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QAnon Groups Hit by Facebook Crack Down (nbcnews.com) 242

Facebook on Wednesday banned about 900 pages and groups and 1,500 ads tied to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, part of a sweeping action that also restricted the reach of over 10,000 Instagram pages and almost 2,000 Facebook groups pushing the baseless conspiracy theory that has spawned real-world violence. From a report: Facebook also took down thousands of accounts, pages and groups as part of what they called a "policy expansion," seeking to limit violent rhetoric tied to QAnon, political militias and protest groups like antifa. QAnon is an elaborate, unfounded conspiracy theory alleging that President Donald Trump is secretly saving the world from a group of prominent Satanic cannibals that run the world. The group has been linked to several violent, criminal incidents, including a train hijacking, kidnappings, a police chase and a murder. The new policy states that "Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts associated with these movements and organizations will be removed when they discuss potential violence." QAnon, militia movements and violent movements tied to protests will now no longer be allowed to purchase ads on Facebook. QAnon ads, which often pushed merchandise, were allowed on the platform before Wednesday's announcement.
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QAnon Groups Hit by Facebook Crack Down

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  • by lessSockMorePuppet ( 6778792 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:26PM (#60419481) Homepage

    Where's the link to the story?

  • Good riddance (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bmimatt ( 1021295 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:33PM (#60419507)
    As a follow up, Zuckface should delete and ban itself.
  • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:39PM (#60419523) Journal

    QAnon is an elaborate, unfounded conspiracy theory alleging that President Donald Trump is secretly saving the world from a group of prominent Satanic cannibals that run the world.

    Remember when 1.5 million people signed up to do a Naruto run into Area 51, and only 150 people actually showed up? The number of people believing this nonsense is much smaller than the people actually posting about it.

    • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:44PM (#60419541)

      QAnon is an elaborate, unfounded conspiracy theory alleging that President Donald Trump is secretly saving the world from a group of prominent Satanic cannibals that run the world.

      The number of people believing this nonsense is much smaller than the people actually posting about it.

      I'll just leave these here:

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/j... [forbes.com]

      https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12... [cnn.com]

      https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07... [cnn.com]

      https://www.thedailybeast.com/... [thedailybeast.com]

      Yep. No one believes in QAnon....

      • by shanen ( 462549 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:20PM (#60419735) Homepage Journal

        Trying to guess what the Subject means.

        Just replying with anecdotal evidence. I do have one old friend who is into Qanon. She has often been a bit of a religious nut, but this Qanon stuff is over the top for incoherence--but she's convinced me she is sincere about it, even if what "it" is has no detectable meaning or sense.

        My theory is that it's a psyop, though I'm not sure who's running it. On the surface there is no relationship to religion, but somehow it is extremely appealing to them anyway. And no, I don't think I can define "them" better than that. Even with the non-personal evidence added in, I can't get any clear image of how the psyop targeting is working or even who the targets are.

        I do think that part of "the appeal" is Internet mediated. I don't think she could say that stuff directly to my face. The responses on my face would inhibit her, but via the Web, almost anything goes (and comes and goes).

        • by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:32PM (#60419793) Journal

          I'm not going to replace one conspiracy theory by inserting another, but Evangelicals in America do in fact feel fairly threatened. They view gay marriage, abortions and in general modern mores as a direct attack on them, and most of them have been raised from infancy to believe that dark forces are working to destroy their way of life. They're like the Know-nothings of times past, imagining vast conspiracies, because the truth is too hard to bear; that society views them as vestiges of an archaic age, and their influence is waning simply because the majority just simply don't agree with them, and don't want them to wield influence far beyond what their actual numbers represent.

          • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @06:32PM (#60420493) Journal

            They view gay marriage, abortions and in general modern mores as a direct attack on them

            And yet their disapproving views on "modern mores" have somehow induced them to support a thrice-married serial adulterer who pays porn stars for sex while his wife is home with their child, and brags about grabbing women by the pussy.

            I am convinced that "gay marriage, abortions and in general modern mores" is really just cover for good old fashioned racism and bigotry. It would not be the first time that the Bible has been used to give cover to such people. Evangelicals, now as ever, are really just seething with hatred. Catholics, Jews, blacks, gays, women, what-have-you. They worship a messiah who preached love by practicing hate. It's not a religious movement at all, it's plain old identity politics and political correctness.

