Anonymous Is Stepping Back Into The Limelight & This Time It's Targeting QAnon

Over the years, the international hacking collective Anonymous has made a name for itself by going after governments, religious groups, and massive corporations. It even claimed to have hacked then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. Now, in an effort to wipe out what it calls a "brainless political agenda," The Hill reports that Anonymous is targeting the people responsible for spreading QAnon, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink conspiracy theory that includes topics ranging from the JFK assassination to supposed federal pedophile rings.

In a video posted to a Twitter page that is, according to The Hill, widely considered the most reliable Anonymous account, the decentralized hacking group vowed it would unmask the people responsible for fanning the flames of the conspiracy theories.

“You got all these foolish people all riled up with no proof, no leaks," the group said in the video, which simply had the hashtags #Anonymous #OpQ and #OpQAnon. "We have plans. We will not sit idly by while you take advantage of the misinformed and poorly educated."

In the video, Anonymous claims to know the people who are "responsible for Q” and shares that the hacking collective found the conspiracies to be funny initially. But, as the video informs viewers, the group now says the conspiracy theory has gotten out of hand and grown into a "deformed Alex Jones conspiracy thought bubble." The video is set to unsettlingly bright music with a number of cartoon and real-world figure cutouts with Anonymous masks. In some portions, the characters act out parts of the QAnon conspiracy against a mint green backdrop of the letter “Q.”

"Someone is going to get hurt, so we have to put our foot down and start some shit with you all," the video goes on, in an automated voiceover. "It seems you have some kooky political agenda and we don't like brainless political agendas. Hell, we don't even like political agendas at all."

QAnon became the subject of numerous headlines after several people at President Trump's Florida rally last week were seen holding cutouts of the letter "Q" as well as posters referring to the mishmash of conspiracy theories.

The origin story of QAnon came from a White House dinner last October, according to Esquire, when Trump called the event "the calm before the storm." When asked what this "storm" alluded to, he responded, "You’ll find out." This answer led a person going by the name of "Q," who claimed to be a Department of Energy security official with high-level security clearance, to post cryptic messages on 4chan, starting the series of QAnon conspiracies. Some QAnon followers believe that Trump's referenced storm meant a purging of "deep-state operatives," Esquire reported, which they believe to be the Clintons, Obamas, and other figures who have been critical of Trump.

The believers of QAnon contend that Robert Mueller's investigation is actually a takedown of underground pedophile rings supposedly run by Democrats and famous Hollywood celebrities. Somewhere in this theory, which has been debunked, Pizzagate and Sandy Hook conspiracies also fit in.

It's unclear what Anonymous will do exactly following their message, but in the past, the collective has shown it's capable of more than just words. In 2008, the group first made headlines when it hacked the Church of Scientology, spamming its communication outlets and overloading the system with attacks meant to crash the church's website.

"We're going to wreck you," Anonymous says toward the end of the video to those behind QAnon. "We are Anonymous. We are a legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. We're sure you know we're coming. How could you not?"