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Populism and Science in Europe pp 163–184Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

QAnon and Its Conspiracy Milieu: The Italian Case

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology ((PSEPS))

Abstract

Social unrest and the uncertainties during the coronavirus pandemic have enhanced the visibility of QAnon, a baseless internet conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping Democrats, Hollywood celebrities and billionaires is running the world while engaging in global, sex-trafficking of children. QAnon followers consider former US President Donald Trump their paladin, the only antagonist of the cabal and its ‘deep state’ collaborators. This chapter analyses how this conspiracy theory, which is based primarily in the USA, has caught on and spread in Italy. It brings into focus the conspiracy milieu where QAnon theories have been endorsed and accepted as plausible. Through the empirical examination of the implied epistemological horizon, the contribution argues that alternative science’s popularization has acted as one of the leading discursive strategies through which conspiracy ideation has been successful in engaging its followers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The thesis is that national Democrats, aided by Hollywood and a group of global elites, are running a massive ring devoted to the abduction, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse and cannibalization of children (see Donegan, 2020).

  2. 2.

    Perspective is an API that uses machine learning models to score the perceived impact a comment might have on a conversation, by evaluating that comment across a range of emotional concepts, called attributes. Perspective’s main attribute is TOXICITY, defined as ‘a rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion’. See https://developers.perspectiveapi.com/s/about-the-api

  3. 3.

    @QanonItalia on Twitter, the pages “Qanon Italia” and “The Q Italian Patriot” on Facebook, and the channel “Qlobal-Change” on YouTube.

  4. 4.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/technology/twitter-removes-70000-qanon-accounts.html; https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/06/tech/facebook-qanon/index.html

  5. 5.

    https://www.conoscenzealconfine.it/

  6. 6.

    ‘To understand why the Global System is about to be destroyed, it is necessary to chew some plots of US politics and its projection in the world. The Renzi or Conte government, the WHO and Covid 19, the way to produce a mobile phone and the GDP of China, oil and the apocalyptic conferences of Greta Thunberg, Islamic terrorists and coups d’état, migrants and homeless shelter, in short, everything depends on the plots of US politics, because in the capitalist Empire created essentially by Freemasons, all roads lead to “Rome” (Washington)’ (my translation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

    Maria Francesca Murru

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  1. Maria Francesca Murru
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Correspondence to Maria Francesca Murru .

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  1. University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Hande Eslen–Ziya

  2. University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

    Alberta Giorgi

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Murru, M.F. (2022). QAnon and Its Conspiracy Milieu: The Italian Case. In: Eslen–Ziya, H., Giorgi, A. (eds) Populism and Science in Europe . Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97535-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97535-7_8

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