Facebook bans QAnon conspiracy theory groups amid misinformation surge

US tech giant Facebook announced on Tuesday that it will ban groups that openly support QAnon, a popular conspiracy theory that has led to the spread of misinformation across the United States and other countries. 

“Starting today, we will remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content,” Facebook said in a blog post. This marks a departure from Facebook’s earlier policy, which said that QAnon groups would be removed only if they promote violence. 

“We aim to combat this more effectively with this update that strengthens and expands our enforcement against the conspiracy theory movement,” the company said.

Under the new regulations, Facebook will look at a range of factors to ascertain whether the group should be banned. These include the group’s name, its biography, the “about section,” content posted within the group or by the Instagram account.

Facebook will also disable the personal accounts of the administrators of these groups.

Read more: Why the QAnon conspiracy theory is gaining popularity

What is QAnon?

The QAnon movement, born and bred on the Internet, baselessly claims that an international pedophile elite have been secretly abducting and sexually abusing children, and harvesting their blood to make a youth serum.

According to the theory, this global cabal includes the likes of Hillary Clinton and US investor George Soros, who are using this drug to control the world.

QAnon supporters think that these figures are part of a sort of secret government, the so-called deep state, controlling US and world politics. US President Donald Trump is seen as a savior, bent on fighting this evil “deep state.”

More to follow…

see/rs (AP, dpa, Reuters)

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from DW (English) can be found here ***