Trump's favorite news network appears to offer QAnon-themed emojis with a YouTube Live subscription
- One America News (OAN), a pro-Trump news network, appeared to offer QAnon-themed emojis with its YouTube Live subscription package.
- For $4.99 per month, subscribers of OAN's YouTube Live can use special QAnon emojis in the comments section of the news network's live feed.
- OAN has previously aired segments that are flattering of the unfounded conspiracy theory movement.
- Update: After the publication of this article, OAN's YouTube Live channel appeared to remove the QAnon emojis from its offerings.
The right-wing pro-Trump broadcast news channel One America News (OAN) appeared to offer QAnon emojis to entice people to pay for the network's YouTube Live feature.
OAN posts certain segments from its offerings on YouTube. But subscribers of the channel's YouTube Live pay $4.99 for 24/7 live viewing and "custom emojis," including at least two QAnon-related symbols, that they can use in the live feed's comments section.
The emoji offerings, which were first reported by The Daily Beast on Wednesday, feature one that says 2020 written as "2Q2Q" and another that says "Q" with an American flag design. The latter has become the main logo of the conspiracy theory movement.
Soon after the original version of this article was published, OAN's YouTube Live page appeared to remove the QAnon-related emojis from its site. In an email, a representative for OAN told Insider that the network did "not believe" the emojis were "created or used by OAN."
Insider has reached out to YouTube for comment.
OAN's news segments are extremely supportive of Trump and the GOP. As The Atlantic reported in May, OAN "is Donald Trump's favorite cable-news channel" because it "seems to agree with Trump about everything, in the same way a dog agrees to chase its own tail."
The unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory is based on the idea that President Trump is going to save the country from an evil cabal of elite figures who secretly control the world and are involved in nefarious activities like child sex trafficking.
The QAnon conspiracy theory has become increasingly mainstream this year, as President Trump himself has made flattering comments about the theory's supporters.
At least one OAN host has shown support for QAnon's easily debunked theories. OAN correspondent Kristian Rouz said in a July segment that "a growing number of Americans may be doing their own research, as reports also say QAnon is becoming a widely accepted system of beliefs."
Still, this is the first instance of the channel appearing to clearly align itself with the conspiracy theory movement.
- Read more:
- QAnon is leaking into the mainstream, moving from internet fringes to primetime cable news as Americans keep falling for the unfounded conspiracy theory
- QAnon conspiracy theorists have been linked to a killing and multiple armed stand-offs. Here are the criminal allegations connected to the movement and its followers.
- How the Wayfair human-trafficking conspiracy theory grew out of QAnon
- The CDC has faced an onslaught of calls about a COVID-19 conspiracy theory linked to QAnon