Twitter Takedown Targets QAnon Accounts

New York Times logoThe company permanently suspended thousands of accounts associated with the fringe conspiracy theory movement. Facebook was said to be preparing to take similar action.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Twitter said Tuesday evening that it had removed thousands of accounts that spread messages about the conspiracy theories known as QAnon, saying their messages could lead to harm and violated Twitter policy.

Twitter said it would also block trends related to the loose network of QAnon conspiracy theories from appearing in its trending topics and search, and would not allow users to post links affiliated with the theories on its platform.

It was the first time that a social media service took sweeping action to remove content affiliated with QAnon, which has become increasingly popular on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Continue reading.