I'm digging into the anti-semitic side of QAnon on Instagram, and I want to highlight one of the biggest and most hateful narratives that continues to slip through (or is simply unenforced) on social platforms: the anti-Semitic bloodlines/Khazar/Synagogue of Satan myth.

many far-right supporters and Q adherents argue against characterizations of themselves as anti-Semitic by falling back on the argument that they don't hate Jews, they hate "fake Jews": the Synagogue of Satan. This is based on an extreme interpretation of a bible verse.

This profoundly anti-Semitic and obviously false theory alleges that 90+% of Jews in the world are not actually descended from the original Israelites. Instead, they hold that Ashkenazis are descended from refugees from the collapsed Khazarian Empire and were converts to Judaism.

This false narrative also holds that virtually ALL inhabitants of modern-day Israel are "fake Jews." Believers essentially are convinced that not only are most Jews perpetuating a massive, centuries-long con on everyone else, but that they are tasked by Satan to destroy the world

This is a profoundly easy narrative to detect and monitor across social platforms, as terms like "Khazar" and "Synagogue of Satan" are virtually only used within these communities. and yet I have found it festering on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Understanding the Khazar myth is essential to understanding why the QAnon cult is foundationally anti-Semitic. Evil caricatures of Soros and the Rothschilds are largely based on this myth. So are allegations of Israeli satanism/manipulation/etc.

Other researchers and journalists have been talking about the prevalence of Q on Instagram today, so I wanted to do some research into how intensely hateful those accounts are. Some of them are pretty awful.