Ronald Watkins (born April 18, 1987), also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun (formerly known as 8chan). He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has promulgated conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.
Numerous journalists and researchers believe that one or both of the Watkinses know the identity of, or are themselves, "Q", the person or group of people behind QAnon.
Watkins served as site administrator for 8kun from 2016 until he announced he had resigned in November 2020, though some have questioned the veracity of his resignation.
Early life
Watkins was born in 1987. His father, Jim Watkins, is a former member of the United States Army, and Watkins grew up moving often because of his father's military service. His mother, Ton Sun Watkins, is from South Korea, and his parents met when his father was stationed there. They divorced when Watkins was a teenager, at which point Watkins began to live mostly with his mother.
Watkins spent his high school years in Mukilteo, Washington, the city where he lived for the longest period during his childhood. He attended Kamiak High School, where he was active in choir and theater, and graduated in 2005.
Activities
8kun
8kun, which was formerly known as 8chan, is an imageboard website that has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, child pornography, racism, and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings. It was home to the proponents of the Gamergate controversy beginning in 2014, and in 2018 became a central part of the QAnon conspiracy theory when "Q", the anonymous figure claiming to be a high-level government official with Q clearance, began exclusively using 8kun to post their messages.
In 2014, after seeing an Al Jazeera America documentary about 8kun creator Fredrick Brennan, Watkins told his father about Brennan. The imageboard had recently taken off in popularity after it was adopted by proponents of Gamergate, and Brennan was having trouble keeping up with server costs. The elder Watkins contacted Brennan to offer a partnership, and in 2014, Brennan moved to Manila in the Philippines to work for him. In 2014, Jim Watkins became the official owner and operator of 8kun. Ron Watkins began working on the site every day. Brennan remained the site administrator until 2016, at which time he relinquished the role and Ron Watkins took up the position.
Watkins was responsible for the creation of a cryptocurrency through which 8kun posters can pay to have their posts listed prominently through a program called "King of the Shekel".
On November 3, 2020, the day of the United States presidential election, Watkins announced on Twitter that he was resigning his position as site administrator. He told journalists he wanted to spend more time woodworking and writing a book about constitutional law. His resignation was described as "abrupt", and fed doubts among some QAnon adherents about the movement. Some have questioned the veracity of his resignation. Conspiracy theory researcher Julian Feeld said, "His 'departure' from 8kun is highly suspect and possibly just a PR move more than anything else... It allows him more freedom as a right-wing operative, specifically around the various voter fraud conspiracy theories."
Role in QAnon
QAnon is a discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against former President Donald Trump, who is battling them. Watkins has played a major role in helping to amplify the theory. According to conspiracy theory expert Julian Feeld, QAnon adherents see Watkins as "the technical brain behind the platform where Q posts". Feeld has said that despite Watkins' lower profile in the movement compared to his father, he has "played just as big a role in the... movement's growth". Watkins has been described as a de facto QAnon leader.