Facebook bans QAnon accounts across all of its platforms

The company said the work to remove these accounts has already begun

Facebook has banned all accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy movement from its platforms as the company makes an effort to shut down misinformation in the lead up the the US presidential election. The company initially updated its policies in August to remove accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory that discussed violence. This resulted in the deletion of around 1,500 accounts from its platforms. The new changes have significantly escalated this policy and will see the company remove “any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon”. QAnon is a conspiracy theory that emerged from the fringes of the internet which purports Hollywood celebrities and Democrats are members of a child-eating, paedophilia ring. It claims that president Donald Trump is secretly taking down the ring and has predicted, inaccurately for several years, that prominent Democrats would be executed for their involvement in this ring. In recent days, it has pushed the lie that Donald Trump does not have coronavirus and is instead carrying out secret missions in the fictitious war and the fictitious ring mentioned above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Gd9MJsnnE The dangerous conspiracy theory is very much focused on violent content and is shared widely by those supporting it. Supporters are also sharing misinformation in the run up to the heated presidential election. In a statement on Tuesday, Facebook said its staff had begun removing content and deleting groups and pages, but advised "this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks". "Our Dangerous Organisations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports," the statement said.