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QAnon Conspiracy Theories: Investigating a Viral Meme

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    What does this logo look like to you?
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    It might not look like
    much at first glance
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    but it did cause quite a stir online.
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    This logo was found on the side
    of a mobile COVID-19 testing truck.
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    The photo is real and so is the logo.
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    A viral post on Facebook claim
    that this logo represents Anubis,
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    the ancient Egyptian God
    of death and the afterlife.
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    The rumors circulated
    among groups tied to QAnon,
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    the once fringe conspiracy theory that
    has made its way into the mainstream.
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    QAnon members said the logo revealed
    a deep state plot against Americans.
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    They shared fears that these testing
    trucks were up to something nefarious.
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    Of course it turns out the logo
    is actually an aardvark.
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    An aardvark?
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    Yes, an aardvark, which I learned,
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    is an African mammal who is nocturnal
    and feeds largely on bugs.
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    Sarah Spencer, a journalist
    with factcheck.org,
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    ventured down the virtual rabbit hole
    to figure out where this logo came from
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    and how it ended up linked
    to an Egyptian death deity.
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    We initially were presented
    with this meme on Facebook.
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    Why does COVID-19 testing facility
    have a logo of Anubis, the God of death?
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    The first step would be to do just
    a basic reverse image search.
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    It can give you a starting off point
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    and give you a sense of maybe
    how widespread something is.
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    You can see obviously where the person
    who put together this meme shows,
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    to select in red, indicating what
    they think is interesting about it.
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    That will often skew an image search
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    but you can also click and download,
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    and then put it into any
    photo editing software.
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    In a picture like this,
    I would crop it like that,
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    so that you get part of an actual picture.
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    Then you can plug that picture
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    into your standard reverse image search.
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    Here, in TinEye, you can
    select your cropped version.
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    In TinEye, unlike in Google,
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    you can sort by newest to oldest.
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    So in this case, it was used
    in a Philadelphia business journal -
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    a story about this area business
    that had started retooling its trucks
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    to be used as mobile testing
    units during COVID-19.
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    They identify the name of the
    company as Aardvark Mobile.
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    So then just a simple,
    very simple internet search,
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    a pretty obvious first result is
    the Aardvark Mobile Tours website
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    that shares the same logo
    that you see on the truck.
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    You see they have
    a mobile health care unit.
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    That looks pretty close.
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    Very similar setup,
    yeah, very similar setup.
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    One thing that TinEye
    is really good at is finding
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    where images first
    started showing up online.
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    One of its first iterations
    showed up on 8KUN,
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    which is a message board that often
    is home to conspiracy theorists threads.
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    It's where a lot of conspiracy theories
    develop and then bubble up
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    before they start showing up
    on Facebook and Twitter.
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    So your tip to a general reader -
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    if they see an image that
    makes these kinds of claims,
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    what's the 1st thing they should
    have in the back of their mind?
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    What's the 1st thing they should do?
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    If you're scrolling through your social
    media, you see something
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    that really speaks to you
    and really feels right,
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    and you think, yes, that really
    solidifies what I think.
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    That should be a warning to you
    that it might be questionable.
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    Often you'll find that the facts
    that are included in memes
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    that feel the most right,
    are actually wrong.
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    The world feels scary right now
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    and the future feels unknown.
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    Reading something on the internet
    and assuming the worst,
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    seems almost reasonable.
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    But as Sarah said, if it feels right,
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    you might wanna check first.
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    And if something requires
    an elaborate explanation,
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    maybe there's a simpler answer.
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    Sometimes a logo is just a logo.
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    Sometimes an aardvark is just an aardvark.
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    And why, by the way, is this truck
    company named after an aardvark?
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    The owner of Aardvark
    Tours chose the name Aardvark
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    because it starts with AA
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    and way back when there were
    yellow pages in the phone book.
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    Sure, we had AA Carpet
    Cleaning, AAA Carpet Cleaning.
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    And aardvark starts with two A's.
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    So, that's how that came to be.
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    Until next time.
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    Don't spread fake news. Keep it real.
  • 4:22 - 4:25
    I'm Hari Sreenivasan,
    and this is Take on Fake.
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    Thanks for watching.
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    Want more tips&tricks for
    becoming a better fact checker?
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    Subscribe to our channel and let us know
    what you think in the comments below.
Title:
QAnon Conspiracy Theories: Investigating a Viral Meme
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Amplifying Voices
Project:
Misinformation and Disinformation
Duration:
04:37

English subtitles

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