Authoritarian, far-right responses to the Covid-19 pandemic: an analysis of QAnon’s crisis narratives

Sammanfattning: The coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of individuals all over the world. The goal of this research is to investigate and understand the narratives and underlying messages of the QAnon movement concerning COVID-19. The theoretical basis for this analysis is that of uncertainty-identity theory and extremism to study the process by which people embrace these types of movements and their values. Also, to examine the spread of QAnons’ messages and conspiracy theories on digital media, network society theory is used. In order to carry out this research, we conducted qualitative content analysis on data gathered directly from QAnon sources. According to the results of the study, the movement proceeded to create crisis narratives that tap into social anxieties and political uncertainty. Accordingly, the pandemic was used for the movement to grow, gain new momentum and supporters, and even merge other conspiracy theories making the narratives more elaborate.