I den här uppsatsen så undersöks de mytiska utgångspunkterna i denNordamerikanska QAnon-rörelsen. QAnon dök upp på den politiska scenen i slutet av2017 i samband med att källan ”Q” började posta politiska förutsägelser i internetforumsom 4Chan och 8Chan. ”Q” startade en rörelse som nu sprider sig över världen och somanvänder sig av ett potpurri av konspirationsteorier för att föra fram sitt budskap. I dethär arbetet kommer några av de mytologiska teman vi hittar hos Qanon-rörelsen attanalyseras med hjälp av bland annat den mytanalys vi finner hos amerikanskareligionshistorikern Joseph Campbells. / In this thesis I investigate the mythical foundations of the North AmericanQAnon-movement. QAnon entered the political right-wing scene during 2017 when thesource ”Q” started posting ”drops” on the 4Chan and 8Chan message boards. ”Q”started a movement now spreading across the world by connecting different conspiracytheories to a ”big tent conspiracy theory”. In this text I will analyse some of the themesused by the QAnon-movement using the myth-analysis of, among others, the americanmythologist Joseph Campbell.

On January 6, 2021, America watched as thousands stormed the United States Capitol. Among the flags, shirts, and other memorabilia bearing former President Donald Trump’s visage stood a subtle symbol associated with several far-right conspiracy theories: “Q.” This qualitative study examines how the press’s coverage of the QAnon conspiracy theory shifted after the January 6 Capitol attack. The study finds that QAnon is often used as a reference point to imply negative connotations towards an individual or political party. Before the Capitol attack, news outlets were more likely to connect QAnon to political actors, whereas connections to far-right extremist groups were frequently made after the Capitol attack. / Media Studies & Production

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This study aims to dive deeper into the specific structure, propagation and adaptability of the American alt-right political movement QAnon’s underlying narrative through the lens of “Digital Storytelling”. The method employed being a holistic narrative analysis. Utilizing data collected from the image boards 4chan, 8chan and 8kun we look at a large narrative specifically centered around Donald Trump’s presidency. By gaining a more thorough understanding of the narrative techniques employed to create said narrative, this study will highlight resilient and recurring structures within the QAnon movement. Our findings show that the movement through the application of several characteristic features of digital storytelling have created a highly adaptable narrative. The cryptic nature of messaging used by the movements original author has through the instance of “decoding”, allowed a range of different interpretations to flourish. We identify three key factors connected to the success of the QAnon narrative, these being, 1: An authentic message, created through both hidden and visible feedback. 2: An elastic and resilient narrative, formed through iterative interpretations of coded messages. 3: A tight knitted group-identity, reinforced by the self-classifying as underdogs.

The introduction of social media platforms influenced the social dynamics by changing the way individuals are exposed to information. The straightforwardness of social media communication resulted in an overwhelming amount of information for users, and the variety of sources of the information is limiting users’ ability to assess what information is genuine and what is disinformation. Exploiting this shift in societal functioning, conspiracy theories have taken advantage of social media's reach to undermine the foundations of societies. One such theory, QAnon, which revolves around a fantastical narrative of a ruling satanic cabal exploiting children, has transitioned from the obscure corners of cyberspace to become a topic of mainstream media, courtesy of social media algorithms, journalistic interest, and opportunistic politicians. The impact of the QAnon discourse resulted in violent acts for some of the followers, culminating in the U.S. Capitol storming. This act provoked immense ban activity by major social media networks. With the passage of time, interest in QAnon has waned considerably. Thus, through a survey and thematic and content analysis, this research aims to assess and answer the following research questions: Where are QAnon conspiracy theory groups present in social media networks? and What are the main discussion themes and conspiracy theory targets? two years after the “storm“ incident. Gab, Telegram and Rumble are the social media platforms that have the most QAnon followers and discussions. An analysis confirmed that the discourse mainly concentrates around politics and conspiracy theories, with Donald Trump being the individual whose activities occupy the attention of most of the discussion topics. Calls for violence are rare, mostly in the form of predicting military coups or military courts, the QAnon followers’ narrative that has already been seen. In the case of QAnon, disinformation remains an attack vector in cyber warfare which underscores the need for further analysis into the development and influence the theory has towards upcoming major political events.

At the crossroads of law, conspiracy theory research and philosophy, this thesis investigates the permanent ban of QAnon from Facebook and Twitter, determining whether their deplatforming constitutes a violation of free speech. By first conducting a content analysis of free speech legislation in Germany and the US, it becomes evident that the matter needs to be approached from an ethical perspective rather than a legal one. To this end, I am testing an ethical framework suggested by Cíbik and Hardoš (2020). Based on the concept of ethical unreasonableness, the framework will be used to determine whether QAnon is harmful and its ban was justified. The case study consists of an in-depth analysis of QAnon’s evolution, distribution and core narratives in Germany and the US, followed by an examination of Facebook and Twitter’s justifications for deplatforming all QAnon assets. The ethical framework will then be applied to selected QAnon narratives based on their prevalence in the time from February 2020 to February 2021. It becomes clear that the ethical framework at hand needs to be adjusted and is unsuitable for everyday content moderation but should still be used by the social media companies for training purposes to improve decision making. The question of whether deplatforming QAnon was a violation of free speech is not easily answered as depending on the point of view it is or is not a violation of freedom of speech. Ultimately, big social media companies need to be redefined as to their role and responsibilities in today’s societies before any content moderation measures can be adequately examined.

