Facebook bans QAnon conspiracy theory accounts across all platforms

 

 Facebook has banned all accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement from its platforms.
"Starting today, we will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts," the company said on Tuesday.
The move is a significant escalation to Facebook's earlier decision to remove or restrict groups and accounts sharing and promoting QAnon material.
QAnon is a conspiracy theory that says President Trump is waging a war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Facebook said its staff had begun removing content and deleting groups and pages, but that "this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks".
"Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports," the statement added.
Facebook said it was updating measures implemented in August, which aimed to "disrupt the ability of QAnon" to organise through - and operate on - its networks.
That policy - introduced to limit the risks to public safety posed by QAnon, "offline anarchist groups" and US-based militia organisations - resulted in restrictions on more than 1,950 Facebook groups and over 10,000 Instagram accounts.