What does the acroynm WWG1WGA mean, what do the letters stand for and what or who is it associated with. We explain.
The chances are that you’ve encountered this acronym on some social media post or video. Most likely at the end of a post or in the caption, right towards the end, accompanied by the hashtag. But what it is?
WWG1WGA stands for Where We Go One, We Go All. That’s an adage or motto associated with a string of interconnected conspiracy theorists known collectively as Q, or QAnon. Just like the hacking collective known as Anonymous, anyone can claim to be part of QAnon or Q, and anyone can support the conspiracies proffered by the group. There is no official enrolment or membership process, so it would be near impossible to quantify how widespread the group is in any meaningful way.
Qanon can be best described as a far-right conspiracy collective or movement. The core beliefs and theories of those who promote the QAnon brand is that there is a concerted and covert “deep state” effort across the globe to remove President Trump from the White House. Qanon proponents will frequently claim that those in the “deep state” are largely unknown shadowy figures, but can also include senior officials in the US Democratic party, the mainstream media and in many cases large parts of the US justice system and scientific communities.
In reality, any critic of the president is likely to be accused of being a member of (or controlled by) the “deep state”, especially on social media.
Offshoots of this conspiracy claim that the reason why the “deep state” is attempting to remove Trump is because he is trying to expose a large scale, Democrat-led paedophile ring that involves the families of both former presidents Obama and Clinton.
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And an off-shoot of that off-shoot claims that Special Council Robert Mueller was appointed by the Trump administration to investigate this paedophile ring, while using Russian collusion as a cover, though this offshoot has largely died away after Mueller concluded his special report (and the conspiracy inevitably transpired to be false.)
The QAnon movement has also embraced the “Obamagate” conspiracy spearheaded by President Trump himself, that claims former President Obama engaged in unprecedented violations of office, including illegally spying on the Trump campaign during the presidential transition period.
QAnon content has previously promoted the widely debunked Pizzagate conspiracy, which claimed senior Democratic officials were holding paedophilia related cult meetings at a pizzeria in Washington DC. Such theories were based on DNC emails leaked by WikiLeaks, that contained – according to QAnon proponents – secret code that alluded to the exploitation of minors. Such theories culminated in a man turning up to the restaurant with a gun, who was later arrested without incident.
The movement dates back to 2017, when a member of prank and trolling website 4Chan identified as Q claimed to be in possession of a number of classified documents which they claim they obtained because of their high profile job in the government. The identity of that person is unknown.
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However since those 2017 postings, QAnon related theories have spread online, and in typical conspiracy theory fashion, are vague, flexible and ambiguous enough to deflect any attempt at debunking them as well as allowing themselves to become attached to events such as mass shootings under the pretext that such events are “evidence” that such theories are correct.
Like many cult-like conspiracy groups, QAnon supporters have widely promoted a number of apocalyptic-themed predictions that have failed to materialise. This includes the claim that at the start of his presidential term, President Trump would “unveil” a deep-seated conspiracy against him and/or the American public, leading to a number of high profile arrests that would in turn lead to civil rioting. Other prophecies has claimed that the military would have to police US streets at the start of the Trump administration, and that secretive members of the “deep state” would reveal themselves or have Trump assassinated.
Other QAnon related phrases are “The Storm“, “The Calm Before the Storm” and “Qanon8chan“. The acronyms MAGA and KAG – the acronyms of the Trump 2016 and 2020 campaigns – are often frequently alongside since most social media users posting in support of QAnon are also supporters of President Trump.