K-Pop Fans Flood QAnon Twitter Hashtags to Silence Conspiracy Theorists as Anti-Racism Activism Spreads

K-pop fans continued their activism streak this week by flooding Twitter hashtags tied to the QAnon conspiracy and a suspected 4chan troll campaign.

In the past day, waves of posts by followers of the Korean pop music genre have been filling the platform with short clips of popular artists performing—known as "fancams"—mobilizing their collective power to drown out offensive messages.

K-pop stans, as they are known, previously spearheaded a viral campaign that took over racism-filled Twitter hashtags, including #MAGA and #WhiteLivesMatter, spamming the threads into submission and stopping hateful messages from being seen.

Taking advantage of its sheer numbers, the movement previously overwhelmed a Dallas Police Department mobile app designed for submitting videos of illegal activity during Black Lives Matter demonstrations to the point it was taken offline.

The K-pop fan base has become highly active during anti-racism protests taking place nationwide after George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota on May 25.

The influx in posts to several hashtags caused many of the topics to go trending on the social media platform this week, but clicking through would result in a mass of K-pop videos, gifs and memes. The QAnon conspiracy was a fresh target on Thursday.

#QAnon #WWG1WGA we won‘t stop 🥰 pic.twitter.com/GVLxrJjtFr

— Ari #BLM (@stanforanonymus) June 5, 2020

#̷̧̢̼̤͈̼̫̋̾Q̸̼͔͕̗͚̟̉̄̄͝a̷̞̗̺̐̔̚ṇ̶̨̢̦͚͚̜͇̯̉̓̑̉̏͋̕͝ö̴̡̟̥͔̟̞̯̠̳́ͅṇ̵̫̭͔̈́̓͆̄̈́̋̈́̓͘͠ you really thought you could have a racist tag without us knowing🤡 pic.twitter.com/oyMB5SZQaL

— 𝑹𝒉𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂⁷ ˢᵗⁱˡˡ ʷⁱᵗʰ ʸᵒᵘ (@sleepyyooniee) June 4, 2020

#Qaṇöṇ dont expect us kpop fan’s to flood a # with fancams, but that’s exactly what I’m saying 💆🏻‍♀️💅pic.twitter.com/JaPmcniRdn

— ## ₇𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖²⁴ 🍬 | blm (@poutiehwa) June 5, 2020

😂to the people that think the kpop stans are bots spamming. Good lucks fighting us #Qanon #WWG1WGA pic.twitter.com/gPMLlA1jFQ

— 7for7 (@nancyalvarezpic) June 5, 2020

The rise in K-pop activism has coincided with a resurgence of the global hacktivist group Anonymous, which is known for launching digital protest campaigns. Prominent accounts linked to the collective are describing the new movement as #OpFanCam.

"Anonymous stans ALL KPop allies! HACK THE PLANET!" read a June 3 tweet from the Twitter profile @YourAnonNews, which has more than seven million followers.

"We want everyone to understand that #BlackLivesMatter and we will signal boost all efforts to underscore that the BLM campaign is the main FOCUS. This isn't about Anonymous hacking; it's about police brutality, it's about an unjust racist system," the main account tweeted May 31, eventually attracting more than 100,000 likes.

Another profile—@YourAnonCentral—wrote that its activities would continue to target content alongside K-pop fans, with a renewed focus on Qanon hashtags.

"The fascists are regaining control of their hashtags and are now confused about K-Pop, Anime, and Swifties. The Anonymous #OpFanCam division is now coming back for round two. Let's teach these conspiracy fascists another lesson," it tweeted.

The joint campaign was also targeting the hashtag #WWG1WGA, which is often used by QAnon followers and stands for "Where We Go One, We Go All".

Gabriella Coleman, the author of a book detailing the complex origins of the Anonymous group, "Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy," responded: "That Kpop is flooding Twitter with #QAnon represents one tiny and tasty morsel of good for the day."

Others quickly shared their thoughts on the takeover campaign:

looking at the k-pop people in the #Qaṇöṇ tag. i dont even pretend to understand any of it. but you're on the right side of history. pic.twitter.com/ClEAe9EXSb

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 5, 2020

God bless the kpop fans, I see they've turned their attention to #QAnon.

— Alexandra Erin Voted For The Winner (@AlexandraErin) June 5, 2020

Wonder what the QaNon people think of the KPop stans coming after them.

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 5, 2020

I used to hate all those k-pop fans spamming hashtags, but during this whole time they've been spamming the shit out of the white supremacists & crazy qanon people's hashtags so badly that they can't communicate with each other...
So, now I am good with the k-poppers

— Lord EvelDick of Poppycock and Dingleballs (@EvelDick) June 5, 2020

The QAnon conspiracy can be traced back to 2017 and is believed to have started on the controversial message board 4Chan before spreading into the real-world.

Advocates of the baseless conspiracy theory claim to see secret messages in statements or actions by president Donald Trump and have previously suggested that someone from inside the government is leaking information about the "deep state."

"Adherents follow the anonymous Q and believe world governments are being controlled by a shadowy cabal of pedophiles (who will eventually be brought to justice by President Trump)," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) explains in an online fact-sheet.

It seems K-pop campaigning is here to stay. Today, accounts have turned attention to the hashtag #goBaldforBLM, noting it appeared to be being co-opted by 4chan trolls.

Do not #goBaldForBLM

Please spread the word.

Please do not shave your head because some dinks on the internet pulled their BS...AGAIN.

This was organized on 4chan.

Need I say more? pic.twitter.com/Zr5qbd2bFU

— Eva (Main: @SmolAsHeck) (@GeekyFoxy) June 5, 2020

In response, the K-pop army was quick to step in:

it would be so sad if we spammed this hashtag with our fancams. It would also be really terrible if you rt this to share to everyone #goBaldforBLM pic.twitter.com/QpJYkylMH5

— ellyza⁷ (@kthpupp) June 5, 2020

Everyday im becoming more thankful for these hashtags #goBaldForBLM pic.twitter.com/AbeADpOe2D

— yo dream BLM (@namtiddies100) June 5, 2020

#goBaldforBLM too bad this ht is too taken over by kpop stans. Sucks to suck 😔 pic.twitter.com/42LqZmFi8T

— ⟬⟭peachybangtanie ⁷💜⟭⟬ (@June97301368) June 5, 2020

#goBaldForBLM omg, my finger accidentally misclicked and tweeted this fancam, what am i ever going to do?? pic.twitter.com/vLyDJsR7nZ

— Edward (@MifuneGamer) June 5, 2020