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Twitter is taking steps to remove supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory from its platform. According to an announcement from the social media company, Twitter has permanently banned thousands of accounts that have shown their support of the conspiracy or recklessly push its rhetoric.
“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service,” Twitter wrote in a statement.
“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 — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks.”
Per NBC News, the ban “will affect about 150,000 accounts, said a spokesperson, who asked to remain unnamed because of concerns about the targeted harassment of social media employees.”
The FBI has previously designated QAnon as a potential domestic terrorist threat.
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 — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
For those who don’t know, QAnon claims to leak intelligence about a top-secret war between the Trump administration and a group of people who engage in criminal activity led by Hillary Clinton and the far-right’s beloved “Hollywood elite” target. Essentially, QAnon believes that the “deep state” and “global elites” are attempting to undermine the Trump administration and planning a coup/takeover.
QAnon groups have consistently targeted celebrities and other high-profile figures on the platform with wild, unfounded attacks.
