Facebook and Twitter say they are fighting the spread of conspiracy theories linked to QAnon. In the Balkans, the movement is just getting started. Adis Valjevac says he and his colleagues are fighting “for the ordinary man”, seeking people who think for themselves and, deep inside, “feel that something is wrong on a global scale.” The US Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, says the original movement Valjevac claims to represent is a domestic terrorist threat. Less than three years since QAnon surfaced on the toxic message board 4chan, the conspiracy theory phenomenon has reached the Balkans, and Valjevac is one of its flag-bearers in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Created in May with Valjevac as one of its administrators, Q-ANON Bosna i Hercegovina has some 460 followers and posts roughly 10 times per day, making it a minor player in a major movement.
QAnon Balkan boasts more than 8,500 members, QAnon Srbija [Serbia] has 2,700 and QAnon Hrvatska [Croatia] nearly 7,800. Some of the more popular QAnon pages on Facebook have more than 100,000 followers each. Numbers, however, are not everything. “You don’t need a large group of people for organisation and demonstration,” said Kevin Grisham, assistant director of the Centre for Research on Hate and Extremism at the California State University in San Bernardino. “Even if 20, 30, 40 or 50 people feel motivated to do something that is already a considerable power. In the times of virtual activism even a small number of people can have a significant power,” he told BIRN. “The best example is QAnon, which started as a small group, but now acts globally. The current number of conspiracy theory movements is not so alarming as is the speed at which the number of members, sympathisers and supporters grows.”
via balkaninsight: QAnon Gets Foothold in Balkans, Claiming COVID-19 “Does Not Exist”