That emerged from a Russian forgery. Basically, people responded to it because it provided a very convenient narrative for a lot of the growing pains of modernity. Those conspiracy theories and the general framework that the protocols have promoted continue to exist, whether people realize it or not.
You alluded to George Soros and QAnon. People may not realize that when they say “globalists”, they actually mean a very old anti-Semitic narrative, but that is what they are saying.