Tracking Viral Misinformation
March 26, 2021, 8:49 a.m. ETMarch 26, 2021, 8:49 a.m. ET
Every day, Times reporters will chronicle and debunk false and misleading information that is going viral online.
March 4, 2021, 4:38 p.m. ETMarch 4, 2021, 4:38 p.m. ET
QAnon, the right-wing conspiracy theory community, had another bad day on Thursday.
Following the letdown of Jan. 20 — when, contrary to QAnon belief, former President Donald J. Trump did not declare martial law, announce mass arrests of satanic pedophiles and stop President Biden from taking office — some QAnon believers revised their predictions.
They told themselves that “the storm” — the day of reckoning, in QAnon lore, when the global cabal would be brought to justice — would take place on March 4. That is the day that U.S. presidents were inaugurated until 1933, when the 20th Amendment was ratified and the date was moved to January. Some QAnon believers thought that it would be the day that Mr. Trump would make a triumphal return as the nation’s legitimate president, based on their false interpretation of an obscure 19th century law.