Twitter Takes Sweeping Action Against QAnon Nutbags: Bans Thousands, Blocks Searches, Prohibits “Swarming”

NBC News reports:

Twitter announced Tuesday that it has begun taking sweeping actions to limit the reach of QAnon content, banning many of the conspiracy theory’s followers because of problems with harassment and misinformation. Twitter will stop recommending accounts and content related to QAnon, including material in email and follow recommendations, and it will take steps to limit circulation of content in features like trends and search.

The action will affect about 150,000 accounts, said a spokesperson, who asked to remain unnamed because of concerns about the targeted harassment of social media employees. The sweeping enforcement action will ban QAnon-related terms from appearing in trending topics and the platform’s search feature, ban known QAnon-related URLs and prohibit “swarming” of people who are baselessly targeted by coordinated harassment campaigns pushed by QAnon followers.

CNN Business reports:



Twitter said it will also no longer serve content associated with QAnon in its Trends section and recommendations, prevent it from being highlighted in searches and block URLs associated with QAnon from being shared on Twitter. “These actions will be rolled out comprehensively this week,” the company said. “We will continue to review this activity across our service and update our rules and enforcement approach again if necessary.”

At least three GOP candidates have been sympathetic or supportive of QAnon: Jo Rae Perkins, a candidate for a US Senate seat in Oregon; Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Congressional candidate for Georgia’s 14th district seat; and Lauren Boebert, who beat a Trump-backed, five-term incumbent during primary elections to become a candidate for Colorado’s 3rd district.