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TechQAnon

Will Facebook’s QAnon crackdown succeed? What people are saying so far

Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
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Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 19, 2020, 8:01 PM ET

Facebook is taking sweeping action against various extremist groups, including Qanon, the nonsense conspiracy theory movement that claims President Trump is battling a global cabal of pedophiles.

On Thursday, Facebook announced it has removed “over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon” from the site, and imposed additional restrictions on accounts and hashtags on both Facebook and Intagram.

The move comes after numerous media reports about how Facebook’s quest for viral “engagement” has fanned extremism in the U.S. political system, and helped QAnon’s deranged and much-debunked ideas to flourish. A recent NBC report, for instance, describes how QAnon groups radicalized a woman into attacking a mask display at Target, and another into going berserk about masks at a Florida city government meeting.

In announcing its new anti-extremism efforts, Facebook said it would allow users to continue to voice non-violent support for QAnon and other fringe movements, but that it was changing its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy” to undercut their ability to organize.

In practice, this means Facebook’s algorithms will no longer recommend users join QAnon groups, and will downgrade the prominence of QAnon in its news feed. Meanwhile, it will also bar people from using terms like QAnon to sell merchandise.

The question is whether any of this will actually do anything to check the rapid spread of the QAnon movement, whose adherents include a Florida GOP nominee who is expected to win a seat in Congress this November.

The initial response by many on Twitter to Facebook’s announcements was decidedly skeptical, reflecting the deep levels of mistrust the company has engendered after years of privacy scandals and a reluctance to police its platforms.

The advocacy group Sleeping Giants was quick to dismiss Facebook’s new initiative, citing examples of the company’s earlier missteps.

You’ve already touched off a genocide in Myanmar, live-streamed the murder of 52 Muslims in New Zealand and are essentially responsible for making QAnon what it is today.

Save it.#StopHateForProfit

— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) August 19, 2020

Other users panned the initiative as an insincere measure to deflect political and media criticism:

https://twitter.com/atheniangal1/status/1296195521950945282

Meanwhile, a number of other Twitter users—many of whom lean left compared to the general population—did not focus on the QAnon announcement, but instead blasted Facebook for also including the radical Antifa group in Thursday’s crackdown.

This is outrageous. Equating antifa with QAnon betrays how Facebook fundamentally doesn’t grasp the issue.

The far right thrives by spreading disinformation. One of the underrated aspects of Antifa is that spreads accurate information about the bad actors on the far right. https://t.co/mdFbZ5KUWL

— David Neiwert (@DavidNeiwert) August 19, 2020

Despite widespread cynicism about Facebook’s announcement, it’s notable that some of those most familiar with the spread of QAnon cited Thursday’s move as significant, including journalists who have covered the movement extensively.

https://twitter.com/BrandyZadrozny/status/1296161118474375169

As someone who has seen innocent family and friends get caught up in Facebook's QAnon conspiracy circles via regular news and community content, this is huge. https://t.co/WHnzsf9Box

— Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) August 19, 2020

The most realistic assessment may have come from New York Times journalist Kevin Roose, who has long reported on social media problems, and who warned that any crackdown by Facebook could be undermined if the QAnon groups reorganize under different labels:

https://twitter.com/kevinroose/status/1296163423697305601

Facebook’s appeared to acknowledge that its new measures against Qanon may only have a temporary effect, noting in its statement that these “movements and groups evolve quickly.” And in a comment to NBC, a company spokesperson predicted a longer term challenge.

“We 100 percent know that they’re going to change their terminology. We don’t think we’re flipping a switch and this won’t be a discussion in a week,” said the spokesperson.

About the Author
Jeff John Roberts
By Jeff John RobertsEditor, Finance and Crypto
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Jeff John Roberts is the Finance and Crypto editor at Fortune, overseeing coverage of the blockchain and how technology is changing finance.

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