Navigating Early-Stage Migration: Comparing QAnon Community Dynamics on Twitter, Parler, and Dotwin

This paper examines the impact of platform migration on theQAnon community during their transition from Twitter to alterna-tive platforms like Parler and Dotwin following initial widespreadaccount bans on Twitter. We examine how QAnon’s community dy-namics—including user roles and activities—evolved amidst this mi-gration by analyzing their activities on Twitter, Parler, and Dotwinin the months leading up to the Jan 6th Capitol attack. We assessuser engagement and influence changes, categorizing users intofive distinct roles: ’common users,’ ‘broadcasters,’ ’influentials,’ ’hid-den influentials,’ and ’lurkers.’ Our findings challenge traditionallinear migration models by revealing extremist communities’ com-plex, multi-platform engagement during early-stage migration. Ourfindings also suggest the importance of platform affordances insupporting various user roles in extremist communities. Our re-search also broadens the scope of existing literature by offering alongitudinal cross-platform analysis, providing new insights intothe evolving dynamics of extremist online activity.