Introduction

On April 13th, 2020, a viral post on TikTok directed users to watch a documentary-style video called Out of Shadows. The one hour and seventeen minute-long video has gone viral on multiple platforms, including Bitchute. Upon review by CTEC analysts, it was immediately apparent that the video contains multiple radicalizing conspiratorial disinformation narratives popular with the far-right QAnon movement. It also echoes and spreads other anti-government narratives that have been weaponized by extremists across the political spectrum.

The primary targets of the video were the government–in the form of conspiratorial accusations surrounding alleged misconduct of government agencies–the U.S. media, and political and social elites. As the video exploded in popularity, CTEC analysts monitored the viral discussions surrounding the video across multiple social media platforms, leveraging qualitative and quantitative techniques to track the proliferation of disinformation originating from this video.

Disinformation Patterns

Discussions surrounding the video espoused and spread narratives very similar to those pushed by state-backed actors during the 2016 election cycle. While there is not conclusive evidence that this campaign was the result of a foreign information operation, the timing, implementation of the narrative source, and prominent actors involved in the immediate larger discussion suggest that automated and professional disinformation strategies were employed. For example, QAnon, Pizzagate, and the radical-right anti-government community online have all been supported by state-backed efforts in the past.[1] It has also been shown that far-right extremists, especially among conspiracy theory communities, have learned from Russia’s state-sponsored disinformation efforts.[2] In addition, as is shown below, several of the most prominent users in the Twitter network for this trend show signs of bot-like and automated activity,

Further, the Out Of Shadows trend appears to be primarily targeting younger communities, as it has gained immense popularity on non-traditional platforms like TikTok. Deeper study must be done on this trend, because such campaigns targeting the youth are particularly pernicious and could suggest a change in the overarching strategy of disinformation actors.

The narratives pushed by this discourse have already inspired several successful violent attacks and many other attempted attacks.[3] The QAnon and Pizzagate theories consistently and aggressively demonize politicians, media figures, and even non-celebrities, casting them as satanic, evil, and participants in horrific crimes. The Out of Shadows discussion likely aims to give legitimacy to a theory that had been flagging in the public consciousness in recent months, and to advance the goal of tying media figures and politicians to an insidious plot to destroy American values.

The Out of Shadows Twitter Network and Language Use

CTEC collected 6,800 tweets mentioning #outofshadows, the dominant hashtag that has emerged following the publication of the documentary. This hashtag has already evolved into an additional in-group marker for QAnon and adjacent communities, as #wwg1wga, #qanon, #pizzagate, and #thegreatawakening are among the hashtags most often used alongside #outofshadows.

As is common with QAnon-affiliated Twitter networks, this one is noticeably dense, with users frequently interacting with many different accounts. Members in the largest community (i.e. the graph with no disconnected nodes) from the dataset mention, on average, 1.88 users per tweet, with the upper quartile mentioning between 2 and 24 users per tweet. CTEC has observed this pattern of high-frequency mentioning in QAnon networks previously; it appears to be largely a community-building and message-amplification strategy.

Nodes in the network diagram below are sized (on a logarithmic scale) by the number of retweets that a user received on their tweets. Colors indicate the number of users they mentioned in their tweets. The graph is interactive; it can be zoomed in and out, and nodes can be dragged.

The Out of Shadows mentions network is fairly flat (i.e. it is not dominated by any one user), but when focusing on the engagement on tweets, a small number of users have a disproportionately large influence: 25% of the users make up 100% of the retweets.

We also find that the top 20 users, both in terms of retweets and mentions, contain several bot-like, semi-automated, or suspicious accounts, as shown below. It is worth noting that the bot probability score (provided by the tweetbotornot package) is not infallible, but rather should be used as a tool for identifying accounts that are likely to employ suspicious behaviors.

Twitter Name Probability of Bot
JPedersen_itm 0.9982826
NPCfreeZone 0.8319002
maybe19 0.7533630
_Angie__Marie 0.5842529

4 of the 20 top users have a greater than 50% likelihood of using automated tweet methods, which can include tweet scheduling, duplication of language, abnormally fast responses, and other unusual patterns. These results indicate that the #outofshadows network is likely being manipulated by actors beyond “normal” individuals.

