Update (8/21/19): The RSVP page has since been deleted.
Update (8/22/19): Jordan Sather, a QAnon promoter and one of the upcoming rally’s key promoters, posted an email on Twitter from Eventbrite that he said was sent to the rally’s organizer. It said the RSVP page was removed because “events associated with QAnon violate our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service and are therefore not permitted on the Eventbrite platform.” The email also warned that if the platform became “aware of any future event associated with QAnon” on the site, “we will remove it.”
The event management and ticketing website Eventbrite is hosting an RSVP page for a rally for the QAnon conspiracy theory -- even though its supporters have been connected to multiple violent acts and the tech company’s community guidelines prohibit “dangerous content.”
The Eventbrite RSVP page for a September rally in Washington, D.C., says participants will “come together” to “speak out against the Deep State/Cabal and their corruption and crimes against humanity."
The RSVP page has been shared across multiple tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Discord, underscoring the key role tech platforms have played in allowing the conspiracy theory to spread and its supporters to organize.
According to Eventbrite’s community guidelines, the platform prohibits “content or organizations that promote or encourage hate, violence, or harassment towards others and/or oneself” or any content that “promotes or encourages hate or dangerous content.”
In May, an FBI field office memo listed QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat. Supporters of the conspiracy theory have been linked to multiple acts of violence; one was accused of murdering his brother with a sword, and another of murdering an alleged crime boss. Supporters of the conspiracy theory also include a man who reportedly threatened to kill YouTube employees, an armed man who blocked the Hoover Dam with an armored vehicle, a man who threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump, and a group that harassed a charter school.
The conspiracy theory, which revolves around a 4chan-originated account called “Q” that originally claimed that Trump is working with special counsel Robert Mueller and others to take down the president’s perceived enemies and the “deep state,” has also become increasingly popular among border militias and anti-government groups.
