A recent Vox analysis uses data gathered from Reddit to do a cross-cutting comparison of the subreddits used by the QAnon conspiracy theory community, a “pro-Trump theory that posits that the president is at the center of a fight against a pedophilia ring run by Democrats.” Author Alvin Chang finds that the QAnon community is driven by a small number of actors.
We were able to glean characteristics of this community by writing a computer program to analyze every single user who has commented on /r/greatawakening. From there, we looked at what other subreddits outside of /r/greatawakening these users participate in.
We found that most participants are relatively casual conspiracy theorists. Their interest in /r/greatawakening largely comes from their enthusiastic support for Trump. (There’s also a handful of Bernie Sanders supporters mixed in.) Their interests coalesce around things like video games, cryptocurrency, men’s rights, and martial arts. Although Reddit doesn’t ask for demographic data, it’s not a reach to say they are predominantly white men.
But here’s the kicker: An astoundingly small number of people produce the majority of the content. About 200 users account for a quarter of the forum’s comments. These people are clearly conspiracy theorists who believe they are investigators unearthing the truth, and they spend almost all their time on Reddit investigating these theories.
Source: Who are QAnon Supporters? The QAnon Subreddit, Analyzed with Data | Vox