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TWITTER HAS SAID it suspended “more than 70,000 accounts” linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory following the attack on the US Capitol by a mob of US President Donald Trump’s supporters.
The social network began its purge last Friday, shortly after it had permanently suspended Trump’s account for language that could incite violence.
“Since Friday, more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended as a result of our efforts, with many instances of a single individual operating numerous accounts,” Twitter said in a blog post.
These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service.
The far-right QAnon conspiracy theory claims Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
Most major social media platforms have taken unprecedented action since Trump’s supporters invaded the Capitol last Wednesday to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Facebook and Twitter have both indefinitely suspended the accounts for Trump, who has refused to accept the result of the November 3 election and spread baseless theories that the vote was rigged.
Both platforms referred to the risk of future violence, particularly before Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
Twitter said it also factored in that plans for more armed protests have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17.
The social network was Trump’s preferred megaphone, and his account had 88 million followers when it was suspended.
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They’re very brave deleting accounts when Donald has days left in office. Where were they 4 yrs ago?
@Dobby Dooo Dooo: They probably needed something tangible, i.e the insurrection, to justify the removal. Or at least, thats what I would assume.
@Dobby Dooo Dooo: you’re right, Trump is a bully and would have used his office to punish Facebook, Twitter etc that’s why they couldn’t do much until now
@Dobby Dooo Dooo: They couldn’t be seen to silencing a fairly elected leader. However, since he has now been voted out of office in the last fair election AND he ihas effectively instigated an attempted coup (without military support), they have a moral obligation to do so now.
@Dobby Dooo Dooo: Busy watching Antifa grow.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: He tried to hold them responsible for their bias, remember?
Very funny seeing all the conservatives complaining about losing twitter followers over the weekend.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I know. I can just imagine Ted Cruz saying, “What? You mean @PatriotBot748334556038 wasn’t a really person?”
@Peter Cavey: there are comments like this from real conservatives. I’m not joking, Matt Gaetz: “I wish I could lose weight like I’m losing followers during this twitter purge”. Twitter announces theyre taking down neo-nazi and violent insurrectionist accounts and all these clowns quickly start complaining about losing followers.
I love how people think they are progressive, Liberal and forward thinking intellectuals by shutting down a whole significantly portioned section of societies thoughts and ideas that conflict with their own. . .
What happens when Twitter, Facebook, The Journal etc suddenly aren’t on your side and want to silence you? A dangerous game.
@Hup Abù: the ideas aren’t being shutdown they broke their contract with these companies and therefore it has been revoked. They can still share their ideas. No company has to deal with a customer they don’t want to. Conservatives made that case in the Supreme Court and won.
@Hup Abù: I also never claimed to be progressive, Liberal, forward thinking or indeed intellectual
@Dave O’Keeffe: As I said in another post. Your view on these just being “private companies” so let them at it is a very simplistic one. They have an over arching power of influence and are a significant aspect of the gogs of our society. Of course at present you are happy with who they choose to not to allow on their platforms, but perhaps consider for a second if you weren’t….. a dangerous game
@Dave O’Keeffe: No you didn’t, but I know you think it
@Dave O’Keeffe: And your avatar is particularly ironic. Jesus
@Hup Abù: are you of the opinion so that Al-Qaeda accounts shouldn’t have been banned? Dangerous ideologies will always be banned, especially when they lead to violence as is the case here.
@Hup Abù: and no, I don’t think of myself as any of those things. I’m the average person.
@Dave O’Keeffe: “Al-Queda” hyperbole much, stretching much. It’s grand I see were you’re at. Just be careful what you wish and desire
@Hup Abù: a dangerous ideology that leads to violence was the example. Funny you’ve never objected to them being banned before this. I didn’t make a comparison between the two by the way, I’m just questioning why you didn’t care when it was a different group inciting violence that was banned.
@Hup Abù: so, to wrap this up, you’re OK with some ideologies being removed. But when it happened to neo-nazis and violent insurrectionists that’s when you got concerned.
@Hup Abù: What you seem to be saying is that Governments should have the power to force publishers to print whatever they tell them too. Is that right?
