Twitter Reinstates QAnon Kingpin Ron Watkins

[Nevilledog]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ron-watkins-qanon-kingpin-reinstated-twitter-1234658363/

No paywall

https://archive.ph/adtKs

THE TWITTER ACCOUNT of QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins has been restored to the platform after being banned in 2020 as part of an effort to curb the reach of the conspiracy on the website. Watkins’ return is the latest in a series of account reinstatements for extremists under the administration of Twitter owner Elon Musk.

The son of Jim Watkins, owner and administrator of the extremist message board 8kun (previously known as 8chan), Watkins was an instrumental figure in the proliferation and growth of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Serving as an official administrator to 8Kun from 2016 until a 2020 resignation, Ron Watkins oversaw the message board at the time when the figure of “Q” exploded into the online ecosystem.

Q, an anonymous figure claiming to hold high-level government classification, birthed a conspiracy theory on 4chan that the U.S. government was run by a deep state cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles that could only be defeated by Donald Trump. The covert poster quickly moved to 8kun, where “Q drops,” cryptic messages obsessively decoded by devotees, became the modus operandi.

The Watkins’ control of the website, linguistic analysis done by researchers, and statements made by Ron Watkins himself have led to speculation that he, at least for a period of time, was the figure behind Q.

On election day of 2020, Watkins publicly resigned from his position as an administrator on 8kun, dedicating himself instead to supporting efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election. Watkins promoted false claims about Dominion Voting Systems, appeared as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed by Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, and even had one of his appearances on One American News Network alleging fraud retweeted by Trump.

*snip*

[SheltieLover]

1. ...

[emulatorloo]

2. Melon Usk strikes again.

[Initech]

3. He's just intentionally pissing people off at this point.

[IronLionZion]

4. Just rename Twitter to shitter

since Musk is allowing loonies on but banning journalists, critics, and DC Metro bus

[niyad]

5. egoloon muskrat is a dangerous waste of resources.

[SergeStorms]

6. Many people believe he IS "Q".

There's an HBO documentary ("Q": Into the Storm) that exposes father and son (and a few other misanthropes) in the entite "Q" quagmire.

They pretty much got Ron Watkins to admit it near the end of the Documentary.

That this piece of shit is now being allowed back on Twitter pretty much guarantees that Twitter has once again become right-wing nut-job central.