A conspiracy theory documentary called Watch the Water trended across social media platforms like Twitter and Telegram today, leading to many memes and comments about its outlandish claims.
Tomorrow 6pm. Very curious about this .. #WatchTheWater pic.twitter.com/UFZ6SrcheX
— 🇺🇸♥️American Made (@lLana2626) April 10, 2022
I truly regret clicking on the watch the water trend. pic.twitter.com/YfsLJfvZg9
— Ƭαოα૨α Ɓ 🙄 (@TamsBS) April 12, 2022
The phrase “watch the water” comes from a 2018 post by the anonymous user Q on 4chan and has been repurposed by QAnon movement filmmaker Stew Peters and Dr. Bryan Ardis (whose medical credentials have been questioned by many online) as the title of a recently released documentary.
I hope people will take the time to watch "Watch the Water". I know most people won't because cognitive dissonance doesn't feel good, and many can't handle having their entire worldview shattered – but they should. It's time to awaken from our trances people!#WATCHTHEWATER
— Byron Bailey 🇺🇲 (@Byron_Bailey) April 12, 2022
🚨Questions🚨
Is this the
King Cobra Venom Pandemic?Did you see watch the water? #holywar pic.twitter.com/AHWiEFaHeS
— Jkk4782 (@jkk4782) April 12, 2022
"Watch the Water" has been an extremely popular Q catchphrase to cite for years, because the Drop is totally context-free, meaning it could be about anything, so believers make it about anything. pic.twitter.com/luToRhNYKA
— Feminist Proper Gander (@dappergander) April 12, 2022
The documentary proposes that COVID-19 is not a virus at all but rather snake venom put into the water supply by a "probably satanic cabal."
Well, I for one feel like I lost 35 IQ points just finding out why watch the water is trending.
— A Rose Chrysalis (@chrysalis_a) April 12, 2022
"Watch the Water" is trending on Twitter. It's a reference to a new right-wing "documentary" with a QAnon slogan as its title that claims -- not kidding here -- that snake blood was put in the vaccines to inject us with Satan's DNA.
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) April 12, 2022
The format of the documentary is an interview of Ardis by Peters, interspersed with images and visual aids.
🇺🇸Mind-Blowing: Could the Origin of COVID Be From a Symbol of Evil? – 'Watch the Water'
Dr. Bryan Ardis: "When I say that they have lied to you about everything in relationship to COVID. They've even lied about the viral part of COVID. Could you ever have imagined that the
— Angelus caelorum (@CaelorumAngelus) April 4, 2022
#WATCHTHEWATER
the "WATCH THE WATER" crowd rn: pic.twitter.com/suYFlJ5f4S— Rhett N. Voison (@VoisonMyOpinion) April 12, 2022
Ardis cites the CDC and media’s opposition to purported COVID-19 treatments, such as Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and other therapies promoted online, as evidence of these claims. The fact that some medications used against snake venom are not being used to fight a respiratory virus means to Ardis that the government wants people to get sick and fears that they will be cured if they take antivenom.
#WatchTheWater
Why is the department of defense funding venom mrna research???— Simply Named Beaver (@AngeredBeaver) April 11, 2022
What does snake venom and covid side effects have in common ??? 🤔🤔🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️ #WATCHTHEWATER #StewPeters pic.twitter.com/90d7FgROxv
See AlsoWatch the Water Telegram Channel— DJ (@DennisJ67241101) April 12, 2022
There has been a lot of talk about the water lately. Big booms incoming – stay prepared! #watchthewater #water pic.twitter.com/RRdtBNTOSS
— Byron Bailey 🇺🇲 (@Byron_Bailey) April 9, 2022
The documentary (which is “just asking questions”) suggests the snake venom that supposedly causes COVID-19 is already in the water supply, and people must reassess their relationships with familiar sources of water in the home such as faucets, showers and even toilets.
A few months ago they were sending out home test, people ran them under faucet water, would get positive results, #WatchTheWater helped me understand how that could happen. Demons are real and the attack is real, this is God versus evil #GodIsComingBack #WhatILearnedToday
— OriginalGaPeach (@JChristopher62) April 12, 2022
Trump's complaint about having to flush the toilet 10 to 15 times?
Watch the Water. pic.twitter.com/4JEqzq7GF8
— Feminist Proper Gander (@dappergander) April 12, 2022
There has been a lot of talk about the water lately. Big booms incoming – stay prepared! #watchthewater #water pic.twitter.com/RRdtBNTOSS
— Byron Bailey 🇺🇲 (@Byron_Bailey) April 9, 2022
Others pointed out "facts," such as the increased severity of COVID in people with preexisting conditions, as evidence of the snake venom theory.
#WatchTheWater
So this is why people with health issues are dying from CovidThe venom is attacking the organs in trouble
This is freaking scary and I need to watch this a 2nd time!!!!#WhatILearnedToday
— Simply Named Beaver (@AngeredBeaver) April 11, 2022
Opposing voices on the internet dismissed Watch the Water as an absurd conspiracy, making memes mocking those who believed it. Certain commentators identified common themes between Watch the Water and older antisemitic conspiracies about Jews "poisoning wells." In addition to bearing the mark of a more ancient conspiracy theory tradition, Watch the Water also fits into the QAnon expanded universe, incorporating aspects of the Q narrative and coming out of the same network of people. Further, the documentary makes an argument linking the satanic cabal's use of snake venom in the plandemic to the Biblical story of the Satanic snake that tempted Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Snake blood = antisemitic conspiracy theory (lizard people)
Satan's DNA = antisemitic conspiracy theory (demon DNA)
"Watch the Water" = well-poisoning, which originated as, you guessed it, an antisemitic conspiracy theory (Jewish people spreading bubonic plague via wells) https://t.co/aGuabBZ4cq— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) April 12, 2022
Twitter purportedly responded to the documentary by blocking and removing tweets about it, presumably following reports by users or detection by content moderators. Despite actions taken by Twitter, however, the phrase trended widely and supporters of the conspiracy sought ways to evade detection by the algorithm by tweeting in code or replacing flagged words with others.
One day later, "watch the water" is a top trend on Twitter, exposing people to both an insane COVID conspiracy video and a QAnon catchphrase.
How's that crackdown going, Twitter? https://t.co/q4v4Pv2zjm
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) April 12, 2022
Twitter has deployed an army of bots to attack my threads about "Watch The Water" which tells me there could be some degree of credibility to his claims.
Not fully convinced, but anytime the bots & shills come out in full force … that says something.
— In A Mad World (@InAMadWorld111) April 12, 2022
So while snake venom likely isn’t in the water, conspiracy theories are definitely in the socials once again.