@Dave O’Keeffe: “No company has to deal with a customer they don’t want to.”
Including or excluding baking a cake? Just askin’
@Daniel Dunne: including, that’s what the Supreme Court said
@Hup Abù: banning ar£seh£les is fine by me.. left or right ar£seho£les.. I’m Centre myself.. sid them touting childish conspiracy twaddle..
@Dave O’Keeffe: Question: If you think dangerous idealogies that lead to violence should be removed from the platform, do you believe that Antifa/BLM accounts should be removed from the platform given the months of violence caused by them last year? Or is it just right wing ideologies that lead to violence that you’re against?
@Dave O’Keeffe: Where were they complaining?
@Hup Abù: Well written. One step closer to North Korea. My best friend was in Cuba when a real dictator took over. The thought police took her father. He was never heard from again. The propaganda is very similar, she tells me.
Why has it taken so long? The damage has been done. Twitter and Facebook just trying to cover their @rse.
@Seán Óg: because ironically Trump signed an executive order removing some protections social media companies had. He was making them accountable for the content of postings….
@Seán Óg: yeah, the enablers of Trump are not so supportive now that he’s leaving office. On another note, I often enjoyed reading tweets from qanon accounts though I could never quite work out if people actually believed what they posted
@Seán Óg: But there’s nothing to cover, right? They are private companies (which trade on the stock exchange, so not sure how that works, but yeah. That’s the mantra here.) The bill President Trump was pushing would have held them responsible for QAnon, Antifa, and bias actions that have shaped elections. Shame he wasn’t able to do that. Like anyone with any knowledge of history will tell you, supression sends people underground where it’s harder to fight them. Congrats!
@Critical Thinker: Then you were an enabler too. I’m sure 8 chan or reddit will help you keep in touch.
Trump’s “Stand Back and Stand By” comment has really come back and bitten him in the proverbials.
@ianglen: I was shocked that neither the moderator nor Biden thought to call him out on that comment during the debate. Talk about a call to arms!
@Barry Evans: At least Biden got him to say it, still remember it and being shocked that Trump came out with that comment.
@ianglen: Putin got him to say he doesn’t trust his own security agencies.
@Dave Thomas: very true
@ianglen: Do you remember the question he was asked when he said that?
@Padraig Corcoran: Biden asked Trump to denounce the Proud Boys and true to form Trump couldn’t help himself..
@ianglen: And a whole bunch of people have run to their fav social media to get info that no investigation has established. Congrats to our resident curtain twitchers on both sides of center.
First they came for Q Anon…
@SC:… No
@Derek: why? The original poem is by a priest who was delighted when the Nazis took out the pro-Soviet communists and later realised the same measures would be used against more moderate dissenters.
This will only convince deranged Qanon supporters that they are correct.Using censorship as proof of conspiracy beliefs and driving their conviction in following orders from the devine Trump. God help USA
@Barney r: Was just thinking that, these guys are just gonna find each other other places online and radicalise eachother through the hype of being, censored’.. Scary
Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.
Noam Chomsky
This is gonna make a really dumb film one of these days.
@Graham Manning: ‘The Battle of Sweatysburg’
@Dave O’Keeffe: “Hamburger and Fries Hill”
@Hughie Lynch: one flew into Capital hill
@Ciarán Ó Dubhda: White House Down…… the crapper
@Dave O’Keeffe: all this bigly great tremendous number of years ago, our forefathers…
And que the complaints from the “free speech” keyboard warriors….
Bit late now!
@Gina Carroll: Better late than never.
@Seán O’Loughlin: why the damage has been done.
@Gina Carroll: that was my immediate thought … too little to late from Twitter and VERY disingenuous doing it two weeks before Trump goes after giving him free reign for years
4 years too late.
Bet the flat earth society are shayting themselves
I’ve been taking a nosey around Gab. Man there’s some really deranged people out there, real scary.
Why dose QAnon start with 2 Capital letters
@barreeeeeeeee: (Q) question and (A) answer. (non) nonentity.
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