Twitter has removed more than 7,000 accounts linked to the QAnon movement over abuse and harassment concerns, and to limit the spread of conspiracy theories by its supporters.
Members of the informal, pro-US President Donald Trump group believe — with no credible evidence — that the US has been ruled for decades by a criminal organization involving people they describe as the Satan-worshiping global elite, including Hollywood stars and the “deep state.”
The right-wing group is also convinced of a secret plot against Trump and its members have targeted his political opponents on social media.
Photo: AFP
“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm,” Twitter said on Tuesday. “In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service.”
“We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension,” the company said.
A Twitter spokesperson said that the company had decided to act because QAnon followers were causing increasing harm.
The FBI has identified QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat, according to US media reports.
QAnon members have been involved in protests against measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, especially lockdowns and the wearing of masks.
Twitter said that it would help stop the spread of QAnon conspiracy theories by, among other things, making sure its algorithm does not highlight sites and posts associated with their accounts.
It is also to “block URLs associated with QAnon from being shared on Twitter.”
About 150,000 accounts would also be hidden from trends and search on Twitter, a company spokesperson said.
Supporters of the group claim that “Q” or “QAnon” is a mole in the Trump’s inner circle, who has decided to reveal tidbits of intelligence concerning the global conspiracy on fringe Internet platforms.
While it originated on the edges, QAnon has built a growing following on mainstream social media platforms.
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