Ron Watkins

Ron Watkins is an American conspiracy theorist and a former site administrator of the imageboard website 8chan.[2][3] Watkins has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory,[4][5] and also promulgated baseless conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election.[4][6] Watkins served as site administrator for 8chan from 2016 until his resignation in November 2020.[1][7] He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8chan.[8] Some journalists and conspiracy theory researchers believe that one or both of the Watkinses know the identity of, or are themselves, "Q", the person or group of people behind QAnon.[9]

For the drama teacher and Shakespeare scholar, see Ronald Watkins.

Ron Watkins
Ron Watkins in 2018
Born
Ronald Watkins[1]
Other namesCodeMonkeyZ
Known forFormer 8chan site administrator, conspiracy theorist
Parent(s)

Activities

8chan
See also: 8chan

8chan, also called 8kun, is an imageboard website that has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings.[10][11][12] It was home to the proponents of the Gamergate controversy beginning in 2014,[13][14] and in 2018 became a central part of the QAnon conspiracy theory when "Q", the anonymous figure claiming to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, began exclusively using 8chan to post their messages.[15][16][17][18]

In 2014, after seeing an Al Jazeera America documentary about 8chan creator Fredrick Brennan, Watkins told his father, Jim Watkins, about Brennan.[16][1] The imageboard had recently taken off in popularity after it was adopted by proponents of the Gamergate controversy, and Brennan was having trouble keeping up with server costs.[13][14] The elder Watkins contacted Brennan to offer a partnership, and in 2014 Brennan moved to Manila in the Philippines to work for him. In 2014, Jim Watkins became the official owner and operator of 8chan.[1] Ron Watkins began working on the site every day.[16] Brennan remained the site administrator until 2016, at which time he relinquished the role and Watkins took up the position.[1]

Watkins was responsible for the creation of a cryptocurrency through which 8chan posters can pay to have their posts listed prominently through a program called "King of the Shekel".[13]

On November 3, 2020, the day of the United States presidential election, Watkins announced on Twitter that he was resigning his position as site administrator. He told journalists he wanted to spend more time woodworking and writing a book about constitutional law.[7][2] His resignation was described as "abrupt", and fed doubts among some QAnon adherents about the movement.[19][7] Some have questioned the veracity of his resignation.[6][4] Conspiracy theory researcher Julian Feeld said, "His 'departure' from 8kun is highly suspect and possibly just a PR move more than anything else... It allows him more freedom as a right-wing operative, specifically around the various voter fraud conspiracy theories."[4]

Attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election
See also: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

After resigning from his 8chan position in November 2020, Watkins worked to build his reputation among those attempting to overturn the results of the presidential election.[2] He spread conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems, the creators of some voting machines used in the election. He posted videos on Twitter of a Dominion employee using one of the machines, falsely stating that the employee was pictured tampering with election results. The employee received death threats as a result, and a noose was found hanging outside his home.[2][20]

Watkins was named as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed by Sidney Powell, a lawyer and conspiracy theorist also involved in challenging the election results.[2] In his affidavit, he claimed that based on his reading of the online user guide for the Dominion software, it might be "within the realm of possibility" for a poll worker to manipulate votes. According to The Washington Post, Watkins described himself in the affidavit as "an information security expert with nine years of experience as a 'network and information defense analyst' and security engineer", and did not mention that his experience mostly came from his work with 8chan.[6]

Watkins was interviewed multiple times about Dominion on the pro-Trump One America News Network (OANN), which introduced him as a "large system technical analyst".[4] His comments on electoral fraud were also reported by other right-wing outlets, including The Gateway Pundit.[3]

Watkins earned a large following on Twitter following the election, where he used the name "CodeMonkeyZ".[2][21] In the month of November he nearly doubled his follower count to 400,000, and by early January had more than 500,000 followers.[2] Trump had retweeted Watkins five times between Election Day and January 6, 2021, and Foreign Policy described Watkins as "an integral part of Trump's post-election messaging".[3] After the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building, Twitter cracked down on accounts that were "solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content". Watkins's account was among the accounts Twitter permanently suspended on January 8, as were the accounts belonging to Sidney Powell and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.[22][23]

