Media began using the term and some anons adopted it as a badge of honor or because they were late to the program and still overcoming media brainwashing.
Looking at the article, published on Dec 19, you can see that it already quotes numerous uses of "the Qanon hashtag" the ones it cites going back to Dec 3, along with other numerous hashtags clearly being used by anon-related accounts to connect and get the info out.
Moreover, the article also states
Over the last month and a half, the Storm has spread from the depths of 4chan and 8chan to Reddit, YouTube, and Twitter, where it’s found hundreds of thousands of devout followers. Some of the most popular explainer videos boast nearly 200,000 views, and the QAnon hashtag has gotten so popular, it’s honestly difficult to track.
I'd say unless the article is pure fabrication, then it's pretty powerful evidence that anons and Q patriots were using the #qanon hashtag a LOT already. And, direct testimony by a LOT of people indicates its not mere fabrication.
Why on earth would anons and Q patriots adopt some dumb hashtag or term to advance the spread of the Q outreach? Did the MSM propaganda machine also invest #thestormisuponus, #followthewhiterabbit, #artofwar, #breadcrumbs, etc?
I think the fact is, that very quickly after Q began posting on the chans, people were already spreading the content and the 'message' out in other sectors, like Reddit, Twitter, and other formats, and using the Qanon moniker as a catchall for the movement.
That makes a lot more logical sense to me than proposing that in fact, somehow the Propaganda machine infiltrated from the very start and got all the Q movement to explode across the whole world, with Q patriots all connecting to each using multiple hastags and monikers but THE primary one being Qanon, just so that as the movement spread far and wide and grew exponentially, they could then use that moniker to discourage normies by associating it with ........ <rubbish / conspiracy theory / cult / debunked / false> etc.
As some have said about the Q operation, if it was a Deep State operation to make people sit down, wait and be passive, then it is the worst failure in the history of Deep State operations. Actually introducing and promoting (how?) some powerful hashtag that would allow patriots worldwide to connect with each other so that you could discredit it later on, that seems kind stupid to me. Why do it in the first place? You don't WANT the movement to grow, right?
Aside from all of this, there is PLENTY of anecdotal evidence supporting the assertion that the qanon moniker was NOT invented by blackhats, but rather emerged organically in the spreading Q movement but was then hijacked aka planted with many discouraging and false associations in an attempt to shut the spread of the growing movement down, including:
Q themselves stated very clearly how the media was attempting to shut the movement down using all sorts of hit pieces
There had been numerous anons on the chans, where were referred to informally in the same linguistic manner: FBIanon, Hollywoodanon, etc.
The adoption and centrality of the "qanon" moniker to the expansion of the whole operation
The fact that Q ONLY thought it necessary to step forward and clarify the distinction between Q and anons at the VERY end of the Q posting operation, in October 2020, after almost 3 years of its use among us
It is the nature of propaganda machine to hijack expressions and twist them. Gay once meant joyfully happy. "partner" once meant a business partner.
Direct personal testimony by a lot of anon-ish folk active around that time.
All in all, if the deep state created the "qanon" moniker, they screwed up royally, because WE used it to be an exponentially expanding global force of power fully interconnected patriotic people.
But of course, they didn't invent it. They simply attempted to label it with so many false assertions that unlike anons who used it, normies when they heard of it, would immediately associate it with < rubbish / conspiracy theory / crackpot / cult / debunked / false / extremist / etc >
At least, that's the way I see it, and I'm OK with that particular conclusion.
FWIW, prima facie evidence that indeed, "Qanon" was used by many anons and was not invented, only hijacked, by the Propaganda Media.
We've moved on, but it's important to know history and where you came from.
Other way around.
Media began using the term and some anons adopted it as a badge of honor or because they were late to the program and still overcoming media brainwashing.
I think you could ONLY make that assertion if you were not part of the Q movement in late 2017 or in 2018.
It was being used plenty by anons all the time, on Reddit Greatawakening, etc, etc.
If you missed that, well, OK, but it was NOT invented by the media. It was hijacked by the media.
Didn't see the term QAnon until it spread to Reddit.
Here's one of the earliest MSM articles I could find that mentions the #QAnon hashtag.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/qanon-4chan-the-storm-conspiracy-explained.html
Looking at the article, published on Dec 19, you can see that it already quotes numerous uses of "the Qanon hashtag" the ones it cites going back to Dec 3, along with other numerous hashtags clearly being used by anon-related accounts to connect and get the info out.
Moreover, the article also states
I'd say unless the article is pure fabrication, then it's pretty powerful evidence that anons and Q patriots were using the #qanon hashtag a LOT already. And, direct testimony by a LOT of people indicates its not mere fabrication.
Why on earth would anons and Q patriots adopt some dumb hashtag or term to advance the spread of the Q outreach? Did the MSM propaganda machine also invest #thestormisuponus, #followthewhiterabbit, #artofwar, #breadcrumbs, etc?
I think the fact is, that very quickly after Q began posting on the chans, people were already spreading the content and the 'message' out in other sectors, like Reddit, Twitter, and other formats, and using the Qanon moniker as a catchall for the movement.
That makes a lot more logical sense to me than proposing that in fact, somehow the Propaganda machine infiltrated from the very start and got all the Q movement to explode across the whole world, with Q patriots all connecting to each using multiple hastags and monikers but THE primary one being Qanon, just so that as the movement spread far and wide and grew exponentially, they could then use that moniker to discourage normies by associating it with ........ <rubbish / conspiracy theory / cult / debunked / false> etc.
As some have said about the Q operation, if it was a Deep State operation to make people sit down, wait and be passive, then it is the worst failure in the history of Deep State operations. Actually introducing and promoting (how?) some powerful hashtag that would allow patriots worldwide to connect with each other so that you could discredit it later on, that seems kind stupid to me. Why do it in the first place? You don't WANT the movement to grow, right?
Aside from all of this, there is PLENTY of anecdotal evidence supporting the assertion that the qanon moniker was NOT invented by blackhats, but rather emerged organically in the spreading Q movement but was then hijacked aka planted with many discouraging and false associations in an attempt to shut the spread of the growing movement down, including:
Q themselves stated very clearly how the media was attempting to shut the movement down using all sorts of hit pieces
There had been numerous anons on the chans, where were referred to informally in the same linguistic manner: FBIanon, Hollywoodanon, etc.
The adoption and centrality of the "qanon" moniker to the expansion of the whole operation
The fact that Q ONLY thought it necessary to step forward and clarify the distinction between Q and anons at the VERY end of the Q posting operation, in October 2020, after almost 3 years of its use among us
It is the nature of propaganda machine to hijack expressions and twist them. Gay once meant joyfully happy. "partner" once meant a business partner.
Direct personal testimony by a lot of anon-ish folk active around that time.
All in all, if the deep state created the "qanon" moniker, they screwed up royally, because WE used it to be an exponentially expanding global force of power fully interconnected patriotic people.
But of course, they didn't invent it. They simply attempted to label it with so many false assertions that unlike anons who used it, normies when they heard of it, would immediately associate it with < rubbish / conspiracy theory / crackpot / cult / debunked / false / extremist / etc >
At least, that's the way I see it, and I'm OK with that particular conclusion.
Why wasn't this account banned?
https://twitter.com/gtown615/status/931501023285432320
Tweet with #QAnon hashtag linked in this 2017 Newsweek article. Newsweek doesn't use QAnon term in article -
https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-conspiracy-theory-trump-717398