New world order, globalism and QAnon communities on Brazilian Telegram: how conspiracism opens doors to more harmful groups

Abstract

Conspiracy theories involving the New World Order (NWO), Globalism, and QAnon have become central to discussions on Brazilian Telegram, especially during global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to address the research question: how are Brazilian conspiracy theory communities on new world order, globalism and QAnon topics characterized and articulated on Telegram? It is worth noting that this study is part of a series of seven studies whose main objective is to understand and characterize Brazilian conspiracy theory communities on Telegram. This series of seven studies is openly and originally available on arXiv at Cornell University, applying a mirrored method across the seven studies, changing only the thematic object of analysis and providing investigation replicability, including with proprietary and authored codes, adding to the culture of free and open-source software. Regarding the main findings of this study, the following were observed: NWO and Globalism have become central catalysts for the dissemination of conspiracy theories; QAnon acts as a hub narrative that connects NWO and Globalism; During crises, mentions of NWO have grown exponentially, reflecting distrust in institutions; NWO and Globalism attract followers of other conspiracy theories, such as anti-vaccines, serving as the main gatekeeper of the entire conspiracy theory network; Religious narratives are often used to legitimize NWO, reinforcing ideological cohesion.