【Watch Illicit Desire (2017)】

Who is Watch Illicit Desire (2017)Q, the anonymous poster who kicked off the conspiracy-driven right wing movement known as QAnon?

While there is still no definitive answer, a new study seems to back claims that there’s more than one person writing them and that there's a “new Q” at work.

According to a studyby the text authentication company OrphAnalytics, a machine learning analysisconducted on Q’s “drops” found that there are two different people responsible for Q’s postings, and they were working during completely separate timeframes.

The company’s technology is typically used to detect cases of plagiarism, document manipulation, and fraud. For this study, they used it to analyze 4,952 of Q’s posts, which is the total number of drops that'd been made when the study was conducted.

The results of the company's analysis. Credit: OrphAnalytics

From that analysis, OrphAnalytics found a “distinct individual signature” in the style of the posts made on the imageboard, 4chan, between Oct. 28 and Dec. 1, 2017. When Q later moved to posting on 8chan, a competing imageboard, it’s clear to OrphAnalytics that another individual took over writing for the Q account.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

QAnon began as a far right wing conspiracy theory and has since morphed into a mainstream movement, growing exponentiallyamid the COVID-19 lockdowns. Q's followers believe that President Donald Trump is secretly battling a global satanic pedophile ring run by his political enemies, such as Hollywood elites and members of the Democratic Party.

Q, who remains anonymous, claims to be a high-ranking member of the Trump administration and shares "top secret information" with his supporters. QAnon followers digest each of Q’s postings and attempt to parse them for coded information.

In 2018, a report by NBC Newstracked down three individuals who pushed the QAnon conspiracy in its earliest months, when Q was on 4chan. However, many who research, track, and report on QAnon believe that Jim Watkins, the current owner of 8kun (which known as 8chan until late 2019), is the man currently behind Q's posts.

Fredrick Brennan, who founded 8chan in 2013, has previously claimedthat Jim Watkins is now Q and has been since the anonymous account moved from posting on 4chan to 8chan. Brennan believes the original “Q” is South African conspiracy theorist Paul Furber, an individual also named in the NBC News report. Brennan sold 8chan to Watkins in 2014 and worked with him until cutting ties with the site in 2016.

While the question of who Q is remains unanswered, this new study provides even more evidence to back up the theory that there’s been more than one Q over the years.

Topics Politics

• Life
• Digital Culture
• Deals
• Social Good
• Entertainment
• Games
• Science
• Tech

• Best iPad deal: Save $132 on Apple iPad (10th Gen)
• Sentience and Intensities: A Conversation with Maureen McLane by Anahid Nersessian
• How to watch Samsung Unpacked: Galaxy S24, Galaxy AI awaits
• The Novels of N. Scott Momaday by Chelsea T. Hicks
• TikTok wants me to host a dinner party. Is that an actual recession indicator?
• Beaver Moon by Nina MacLaughlin
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs S23 Ultra: What are the upgrades?
• This Year’s Prizewinners
• Best Samsung Frame deal: Free Music Frame with Frame Pro art TV purchase
• “Daddy Was a Number Runner” by Deesha Philyaw

• (Dead) Birds of America by The Paris Review
• The Corporate Feminism of NXIVM
• The Art of Distance No. 36 by The Paris Review
• The Reality of Color by The Paris Review
• Literary Paper Dolls: Clarissa by Julia Berick and Jenny Kroik
• Vanitas by Jordan Kisner
• The Eleventh Word by Lulu Miller
• In Winter We Get inside Each Other
• Redux: A Point of Coincidence by The Paris Review
• The Unreality of Time by Elisa Gabbert

• Android Performance Tips and Tweaks
• The Review’s Review: A Happy Pig by The Paris Review
• Redux: Collapse Distinctions by The Paris Review
• Redux: The Storm before the Calm by The Paris Review
• No Time for a Negative Peace
• U.S. officials in Signal chat left their Venmo data exposed online
• My Father’s Mariannes by Aisha Sabatini Sloan
• Eternal Present by The Paris Review
• Commissioning Misleading Core i9
• Galaxy AI: 5 new features you can do with the Galaxy S24 cameras

• The Anatomy of Liberal Melancholy
• Alternative Routes: A Conversation with Lauren Elkin by Claire
• BAFTA 2024 nominees: Here's the complete list
• Ensnaring Sebald by Carole Angier
• Sabalenka vs. Svitolina 2025 livestream: Watch Madrid Open for free
• Redux: Sick Fish by The Paris Review
• Redux: Collapse Distinctions by The Paris Review
• Redux: The Storm before the Calm by The Paris Review
• Music is the secret weapon of Mario Speedrunners
• Samsung Galaxy phones deals: S23, Fold, and Flip models on sale after Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024