# On the Globalization of the QAnon Conspiracy Theory Through Telegram

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.13020 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.13020/

## Key facts

- Cited by 14 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 May 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [More than Memes: A Multimodal Topic Modeling Approach to Conspiracy Theories on Telegram](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.08642/) (2024)
- [Antisemitic Messages? A Guide to High-Quality Annotation and a Labeled Dataset of Tweets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.14599/) (2023)
- [Uncovering the Dark Side of Telegram: Fakes, Clones, Scams, and Conspiracy Movements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13530/) (2021)
- [Partial Mobilization: Tracking Multilingual Information Flows Amongst Russian Media Outlets and Telegram](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.10856/) (2023)
- [How toxic is antisemitism? Potentials and limitations of automated toxicity scoring for antisemitic online content](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.04465/) (2023)
- [Detection of Conspiracy Theories Beyond Keyword Bias in German-Language Telegram Using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.17985/) (2024)
- [The MeLa BitChute Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.05364/) (2022)
- [Detecting Conspiracy Theory Against COVID-19 Vaccines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13003/) (2022)
- [Who could be behind QAnon? Authorship attribution with supervised machine-learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.02078/) (2023)
- [Mapping the Italian Telegram Ecosystem: Communities, Toxicity, and Hate Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19594/) (2025)
- [Online antisemitism across platforms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07783/) (2021)
- [The Anatomy of Conspirators: Unveiling Traits using a Comprehensive Twitter Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.15154/) (2023)
- [Uncovering Conspiratorial Narratives within Arabic Online Content](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14037/) (2025)
- [Misinformation Span Detection in Videos via Audio Transcripts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21767/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that became popular and mainstream over the past few years. Worryingly, the QAnon conspiracy theory has implications in the real world, with supporters of the theory participating in real-world violent acts like the US capitol attack in 2021. At the same time, the QAnon theory started evolving into a global phenomenon by attracting followers across the globe and, in particular, in Europe. Therefore, it is imperative to understand how the QAnon theory became a worldwide phenomenon and how this dissemination has been happening in the online space. This paper performs a large-scale data analysis of QAnon through Telegram by collecting 4.5M messages posted in 161 QAnon groups/channels. Using Google's Perspective API, we analyze the toxicity of QAnon content across languages and over time. Also, using a BERT-based topic modeling approach, we analyze the QAnon discourse across multiple languages. Among other things, we find that the German language is prevalent in QAnon groups/channels on Telegram, even overshadowing English after 2020. Also, we find that content posted in German and Portuguese tends to be more toxic compared to English. Our topic modeling indicates that QAnon supporters discuss various topics of interest within far-right movements, including world politics, conspiracy theories, COVID-19, and the anti-vaccination movement. Taken all together, we perform the first multilingual study on QAnon through Telegram and paint a nuanced overview of the globalization of the QAnon theory.