Even if the social network’s new policies work perfectly, Q followers can still camouflage their activity or move to other platforms. QAnon was born on the internet, but its influence has moved far beyond it. QAnon, the conspiracy theory that claims President Trump is secretly battling a Hollywood-Jewish-Democrat-deep state-globalist cabal of Satanist-murderer-pedophile-human traffickers, is huge. In both the span of its reach and the depth of its ideas, the conspiracy has grown into a juggernaut of misinformation. (“We call it a superconspiracy,” says Antonis Papasavva, a data scientist at University College London. “Name any conspiracy theory—JFK, MK Ultra, Pizzagate—it’s in there.”) This week, Facebook vowed to remove any pages, groups, or Instagram accounts that represent QAnon , which has gobbled up loads of engagement on the platform thanks to its something-for-everybody theories. Up until two months ago, Facebook didn’t really have any policies when it came to QAnon, and Tuesday’s ban marked a sharp escalation. Sharp, but also perhaps too late. In case you are (blissfully) unaware, QAnon was born on the internet. Their prophet, Q, amassed followers by posting cryptic messages on 8kun, a message board popular with extremists, but the conspiracy theory has since seeped into every […]
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