Finally, we focus specifically on Twitter user “Inthematrixxx”, who has garnered by far the most retweets of any user in this particular network. Review of this user’s timeline reveals that they are a clear example of a QAnon message amplifier. They appear to have established a position on Twitter as a source of “truth” for the wider movement, often sharing “Q-drops” from other platforms. In addition, this user frequently tweets sarcastically at researchers of extremism on Twitter.

In this ego graph, Inthematrixxx is colored black. It is clear from the number of incoming arcs (and relative lack of outgoing arcs) that this user has influence in the network. In addition, they interact frequently with users “actiondirector1” and “crux41507251”, or Brad Martin and Mike Smith, respectively, who appear in and were involved with the making of the movie.

Extremist Language

Along with well-established QAnon narratives, the documentary and resulting discourse have also been spreading fringe slang, dog whistles, and masked language in the past week. While often innocent on face, these terms have rapidly acquired momentum as allusions to much more dangerous beliefs and conspiracy theories.

Hashtags Count
#spiritcooking 144
#operationmockingbird 120
#fallcabal 42
#adrenochrome 37
#symbolismwillbetheirdownfall 20
#operationpaperclip 17

The #outofshadows Twitter network is also saturated with coronavirus- and public health-related mis/disinformation, including a number of overtly anti-vaccination posts. These tweets often have nothing to do with the film, but the hashtag #outofshadows is used to inject coronavirus narratives into the broader conversation. These narratives allege that Bill Gates, Dr. Fauci, and the United Nations are collaborating on a vaccine program that is actually a cover for mind and population control, and the coronavirus is seen as a weapon in that effort.

Tweet text
Rush Limbaugh needs to stop taking about a vaccine like he understands them. A vaccine for COvid would be the WORST thing for America #JustSayNoToGates #IwillNOTComply #GetAmericaBackToWork #vaxxed #plandemic #SayNoToNWO #OutOfShadows #MAGA

What gives me hope @TheEllenShow and @BillGates is the comment section of this post on your Instagram. 😁❤️🙌🏻

#TheGreatAwakeningWorldwide #billgates #COVID19 #vaccine #WWG1GWA #WWG1WGAWORLDWIDE #conspiracy #DarkToLight #TheEllenShow #OutOfShadows #MSM https://t.co/FxBHRyZYak
Wow. Microsoft has taken a sinister to ugly turn with Gates-digital id’s and vaccines to Marina Abramovic, spirit cooker. Our tax dollars going to the arts goes to these people, too. Follow the money #OutOfShadows https://t.co/48B6JTeJ2X

When did this become socially acceptable? #COVID19

Sad part is the devastating impact is real.

Millions lost their jobs. Farmers fields rotting away. FED printer go #BRRR. Bill Gates became the vaccine pope of the world. Martial Law Unofficially started #OutOfShadows https://t.co/79OqANzlpg
Wake up folks. #BillGatesIsNotOurFriend and the #SpiritCooking (why is that not trending,twitter😡), are partnering up! Just in time to push mandatory #vaccine on us!!!!!! Hell no! #maga #QAnon2020 #OutOfShadows https://t.co/lO5VweMgSy
The perfect mind vaccine for Mockingbird Media 🧠💉 #OutOfShadows #darktolight #WWG1WGAWORLDWIDE #QAnons OUT OF SHADOWS OFFICIAL https://t.co/O7K6CvBmmB via @YouTube

Conclusion

The Out of Shadows documentary has sparked a wide-ranging and viral disinformation campaign, dedicated to the demonization of political elites and media sources. It has breathed momentum back into the QAnon community, which had experienced a series of setbacks as its conspiracy theories were consistently disproven. The reach of this particular discussion, especially its virality on TikTok and Twitter, indicate that QAnon ideology may be breaking through into new, younger audiences. Considering QAnon’s history of inspiring violent acts, this is a dangerous trend that should be closely monitored.

On Twitter, the #outofshadows hashtag has developed a network that seems to be heavily influenced by automated and suspicious activity. The patterns of behavior–such as tweeting at high frequencies, mentioning large numbers of users, and mutual retweet relationships–indicate intentional disinformation strategies are being used to amplify the message. Finally, this network has spread the documentary far further than it would have otherwise, as users encourage each other to share and mirror it on other platforms.