Social Media Giant Bans Qanon Groups and Pages Less Than a Month Before Election

For weeks now, the mainstream media has been increasingly interested in the Qanon phenomenon, publishing a litany of articles regarding the widespread internet conspiracy theory.

For those not in the know, the theory’s basic gist is that a high level Trump administration insider is posting anonymous clues on the internet regarding a secret war between the White House and the alleged “deep state”.  These clues, often posed as somewhat vague questions, have spawned an enormous following online, with amateur sleuths attempting to tie the posts to real-world events, further cementing their belief in the legitimacy of “Q”.

Followers of Qanon have followed this rabbit hole to some extreme ends, and many within the infotainment industry have expressed concerns over the fanaticism that they’ve alleged exists among that community.

Now, one of social media’s most powerful entities is taking a stern stance on the subject. 

Facebook said Tuesday that it is banning all QAnon accounts from its platforms, a significant escalation over its previous actions and one of the broadest rules the social media giant has put in place in its history.

Facebook said the change is an update on the policy it created in August that initially only removed accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory that discussed violence, which resulted in the termination of 1,500 pages, groups and profiles.

A company spokesperson said the enforcement, which started Tuesday, will “bring to parity what we’ve been doing on other pieces of policy with regard to militarized social movements,” such as militia and terror groups that repeatedly call for violence.

Organized talk of Qanon had already been banned on platforms such as Reddit.

Followers of the theory are by-and-large identified as being on the right-wing of the American political spectrum, some have argued that the move was meant to effect the coming election.