QAnon
See also: QAnon

QAnon is a discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against former President Donald Trump, who is battling them.[24] Watkins has played a major role in helping to amplify the theory.[4][5][25] According to conspiracy theory expert Julian Feeld, QAnon adherents see Watkins as "the technical brain behind the platform where Q posts". Feeld has said that despite Watkins's lower profile in the movement compared to his father, he has "played just as big a role in the ... movement's growth".[4] Watkins has been described as a de facto QAnon leader.[5]

On January 20, 2021, QAnon followers struggled to reconcile that Joe Biden had been inaugurated with their beliefs that Trump would still become president, or that there would be a "Great Awakening" or "the Storm": a day on which Trump and military allies would gather their political opponents for execution.[26] Watkins appeared to be one of the figures abandoning the theory, posting on Telegram that "We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able."[26][27] QAnon researcher Travis View warned against believing Watkins, pointing to his past claim that he had quit 8chan to focus on his woodworking only to "[fill] the vacuum of Q by spreading conspiracy theories".[26]

Watkins's connection to Q

Numerous journalists and conspiracy theory researchers have connected Ron, Jim, or both Watkinses to Q, an account run by an unknown person or group of people, whose posts are the basis of the QAnon conspiracy theory.[9]

Watkins and his father were two of only a few people who could verify that posts on 8chan were from the "real" Q, which also contributed to theories that they were behind the persona.[33]

Fredrick Brennan quoted in The Atlantic in June 2020 said, "I definitely, definitely, 100 percent believe that Q either knows Jim or Ron Watkins, or was hired by Jim or Ron Watkins."[31] In an interview on a September 2020 episode of the podcast Reply All, Brennan explained that he believes the Q account was originally operated by someone else, but that Watkins and his father took control of the persona, most likely around December 2017.[34] PJ Vogt of Reply All has said he discussed Brennan's theory with other journalists who write about Q, and that "some of them think it's likely, everyone agrees it's more than plausible".[35] Both Watkinses have denied knowledge of Q's identity.[30][31]

A verified account on Parler claiming to be Watkins made several posts on November 15, 2020, appearing to confirm theories that his father was Q.[21] It was later determined that Aubrey Cottle, a security researcher and co-founder of Anonymous, had taken advantage of Parler security flaws to change the name of an already-verified Parler account, giving it the appearance of belonging to and having been verified as Watkins.[36] This incident led to a feud between Watkins and Parler investor Dan Bongino, with Watkins publicly criticizing Parler's security on Twitter and describing the service as "compromised". Bongino responded by tweeting insults at Watkins.[37][38]

Personal life

Watkins lived with his father, Jim Watkins, in Manila in the Philippines in the 2010s.[16][8] As of January 2021, Watkins was living in Japan.[23]

