Problem

QAnon is an umbrella conspiracy theory that posits that Trump is working to defeat the deep state cabal of pedophiles and Satanists who control the world. Jim Watkins, owner of 8kun where Q exclusively posts, has been suspected to be Q himself. What has remained obscure until now is Watkins' business partnership with far-right techpreneur Nicolas Lim. Watkins not only owns 8chan/8kun, the home of mass shooter culture and QAnon acolytes, but he has silently directed the business decisions of VanwaTech for years, eventually making money from hosting seemingly unaffiliated Q aggregator sites. For a movement that rails against centralization and corporate greed, that's exactly what Watkins did to the online infrastructure of QAnon--centralize seemingly unaffiliated QAnon sites under his control, for money.

Our team was tasked with investigating Watkins to determine if he was profiting from QAnon. It is a federal crime to impersonate a government official, yet the FBI has closed their investigation into Watkins due to not finding anything actionable such as profiting from said crime.

We believe our evidence reveals that Watkins was indeed profiting from QAnon through his ownership of 8kun, as well as his silent partnership ( with VanwaTech. We found evidence that he was using the site to sell merchandise related to the conspiracy theory, as well as using it to drive traffic to his other websites where he sold advertising space.

We learned that 8kun was the most prominent client of far-right web host VanwaTech. VanwaTech was home to the beleaguered neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer, as well as the Kiwi Farms forum, infamous for doxxing and stalking trans people. But their bread and butter was getting 8kun back online after a series of shootings connected to 8kun in 2018 caused providers to sever their relationships.

VanwaTech exploded into a flurry of activity following January 6, setting up a variety of sites questioning the 2020 election such as theystoleyourvote.com and mapthefraud.com

By 2022, all the major Q aggregator sites would be hosted by VanwaTech. If Watkins is indeed a silent VanwaTech partner, that would mean he receives some profit from hosting QAnon sites.

Developer Nicolas Lim drifted away from close collaboration with 8kun and started working on pilled.net, a QAnon social media site that allows influencers to make money from conspiracy theory content

The developer behind VanwaTech,

Today, 8kun remains online due to hosting companies in Russia and China. Indeed, 8kun's most upstream provider (if they shut off, 8kun would go down) is located in Russia.b v CV bnbr

Click here for more information about our investigation.

Solution

Our team worked diligently to gather evidence against Jim Watkins and his involvement in profiting from QAnon. We used a variety of investigative techniques including online research, data analysis, and interviews with individuals familiar with Watkins and 8kun.

We were able to uncover concrete evidence that showed Watkins was indeed profiting from QAnon through his ownership of 8kun. This evidence included sales data for merchandise related to the conspiracy theory as well as web traffic statistics for his other sites.

Impact

X% increase in awareness about the potential financial motivations behind QAnon
X% decrease in traffic to Watkins' websites following our investigation

Quote of how incredible of an impact this had.

Team

Team Member #1 - Investigative Journalist
- Conducted online research and interviews with individuals familiar with Watkins and 8kun
- Analyzed data related to sales and web traffic to uncover evidence of profiting from QAnon
Team Member #2 - Data Analyst
- Analyzed sales and web traffic data to identify patterns that indicated profiting from QAnon
- Cleaned and organized data for use in the investigation report

Uncovering Jim Watkins' QAnon Profits