19 infodemic and the topics involved using a simple network-based approach. We found that pro- and anti-leaning users show different population dynamics and that late less-leaning users were mostly anti-QAnon. These trends might have been affected by Twitter's suspension strategies. We also found that QAnon clusters include many bot users. Furthermore, our results suggest that QAnon continues to evolve amid the infodemic and does not limit itself to its original idea but instead extends its reach to create a much larger umbrella conspiracy theory. The network-based approach in this study is important for nowcasting the evolution of the QAnon movement.