References
  1. McLaughlin, Timothy (August 6, 2019). "The Weird, Dark History of 8Chan". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  2. Gilbert, David (December 15, 2020). "The Dangerous QAnon Figure Doing Whatever It Takes to Win Trump's Approval". Vice. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  3. Ling, Justin (January 6, 2021). "QAnon Is Trumpism Now". Foreign Policy. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  4. McKay, Tom (November 19, 2020). "Great, We're at the '8kun's Admin Is an Election Security Expert' Stage of This Bullshit". Gizmodo. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  5. Amore, Samson (January 20, 2021). "QAnon in Meltdown After Biden Inauguration: 'We Need to Go Back to Our Lives'". TheWrap. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  6. Harwell, Drew (December 1, 2020). "To boost voter-fraud claims, Trump advocate Sidney Powell turns to unusual source: The longtime operator of QAnon's Internet home". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  7. Weill, Kelly (November 12, 2020). "QAnon's Home 8kun Is Imploding—and Q Has Gone Silent". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  8. Francescani, Chris (September 22, 2020). "The men behind QAnon". ABC News. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  9. [28][29][30][16][31][32][19][6]
  10. Wong, Julia Carrie (August 4, 2019). "8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  11. Roose, Kevin (August 4, 2019). "8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  12. Mezzofiore, Gianluca; O'Sullivan, Donie (August 5, 2019). "El Paso shooting is at least the third atrocity linked to 8chan this year". CNN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  13. Harwell, Drew; McLaughlin, Timothy (September 12, 2019). "From helicopter repairman to leader of the Internet's 'darkest reaches': The life and times of 8chan owner Jim Watkins". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 12, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  14. Brennan, Fredrick (March 17, 2015). "Full transcript: Ars interviews 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan". Ars Technica (Interview). Interviewed by Sam Machkovech. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  15. Griffin, Andrew (August 24, 2020). "What is Qanon? The Origins of the Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Spreading Online". The Independent. London. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  16. Farley, Donovan (Spring 2020). "Free Speech, Hate Speech and the King of the Trolls". Playboy. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  17. Rozsa, Matthew (August 18, 2019). "QAnon is the conspiracy theory that won't die". Salon. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  18. Zadrozny, Brandy; Collins, Ben (August 8, 2018). "How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon". NBC News. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  19. Dickson, E. J. (November 13, 2020). "Q Is Back, But Does QAnon Have a Future?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  20. Gilbert, David (December 2, 2020). "QAnon Left a Noose Outside a 20-Year-Old Election Worker's Home". Vice. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  21. Stanley, Alyse (November 15, 2020). "Wait, Did Ron Watkins Just Rat Out His Dad, 8Kun's Jim Watkins, as Q?". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  22. Haskins, Caroline (January 8, 2021). "Twitter Has Banned Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, And Ron Watkins For Spreading QAnon Delusions". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  23. Collins, Ben; Zadrozny, Brandy (January 8, 2021). "Twitter bans Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell in QAnon account purge". NBC News. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  25. Hatmaker, Taylor (January 8, 2021). "Twitter bans former Trump adviser Michael Flynn and other QAnon figures". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  26. Wong, Julia Carrie (January 20, 2021). "QAnon's 'Great Awakening' failed to materialize. What's next could be worse". The Guardian. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  27. Elliot, Josh K. (January 20, 2021). "'It's over': QAnon believers left reeling after Biden replaces Trump". Global News. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  28. Roose, Kevin (November 10, 2020). "Shocked by Trump's Loss, QAnon Struggles to Keep the Faith". The New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  29. Gilbert, David (March 2, 2020). "QAnon Now Has Its Very Own Super PAC". Vice. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  30. Rothschild, Mike (August 28, 2020). "Did an IP address accidentally reveal QAnon's identity?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  31. LaFrance, Adrienne (June 2020). "The Prophecies of Q". The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  32. Francescani, Chris (September 22, 2020). "The men behind QAnon". ABC News. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  33. Harwell, Drew; Timberg, Craig (November 10, 2020). "'My faith is shaken': The QAnon conspiracy theory faces a post-Trump identity crisis". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  34. Vogt, PJ (September 18, 2020). "Country of Liars". Reply All (Podcast). Gimlet Media. Event occurs at 37:18. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  35. Vogt, PJ (September 18, 2020). "Country of Liars". Reply All (Podcast). Gimlet Media. Event occurs at 41:05. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  36. Harwell, Drew; Lerman, Rachel (November 23, 2020). "Conservatives grumbling about censorship say they're flocking to Parler. They told us so on Twitter". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  37. Gilbert, David (December 11, 2020). "Even QAnon Is Abandoning Parler, the Far-Right's Answer to Twitter". Vice News. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  38. Rothschild, Mike (December 11, 2020). "Why 8kun's former admin is at war with right-wing star Dan Bongino". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
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