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Understanding the Role of Conspiracy Theories in a Hyperpolarized Media Ecosystem in the United States

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Understanding the Role of Conspiracy Theories in a Hyperpolarized Media Ecosystem in the United States Misinformation Culture War: Post-truth and the Case of QAnon Understanding the role of conspiracy theories in a hyperpolarized media ecosystem in the United States Filippo Fagnoni MA Thesis University of Amsterdam Programme: Media Studies Track: New Media & Digital Culture Referencing: Chicago July 9th, 2020 Fagnoni 2 Index Index .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 1. Theory 1.1: How Did We Get Here? Genealogy of the American Cultural and Media Divide .............. 10 Culture Wars Predating the Internet ............................................................................. 10 Online Culture Wars ..................................................................................................... 15 Post-Truth ..................................................................................................................... 23 1.2: The New Conspiracism: The Deligitimation of Democracy and the Eclipse of Truth ......... 28 Conspiracy Theories as Tools to Obscure Established Narratives ................................. 28 The New Conspiracism.................................................................................................. 32 QAnon: The Great Awakening....................................................................................... 38 2. Methodology: Studying QAnon within the YouTube Ecosystem ........................................... 44 2.1. Building Datasets From YouTube ...................................................................................... 44 2.2. Using YouTube Data Tools and Gephi ............................................................................... 47 3. Operationalization: Determining YouTube’s Role in QAnon Network .................................. 48 3.1. Quantitative Analysis of QAnon Channels on YouTube ..................................................... 48 3.2. Qualitative Analysis of QAnon Videos on YouTube .......................................................... 57 3.2.1. “Q - The Plan To Save The World REMASTERED” By Joe M ............................ 58 3.2.2. “Q&A With #OutOfShadows’ Brad Martin w/ Host @CoralineElise” by IntheMatrixxx ............................................................................................................... 61 3.2.3. “Q anon 11/11/18 Let the Unsealing Begin” by SpaceShot76 .............................. 65 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 68 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................. 72 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 84 Fagnoni 3 Acknowledgements The realization of this thesis would not have been possible without the terrific network of support around me. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Marc Tuters for guiding me through the complex web of reflecting on, identifying, and constructing a comprehensive thesis project. His prior work in the field, along with other great professors, gave me the inspiration to pursue my topic with enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. His advice helped significantly in producing my best work through my writing process. I would like to thank the program’s coordinators, for enabling me to further my curiosity in a safe and accepting environment. I would like to thank my close friends, who made this year wonderful and vibrant, continuously supporting me even when things became challenging. While working on this thesis, many of you have helped me in a multitude of ways which were imperative, directly or indirectly, to its completion. I will never forget the endless library nights, study sessions, last-minute deadlines and celebratory beers. I would like to thank my family for assisting me through my study years, encouraging me and inspiring me every step of the way. Above all, I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for my wonderful parents – for giving me all the space to dream, live, and love ceaselessly in this confusing, yet beautiful world. I owe it all to you, your devotion and your care for my dreams to become reality. Fagnoni 4 Abstract This research is concerned with understanding the role of conspiracy theories in the augmentation of a post-truth, hyper-polarized media ecosystem in the United States. The exacerbation of culture wars within American culture, politics, and media in the digital age has aggravated a fractured media ecosystem, manifesting itself through the acceleration of misinformation, repeated falsehoods, and opinion-based realities in contrast to evidence-based actualities. In the period following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, awareness and prominence of right-wing nationalism, populist fringe movements, conspiracy theories, and extremist ideologies have intensified considerably within national public discourse. During this period, the normalization of misinformation and conspiratorial frameworks went mainstream, starkly reinforced by a systematic vilification of the free press, mainstream media, news outlets, mass communication, and knowledge-producing institutions. The polarity compounded by a surge of post-truth elements within the media ecosystem left fertile ground for the emergence of conspiracy theories which have been capable of forming new political and cultural movements, aided by the design and affordances of dominant digital platforms such as YouTube and Twitter. These conspiracy theories have been able to diffuse from the periphery of the American media to its nucleus, propagating from anonymous imageboards such as 4chan to social media platforms and mainstream media outlets. A new form of conspiracism, based on repetition rather than evidence, has taken a solid foothold in American political thought, reinforced by its media apparatus; as such, the QAnon conspiracy theory was chosen as a case study. Through theoretical framework, quantitative and qualitative analysis, this thesis uncovers a deeper understanding of the conspiracy’s roots, the long standing division within American media that has enabled these conspiracy theories to surface in mainstream thought, and a current overview of the interconnected QAnon network within the YouTube ecosystem. Together, these results suggest that the American media’s polarity is further compounded by the contemporaneous erosion of truth, the denigration of knowledge-producing institutions, and the emergence of cultural and political movements stemming from conspiracy theories born, and augmented, within the digital sphere. Keywords: Conspiracy Theories, Post-truth, QAnon, Misinformation, Media Polarization, YouTube Fagnoni 5 Introduction On July 31st, 2018, in the midst of the United States’ summer midterm rallies, U.S. President Donald J. Trump spoke to a packed, impassioned crowd at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida. Broadcasted on major television outlets and streamed live on social media, mainstream media viewers were exposed for the first time to a fringe movement revolving around the right- wing, pro-Trump conspiracy “QAnon.” Large cardboard cutouts depicting the letter Q flashed intermittently in the audience, while banners with “We Are Q” and “#QAnon” could be witnessed around the rally grounds. Rally attendees were spotted wearing t-shirts with a large letter Q printed on the frontside. Handmade posters with QAnon’s slogans “Where We Go One, We Go All” and “The Great Awakening” were held high between a sea of red “Make America Great Again” ballcaps. The unique, en-masse presence of QAnon supporters at the Tampa rally seemed to reveal just the beginning of the offline manifestation of a conspiracy theory born and cultivated online. Just four months later, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted a picture, then quickly deleted it, of himself about to board Air Force Two posing with a Florida SWAT team sheriff’s deputy sporting a “Q” patch on his uniform and the phrase “Question the Narrative.” In March of 2019, the Gambino crime family underboss Frank Cali was shot ten times by Anthony Comello, an avid follower of QAnon who believed Cali to be a member of the deep state, an alleged conglomerate of liberal elites and celebrities who clasp a firm grip over the United States government, its intelligence agencies, and the decision-making power behind national secrets and institutions (McIntire & Roose 2020; Laviola, 2018). At a court appearance, Comello displayed the “Q” symbol and the phrase “MAGA Forever”1 scribbled on his palms. As of January 2020, more than twenty candidates running campaigns for U.S. Congress openly supported the QAnon conspiracy theory and engaged with QAnon content on their social media accounts (Relman, 2019). The conspiracy is growing at an alarming rate on social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter, generating interconnected networks of influence, accelerating a diffusion of misinformation and unverifiable claims in the media ecosystem as well as attracting considerable support from anti- government militias and movements both nationally and
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