As part of the actions taken to identify and sanction content violating the standards and norms of use of its platform, Twitter announced on Monday evening (11) that it had suspended more than 70,000 profiles linked to the dissemination of the conspiracy theory. QAnon over the past three days.
“These accounts were involved in sharing dangerous QAnon-related content on a large scale and were dedicated to spreading this conspiracy theory on the platform,” Twitter said in a statement.
This movement defends, without any evidence, the claim that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, secretly faces a sect of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who control the world.
Among those QAnon accuses of being child sex predators are members of the Democratic Party – the legend of President-elect Joe Biden – Hollywood figures and others from what the group calls the “deep state” , a kind of parallel government that would govern. the world out of darkness.
According to Twitter, the suspension of tens of thousands of profiles has significantly reduced the number of followers of “certain people”. The platform did not specify who it was referring to and added that some accounts that have been maintained but generally share objectionable content will be subject to limitations in search results and will not be recommended to other users.
“It’s important that these types of accounts can see different perspectives in the open public conversation that Twitter exclusively offers,” the company says.
One of five people who died in the Capitol invasion last week was a staunch supporter of Trump. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was 35 and on her social media there were posts related to the QAnon theory – in early September Babbitt posted a photo on Twitter in which she was wearing a t- shirt with the phrase “We are Q”, in reference to the movement.
The acts of invasion and vandalism, instigated by Trump and carried out by his supporters, were described in the Twitter statement as “terrible events” and presented as one of the justifications for the measures which the company claims are protecting the platform “of attempts to incite violence, organize attacks and share deliberately misleading information about the outcome of the elections”.
Among the measures are a permanent ban on Trump’s profile, on the grounds that the account poses “a risk of further incitement to violence.”
“In recent weeks, misleading and false information regarding the 2020 presidential election in the United States has been the basis of incitement to violence across the country. We have taken action on these allegations in accordance with our civic integrity policy, ”he said. Twitter this Monday.
According to the platform, after the election results were officially certified by the US Congress, company policy became more aggressive to inspect false statements about the backdrop to Joe Biden’s victory and monitoring will continue until the inauguration date, January 20.
“Prior to taking office, we will continue to monitor the situation, maintain open lines of communication with law enforcement authorities and keep the public informed of further law enforcement measures,” said the Minister. communicated.