BibTeX
@online{Hoseini2105.13020,
TITLE = {On the Globalization of the {QAnon} Conspiracy Theory Through {Telegram}},
AUTHOR = {Hoseini, Mohamad and Melo, Philipe and Benevenuto, Fabricio and Feldmann, Anja and Zannettou, Savvas},
LANGUAGE = {eng},
URL = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.13020},
EPRINT = {2105.13020},
EPRINTTYPE = {arXiv},
YEAR = {2021},
MARGINALMARK = {$\bullet$},
ABSTRACT = {QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that became popular and mainstream<br>over the past few years. Worryingly, the QAnon conspiracy theory has<br>implications in the real world, with supporters of the theory participating in<br>real-world violent acts like the US capitol attack in 2021. At the same time,<br>the QAnon theory started evolving into a global phenomenon by attracting<br>followers across the globe and, in particular, in Europe. Therefore, it is<br>imperative to understand how the QAnon theory became a worldwide phenomenon and<br>how this dissemination has been happening in the online space. This paper<br>performs a large-scale data analysis of QAnon through Telegram by collecting<br>4.5M messages posted in 161 QAnon groups/channels. Using Google's Perspective<br>API, we analyze the toxicity of QAnon content across languages and over time.<br>Also, using a BERT-based topic modeling approach, we analyze the QAnon<br>discourse across multiple languages. Among other things, we find that the<br>German language is prevalent in QAnon groups/channels on Telegram, even<br>overshadowing English after 2020. Also, we find that content posted in German<br>and Portuguese tends to be more toxic compared to English. Our topic modeling<br>indicates that QAnon supporters discuss various topics of interest within<br>far-right movements, including world politics, conspiracy theories, COVID-19,<br>and the anti-vaccination movement. Taken all together, we perform the first<br>multilingual study on QAnon through Telegram and paint a nuanced overview of<br>the globalization of the QAnon theory.<br>},
}
Endnote
%0 Report
%A Hoseini, Mohamad
%A Melo, Philipe
%A Benevenuto, Fabricio
%A Feldmann, Anja
%A Zannettou, Savvas
%+ Internet Architecture, MPI for Informatics, Max Planck Society
External Organizations
External Organizations
Internet Architecture, MPI for Informatics, Max Planck Society
Internet Architecture, MPI for Informatics, Max Planck Society
%T On the Globalization of the QAnon Conspiracy Theory Through Telegram :
%G eng
%U http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0009-749D-4
%U https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.13020
%D 2021
%X QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that became popular and mainstream<br>over the past few years. Worryingly, the QAnon conspiracy theory has<br>implications in the real world, with supporters of the theory participating in<br>real-world violent acts like the US capitol attack in 2021. At the same time,<br>the QAnon theory started evolving into a global phenomenon by attracting<br>followers across the globe and, in particular, in Europe. Therefore, it is<br>imperative to understand how the QAnon theory became a worldwide phenomenon and<br>how this dissemination has been happening in the online space. This paper<br>performs a large-scale data analysis of QAnon through Telegram by collecting<br>4.5M messages posted in 161 QAnon groups/channels. Using Google's Perspective<br>API, we analyze the toxicity of QAnon content across languages and over time.<br>Also, using a BERT-based topic modeling approach, we analyze the QAnon<br>discourse across multiple languages. Among other things, we find that the<br>German language is prevalent in QAnon groups/channels on Telegram, even<br>overshadowing English after 2020. Also, we find that content posted in German<br>and Portuguese tends to be more toxic compared to English. Our topic modeling<br>indicates that QAnon supporters discuss various topics of interest within<br>far-right movements, including world politics, conspiracy theories, COVID-19,<br>and the anti-vaccination movement. Taken all together, we perform the first<br>multilingual study on QAnon through Telegram and paint a nuanced overview of<br>the globalization of the QAnon theory.<br>
%K Computer Science, Computers and Society, cs.CY,cs.SI