people behind QAnon, its supporters, and its enablers

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We created this searchable database of the people behind QAnon, its supporters, and its enablers

By Jessica Davies , Sawyer Click , and Madison Hall



Insider has compiled a searchable database of some of the most notable people who have supported the QAnon movement, publicized its conspiracy theories, or given its activists a platform to spread their fictitious stories.

QAnon is a dangerous movement that believes, without evidence, that a secret cabal of elite liberals abuse and drink the blood of children.

There are over 200 people in the database, which is searchable by name and keyword. It's a who's who of celebrities, politicians, activists, and public figures who have amplified the group's baseless messages on social media, profited from related sites, or been driven to commit delusional acts of violence against innocent people. We contacted everyone on the list for comment, although a few people were not reachable. Their responses are included in our database and you can read some of their comments here.

See also: What QAnon's own activists said when we told them we were publishing a list of the movement's 200 most important people

QAnon's influence has grown dramatically in just three years. It has swept through the Republican Party, with hundreds of members using its hashtags on social media. Dozens of GOP candidates have supported QAnon. President Donald Trump has refused to disavow QAnon, telling reporters "they like me very much" in a news conference in August. Trump most recently retweeted Ron Watkins, whose father is suspected of being Q himself.

His former security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, posted a video of himself taking a "Q" oath in July. And on his podcast in November, former White House adviser Steve Bannon said "it's gonna be a storm," a phrase used by "Q" believers.



The origin of Q

This database traces the beginnings of QAnon to an anonymous poster on an online message board in 2017, a year after a man stormed into the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, DC, under the delusional belief that Hillary Clinton ran a child-sex-trafficking ring with its owner. The notion — that a secret international ring of left-leaning figures in the world of politics and finance are somehow also trafficking children as sex slaves — has become one of the central tenets of QAnon.

The movement began as a few elliptical comments in the form of a series of brief and unconnected sentences on the web message board 4chan. Discussion groups dedicated to Q's comments later migrated to a new chat board, 8chan. That in turn was shut down and reborn and rebranded as 8kun. The 8kun platform is run by James Watkins, who made his money in porn, and has been associated with publishing the manifestos of white supremacists and criminals. An Insider investigation previously identified James Watkins as the most likely individual who operates the Q account.

QAnon has been linked with several acts of violence, including the shooting of a mafia boss in Staten Island, New York, reportedly by Anthony Comello. His lawyer claimed in court that he was radicalized by QAnon. In 2019, a leaked FBI document labeled QAnon a domestic terror threat.

The QAnon movement has spread as far as Finland and Australia. It has also infiltrated wellness and religious communities by using hashtags such as #TheGreatAwakening, #SaveOurChildren, and #truther to spread disinformation. It has evolved to include an ascension prophecy in which Trump is a fighter of Satan.
Q's increasing influence among radical conservative groups

Its sentiments have been widely adopted by a cross-section of conservative radical groups opposing everything from coronavirus vaccinations to COVID-19 lockdowns. It now includes some anti-trafficking protest groups, children's charities, and various anti-Semites. The claims that many prominent financiers and politicians are part of a satanic cult has been compared to the Blood Libel hate smears spread against the Jewish community by the Nazis last century.

YouTube, Patreon, Facebook, and TikTok have now all banned QAnon content from their platforms in a bid to stifle its baseless theories. Facebook alone culled 10,000 users' accounts in August.

But QAnon, the movement that follows Q, has a life of its own. The real question isn't who is Q, but who pushes its conspiracies through social media, crowdfunding, targeted advertising, and alliances with other cults. This database contains some of the answers.

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