QAnon
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How QAnon went mainstream
What was once a fringe movement is more popular than ever.
Facebook removes massive QAnon group over hate and harassment claims
Facebook has removed a QAnon group with almost 200,000 members over repeated claims of hate and harassment.
TikTok blocks QAnon hashtags amid larger crackdown
TikTok has blocked hashtags associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, but it's not removing the videos themselves.
How it feels to survive Silicon Valley and a pandemic
It shouldn’t feel like it took a pandemic to get Twitter to boot 7,000 QAnon accounts (and crack down on 150,000 more related to the violent conspiracy group), but it does. At least Twitter is doing harm mitigation around its role in this interconnected disaster. Five months in, you’d think 145,000 American deaths would move platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to ban virus “truther” content, but nah.
Twitter bans thousands of QAnon accounts
Twitter is banning thousands of accounts associated with the QAnon and taking aggressive steps to limit the the conspiracy theory's spread.
How Instagram’s anti-vaxxers fuel coronavirus conspiracy theories
The coronavirus pandemic has given rise to a new wave of viral disinformation, and anti-vaccine advocates are on the front lines.
Facebook's latest propaganda sweep takes down QAnon-linked pages
The accounts were pulled for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
YouTube searches for 'RBG' led to slew of bogus conspiracy videos
As much as YouTube has done to counter hoaxes and fake news in its searches, it still has room for improvement. The Washington Post discovered that "more than half" of YouTube's top 20 search results for "RBG," the nickname for US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, were known fake conspiracy theory videos. In fact, just one of the results came from a well-established news outlet. And if you played one of those videos, the recommendations quickly shifted to more extreme conspiracies.
Reddit bans communities promoting QAnon conspiracy theory
Reddit's tougher policies just led to more community bans, albeit not for typical reasons. The site has confirmed to Slate that it shut down subreddits associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, including GreatAwakening, QProofs and thestorm, among others. While the company didn't say exactly what had prompted the bans, it noted that its rules bar activity that "incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses." It had banned a related board in March, but it hadn't conducted such a sweeping response until now.
Anonymous deals with its QAnon branding problem
When you're a notorious hacking entity like Anonymous, and a pro-Trump conspiracy cult (QAnon) steals your branding (while claiming you're the impostor), the obvious thing to do is declare cyberwar. That's exactly what Anonymous did this past week in a press announcement, followed by a social media and press offensive. So far Anonymous has managed to take over QAnon's hashtags (while adding #OpQAnon and others) and dox a couple hundred members of Trump's pedophilia-obsessed, "deep state" doomsday cult. QAnon's mouthpieces responded exactly as we'd expect, with taunts and tweets saying: "These people are STUPID!! They have no brains and no skills. Typical 'empty threat' terrorists! But DO NOT click their links!! Virus city baby!!"
