Social media company Twitter has taken down over 7,000 accounts associated with QAnon, a group known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online.
In the last several weeks, Twitter removed more than 7,000 accounts on its platform that were linked with conspiracy theory group QAnon.
The firm said it will implement additional measures to limit the reach of QAnon activity on its platform, This could potentially affect 150,000 accounts globally.
Twitter's safety team said in a tweet: "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."
What is QAnon
QAnon started out as a single conspiracy theory but its followers currently act similar to a cult, albeit a virtual one. Followers adore and believe whatever disinformation the conspiracy community comes up with.
Among the main conspiracy theories of the group was that dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities are working with governments around the world to engage in child sex abuse. They also believe in a "deep state" effort to annihilate President Donald Trump.
There's no evidence that any of what QAnon claims is factual. Followers usually make unfounded claims and then try to amplify them using edited or out-of-context evidence posted on social media to support the allegations.
The group started to emerge at the rear end of the Russian disinformation campaign that targeted the US elections in 2016. ​ While the Russian objective was to elect President Trump, QAnon had no specific objective and is decentralized aside from its popular slogan, "Question everything."
At least three Republican candidates have expressed support or sympathy towards QAnon. These are Jo Rae Perkins, a candidate for a US Senate seat in Oregon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Congressional candidate for Georgia's 14th district seat, and Lauren Boebert, a candidate for Colorado's 3rd district.
Twitter's stand on QAnon
Twitter emphasized: "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."
Under Twitter's multi-account policy, coordinating with others to artificially engage or amplify conversations is prohibited.
Among the actions undertaken by Twitter against QAnon were to no longer serve content associated with QAnon in its Trends section and recommendations, prevent it from being highlighted in searches, and block URLs associated with QAnon from being shared on Twitter.
The tech firm said: "These actions will be rolled out comprehensively this week. We will continue to review this activity across our service and update our rules and enforcement approach again if necessary."
In recent months, Twitter has been more aggressive in its approach against disinformation on its platform.
In May, it hid one of the tweets by President Trump from his profile for violating rules about glorifying violence. Twitter replaced the Trump tweet with a warning which can be viewed upon clicking on it.
The warning reads: "Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
The president's tweet read: "….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
After Twitter hid the tweet, the official White House account re-posted the president’s message but the social media company placed the same warning on it.
