What started as a fringe movement among President Trump's supporters, confined to the shadier corners of the internet, has taken a mainstream turn. The QAnon conspiracy theory started on 4chan, the bulletin board known for creating and spreading memes, but has moved to larger social media platforms. Facebook has taken action against QAnon groups and pages, while Twitter removed several thousand QAnon-linked accounts in 2020.

What is the QAnon conspiracy theory? What do its followers believe? Those questions have become more difficult to answer as the movement has grown since its inception in 2017.