One in four Britons believe in QAnon-linked theories – survey

One in four people in Britain agree with conspiracies propagated by QAnon, the global movement claiming there is a secret satanic network of child-abusing politicians and celebrities, a survey has found.

The research for Hope Not Hate also found that 17% of people questioned said they believed Covid-19 was intentionally released as part of a “depopulation plan” by the UN or “new world order”.

It found that QAnon, which originated in the US where the FBI has designated it as a potential terror threat, is making particular inroads among young people.

While 6% of those polled claimed to support QAnon, larger percentages supported broader, linked conspiracies. A quarter (25%) agreed that “secret satanic cults exist and include influential elites”. This rose to 35% among people aged 18-24. A similar proportion (26%) agreed that “elites in Hollywood, politics, the media and other powerful positions” are secretly engaging in large-scale child trafficking and abuse.

There was more support (29%) for the claim that there is “a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together” regardless of who is in government. This was believed by 42% of 25- to 34-year-olds.

The findings are based on an online survey carried out between 8 and 11 September by Hanbury Strategy, a consultancy company and member of the British Polling Council.

Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to disavow QAnon, whose followers believe he is waging a secret war against an elite who engage in ritual child abuse.

In Britain, QAnon’s messages and memes have increasingly popped up in social media communities and at street demonstrations against lockdowns, mandatory face coverings and vaccination plans.

Hope Not Hate said the movement sustained antisemitic conspiracy theories and provided access to a pool of people for the far-right to exploit, although it said it was not solely a far-right phenomenon.

The charity identified a number of Britons based at home and abroad as influential players in the movement. It said the spread of QAnon conspiracies risked sowing a “dangerous distrust” in institutions and risked obscuring genuine child abuse and hampering legitimate efforts for better child welfare.

“The incorporation of Covid-19 conspiracy theories into the QAnon narrative has the potential to erode trust in medical experts and authorities, and further the spread of health misinformation and pseudoscience in the midst of a global pandemic,” it added.

Analysis by the Guardian last month found that QAnon was gaining ground across UK social media, propelled by a loose coalition of spirituality and wellness groups, vigilante “paedophile hunter” networks, pre-existing conspiracy forums, local news pages, pro-Brexit campaigners and the far right.

After tracking five slogans associated with QAnon shared by UK-run Facebook pages over the past year, interactions on posts containing those keywords were found to have increased fivefold between April and August, the last full month for which data was available.