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The coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of individuals all over the world. The goal of this research is to investigate and understand the narratives and underlying messages of the QAnon movement concerning COVID-19. The theoretical basis for this analysis is that of uncertainty-identity theory and extremism to study the process by which people embrace these types of movements and their values. Also, to examine the spread of QAnons’ messages and conspiracy theories on digital media, network society theory is used. In order to carry out this research, we conducted qualitative content analysis on data gathered directly from QAnon sources. According to the results of the study, the movement proceeded to create crisis narratives that tap into social anxieties and political uncertainty. Accordingly, the pandemic was used for the movement to grow, gain new momentum and supporters, and even merge other conspiracy theories making the narratives more elaborate.

Veritas: À la recherche d'une cabale de démons mangeurs d'enfants qui contrôlerait l'État, les suivants de Veritas, une théorie du complot créée dans les coins sombres de l'Internet par l'énigmatique prophète Vox, renversent la civilisation comme on la connaît. Mais ils ne s'arrêtent pas là : lorsqu'il ne leur reste plus d'ennemi extérieur, ils forment des factions et s'entredéchirent au nom de la vérité absolue, chaque faction étant convaincue que toutes les autres ont abandonné la voie. Dans les ruines âprement disputées d'une cité sans nom, cinq survivants tentent d'échapper aux fanatiques et à leurs envies meurtrières. L'influence pernicieuse et tordue de Veritas s'étend cependant sur eux, les retourne l'un contre l'autre et les transforme... ou révèle plutôt leurs parts d'ombre. Ces histoires qui nous détruisent: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion et QAnon, deux théories du complot du XXe et du XXIe siècle respectivement, emploient dans leur narration des procédés directement tirés de la fiction littéraire. Ce mémoire tente de les identifier et d'expliquer leur utilité dans la diffusion des théories du complot concernées. Ce mémoire étudie la structure, la voix narrative, la forme du discours et la présence de clichés littéraires dans The Protocols. En ce qui concerne QAnon, l'analyse prouve que l'histoire racontée par l'énigmatique « Q » et ses légions anonymes est en fait une reprise modernisée de l'histoire des Protocols. Le mémoire se penche également sur les influences littéraires de QAnon et sur les techniques uniques de narration participative de la théorie.

Le présent mémoire interroge la figure du complot en tant que posture interprétative qui possède elle-même des points communs avec la structure de l’analyse littéraire et artistique. En tant que dynamique de lecture, ces deux démarches tentent de révéler un discours en récoltant une série d’indices qui présupposent la composition d’un discours totalisant et descriptif. À partir de cette analogie initiale, je tente de réfléchir une pratique d’analyse littéraire délaissant ses prétentions à la rationalité et favorisant l’exposition de la subjectivité comme point de départ nécessaire à l’élaboration d’une connaissance. Cette réflexion sur le complot se présente comme une suite de trois études de cas. Le premier chapitre s’intéresse à l’œuvre dessinée de la mangaka Tsurita Kuniko (1947-1985), en s’attardant particulièrement à la représentation des manifestations étudiantes japonaises de la fin des années 60 à travers un récit intitulé « 65121320262719 ». Cette lecture devient l’occasion d’interroger les théories herméneutiques de la « lecture symptomale » et de la « lecture de surface ». Le second chapitre s’intéresse à la représentation de la société secrète dans le film Out 1 : noli me tangere (1971) de Jacques Rivette. Créé à partir d’un strict procédé d’improvisation, le film met en parallèle l’indétermination narrative de cette méthode de tournage à la force de contrôle de ses sociétés secrètes fictives. Le troisième chapitre est l’occasion d’une étude de réelles théories du complot, et propose une interprétation de l’interactivité lectorale dans les échanges web autour de la théorie du complot QAnon. / This thesis examines the figure of the conspiracy as an interpretive stance that shares similarities with the framework of literary and artistic analysis. As reading practices, they both seek to reveal a specific discourse by gathering a series of clues that presuppose the composition of a totalizing and descriptive account. From this opening analogy, I attempt to consider a practice of literary analysis that abandons its pretensions to rationality and favors the exposure of subjectivity as a necessary stage and starting point for the elaboration of knowledge. This study of conspiracy is presented as a series of three case studies. The first chapter looks at the comic work of mangaka Tsurita Kuniko (1947-1985), focusing in particular on the representation of the Japanese student protests of the late 60s through a story entitled "65121320262719". This work offers an opportunity to question the hermeneutic theories of "symptomatic reading" and "surface reading". The second chapter focuses on the representation of secret societies in Jacques Rivette's film Out 1: noli me tangere (1971). Created from a rigorous process of improvisation, the film contrasts the narrative indeterminacy of this shooting method with the controlling force of its fictitious secret societies. The third chapter examines real-life conspiracy theories, and proposes an interpretation of readership interactivity in web exchanges around the QAnon conspiracy theory.