QAnon influencers are using Cash App to raise funds, in apparent violation of the platform’s rules
Written by Alex Kaplan
Published
Updated
Update (6/28/21): All Cash App accounts mentioned in this article have now been taken down.
Multiple influencers who support the QAnon conspiracy theory have been using the payment processor platform Cash App to raise funds, likely in violation of the platform’s rules.
QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory, supporters of which have been tied to multiple violent incidents, including participating in the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol. Multiple government agencies have issued internal warnings of possible domestic terrorism regarding adherents of the conspiracy theory, including a warning from the FBI in June that QAnon supporters could carry out more violent acts. Members of the National Guard were also forced to stay in Washington, D.C., after the events of January 6 in part because of a QAnon conspiracy theory about March 4.
Cash App’s terms of service would seem to prohibit QAnon-related activity. The platform says users may not “upload or provide Content or otherwise post, transmit, distribute, or disseminate through the Services any material that: (a) is false, misleading, unlawful, obscene, indecent, lewd, pornographic, defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, hateful, abusive, or inflammatory” or “encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense or gives rise to civil liability.” Cash App has previously banned a QAnon influencer, Jordan Sather, telling him that he was “in violation of our Terms of Service.”
Multiple other platforms have also cracked down on QAnon, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is also the CEO of Cash App’s developer, Square, Inc.
Yet multiple QAnon influencers have been using Cash App to raise funds from followers. Some examples include:
- RedPill78, a QAnon show that has been banned from YouTube. The show’s host, Zak Paine, has admitted to participating in part of the insurrection.
- J.R. Majewski, a QAnon-supporting congressional candidate who has associated with and appeared multiple times on RedPill78, including an episode in which he and Paine discussed participating together in part of the insurrection.
- Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman, a QAnon influencer known online as “Tore” who has urged her followers to try to remove elected officials as part of a plan to push false voter fraud claims.
- “Kate Awakening,” a QAnon influencer who the day before the insurrection said that while QAnon supporters were “peaceful,” there was an “expiration date” on that.
- Jeffrey Pedersen, known online as “intheMatrixxx,” who has been banned from YouTube and who has promoted false claims of voter fraud.
- Scott DeGroat, the host of Woke Societies, a QAnon show that has been banned from YouTube.
- “M3thods,” a QAnon influencer who has co-hosted RedPill78 with Paine.
- TruReporting, a QAnon show that has been banned from YouTube.
- Brad Getz, who runs a QAnon channel that has been banned from YouTube.
- Spaceshot76, a QAnon channel that has been banned from YouTube and whose host contributed to a QAnon book that made it within the top 60 sellers on Amazon.