Twitter Inc. will ban thousands of accounts associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, which claims there is a deep state plot against President Donald Trump — the latest battle front in the social media company’s campaign against disinformation.
The social media company said it will permanently suspend accounts tweeting about topics that it knows are violating Twitter policy and coordinating abuses around individual victims or attempting to evade suspensions. Twitter will also ensure it’s not highlighting QAnon activity by keeping such posts out of trends and recommendation sections as well as blocking URLs associated with the movement.
Twitter didn’t say how many accounts will be affected. NBC separately reported that about 150,000 accounts will be impacted and so far more than 7,000 QAnon accounts have been taken down in the last couple of weeks, citing an unnamed Twitter spokesman.
Supporters of QAnon have started to enter mainstream politics with Lauren Boebert, a fan of the movement and gun rights advocate, winning the Republican primary for Colorado’s 3rd District earlier this month. QAnon has become latest battle front for Twitter, which saw the hacking of several prominent accounts last week fuel questions about whether it is capable of curbing disinformation ahead of the U.S. election in November.
