Since its founding, the antigovernment group Oath Keepers has steeped itself in conspiracy theories and trained for a revolution against the state.
Since its founding, the antigovernment group Oath Keepers has steeped itself in conspiracy theories and trained for a revolution against the state.
Researchers studying the far right have sounded the alarm over the threat posed by the rapid proliferation of conspiracy theories, disinformation and misinformation for years, noting that shifts in the extreme right’s mobilization tactics could present new challenges to stemming a tide of violence.
An Oregon man who is alleged to have fired shots into a federal court building in Portland last week had, over the preceding months, expressed increasingly violent and conspiracy-minded beliefs across a range of online platforms.
Facing mounting pressure from law enforcement and obstacles in the form of tech companies pushing fringe websites and prominent social media accounts offline, far-right extremists have embraced a more diffuse, chaotic response to Joe Biden’s inauguration than the concentrated mob attack that engulfed the Capitol on Jan. 6.