Facebook glitch links minister to QAnon conspiracy group

Scores of Facebook searches for innocent topics, such as woodworking and Britain’s equalities minister, were linked to the conspiracy theorist group QAnon yesterday after a glitch in the social media giant’s algorithms.

Facebook had been attempting to introduce a new warning system this week for people searching for terms relating to the conspiracy theory group QAnon, with a post redirecting them to resources that debunked the claims.

QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy theory that says President Trump is waging a secret war against elite, Satan-worshipping paedophiles who occupy top positions in the government, business and the media.

Yet a glitch meant that the warning appeared for completely random searches, including people looking for the page of Kemi Badenoch, the Treasury and equalities minister.

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