A photo of Ivanka Trump, daughter of former US President Donald Trump, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine does not contain a Quick Response (QR) code associated with QAnon. Contrary to what is claimed on social media, there is no evidence linking the image to the far-reaching conspiracy theory, which claims that Trump is secretly fighting a cabal of sexual predators with child smuggling that prominent Democrats, Hollywood elites and allies of ‘deep state’. The alleged code does not lead to 8kun, an unmodified forum containing Q’s posts, known to fans as ‘Q drops’.
On April 14, 2021, the former first daughter tweeted two photos of her receiving the vaccine, with the caption: “Today I got the chance !!! I hope you will do the same! Thank you nurse Torres !!!” (here).
In a statement sent to the Associated Press, Ivanka said she had received Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose vaccine for the new coronavirus, saying that “getting vaccinated is the best way to beat this virus and ourselves. and to protect others “(here).
A message on Facebook re-sharing the photos included a red circle around a matrix code on a piece of paper next to her and the following caption: “Wow. I just scanned the QR code that appears on Ivanka’s photo and got the number 01003592671000231721073110ER8. I put it in Duck duck go, and the first thing that appears to me is this site. here related to the Q drops where it can be read: Q Research General # 17007: We are not going to take it ”(here).
The relevant ‘Q drop’ archived here is a message dated December 8, 2020 from ‘Q’, the anonymous leader of the web and movement claiming to have knowledge of the Trump administration. The ‘Intelligence Drop’, which is the most recent Q, links to a recently removed YouTube video that has been put to the test, to the soundtrack of Twisted Sister’s hit ‘We Won’t Take It’ from 1984 (here) .
Other posts that make the same claim are seen here, here and here.
A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email that Ivanka Trump’s photo showed a GS1-2D Matrix code, which was affixed to the labels on each frozen tray with Pfizer vaccination vials and contained unique information on the tray. Here is a separate photo of a Pfizer tray, for example with a QR code, visible.
The spokesperson also confirmed that contrary to reports that the number linked to the Matrix code 01003592671000231721073110ER8, no code manufactured by Pfizer ends up on ER8.
Reuters could not independently scan the code on Ivanka Trump’s Twitter photo, given the pixilation and angle.
As indicated by the QAnon influencer Inevitable ET himself on the messaging program Telegram, the alleged band is ‘unfortunately … a no-brainer’. In his Telegram channel, with more than 66,000 subscribers, he said that the entry of alleged code on the internet search engine Duck Duck Go is probably at 8un because someone provided the code on the original Q comment, and thus’ ‘ [sic] prophecy. ”
Showed here on Twitter by BBC reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh, QAnon fans reacted in anger and disappointment to Ivanka Trump’s vaccination post. Some even claimed that the photos were photographed or performed (here, here).
As reported here by The Washington Post, an internal Facebook study found a growing intersection between accounts that oppose vaccines and accounts related to QAnon.
A New York Times report on how far-right extremists moved from ‘Stop the Steal’ to the 2020 election to ‘stop the vaccine’ is visible here.
VERDICT
Untrue. The Matrix code seen on a piece of paper on Ivanka Trump’s vaccination photos is not linked to 8kun or QAnon.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.