QAnon grew through entrepreneurial content creators who monetized channel-hopping audiences
Evidence
Like much of the new conspiracism, QAnon began with conspiracy entrepreneurs. Investigators at NBC traced its source to two message board moderators at 4chan who reached out to Tracy Diaz, a conspiracy entrepreneur whose videos had a small YouTube following. Diaz posted videos about the conspiracy and her stock rose: as she said, “Because I cover Q, I got a fan base.” Her videos, viewed over eight million times, became her source of income. Meanwhile, the 4chan moderators built a following as well. They moved discussions to Reddit, from which they then jumped to Facebook, which in turn steered a much larger audience to 4chan. And they started a 24/7 YouTube channel that offered viewers all QAnon, all the time, and that they used to collect donations. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 304
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to theories of platform amplification and misinformation spread studied with the trust/law-merchant materials. — connects to: Viral fame monetized through podcasting, casino appearances, and meme coins — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 815; View-based payouts reward creators who chase the broadest audience — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 289; Self-monetization platforms amplified voices media long underrepresented. — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 285
- CANDY: A single YouTube personality made QAnon her livelihood, viewed over eight million times.
Broader Connections
- Viral fame monetized through podcasting, casino appearances, and meme coins
#exemplifies(0.80) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 815 - View-based payouts reward creators who chase the broadest audience
#qualifies(0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 289 - Self-monetization platforms amplified voices media long underrepresented.
#qualifies(0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 285