            • But "seething with hatred" describes most religious groups. You don't have to argue why being a staunch Catholic leads to some pretty objectionable beliefs, that's the reason why it was so cool to tease the bible-thumpers and claim yourself to be an atheist around the turn of the millennia. Then Islam came into popular culture and now it's forbidden to criticize the overt hate most religions preach? Being woke went from being an atheist to supporting the crazed hate of Islam, which if you read the Quran
        • by LostMyAccount ( 5587552 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @04:39PM (#60420039)

          My wife has someone she was friends with growing up who posts/likes/shares QAnon conspiracies on Facebook. My wife said a recent one was one about the Getty museum having secret underground chambers where children are abused.

          The irony here? Her friend is a long time employee of the Catholic Church. I wonder how she would react to being told about the underground spaces in the Vatican and the suppression and denial of child abuse in the Catholic church.

          I often wonder if the QAnon phenomena isn't really some kind of mass denial/projection phenomena, where QAnon adherents are really just reacting to the crumbling of the structure of their own belief systems by creating an external vehicle in which they can package the flaws of their own cherished institutions.

          • I think you may be on to something, for at least some adherents. The one thing that it is clear is that social conservatives are losing influence, and they know it. The days when the pulpit practically had the force of law, are disappearing. Not only have these social conservative institutions like the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention shown themselves to be anything but residents of the moral high ground, but society itself is moving away and diminishing their importance by the day. Socia

            • The counterfactual argument is that conservative social institutions are mostly beyond reproach, no scandals or coverups. The police are an effective and just force for civil order with few biases, religious institutions provide a respected moral framework and their leaders are benevolent and honest, the market economy is fair and business and corporations operate fairly, and compete on the quality and usefulness of their service and don't engage in rent-seeking or corruption. Politicians are intelligent

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          A lot of known Russian bot accounts were amplifying QAnon. It's not clear if they started it or are just boosting it because it suits them.

        • It takes discipline to maintain objectivity. One must reject a pleasing belief based on lack of evidence, no matter how much one wants to believe. That is hard. Harder for some people than others, but requiring of education in all cases.

          Critical thinking is a learned skill. Many don't have it. Those who don't have it are very vulnerable to conspiracy theories like this. Even really crazy ones (like one popular one that involves an all-powerful being who forces almost everyone into a pit of fire, where

        • Trying to guess what the Subject means.

          It means, when I get an email informing me I have a reply to a message on Slashdot, the subject of the email is going to be positive and make me feel good. Much better than "Dumb idiots" which was my first thought.

    • I'd like to believe that only a tiny handful of people actually believe that crap, but one of them is a close friend who routinely posts their updates and has threatened to block anyone who argues with her about their validity.

      This move is too little, too late. The genie is already out of the barn door, and you can't unring a cat out of the bag. At this point if the founders who started QAnon identified themselves in public and admitted the whole thing was a hoax just for lulz, Q people would either assume

      • by malkavian ( 9512 )

        That's the same for any dogmatically driven group. Belief in something is so profound that denying their tenets is effectively heresy, and they will use their own personal brand of psychological/physical/emotional assault to "bring you to the light".

        It's the reason I left facebook (because there are so many people who will absolutely do their best to make you miserable, just because they believe they have the light of the universe shining out their arse, and if you don't agree with them, you need to be bea

      • by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:37PM (#60419827) Journal

        Once someone has wholly invested themselves in a crazy idea, nothing can really turn them from it. Some finally wise up and realize they've been played, but most just lack the capacity for self-reflection. There are people still insisting Big Foot exists, even though they guy that started the whole crackpot idea admitted it on his death bed.

        In the past crackpot ideas were pretty hard to disseminate. White supremacists outside relatively safe areas in the South had to work on the sly, through pamphlets and magazines distributed in brown paper wrapping so the neighbors wouldn't find out that they lived next door to a Neo-Nazi kook. But Facebook has allowed a relatively small number of crackpots to magnify their message, and thus give the perception that somehow there are vast numbers. This scares the crap out of people, who don't seem to understand how easy it is for a relatively small number of people to make themselves look like some vast army.

        • There are people still insisting Big Foot exists, even though they guy that started the whole crackpot idea admitted it on his death bed.

          Source?

      • one of them is a close friend who routinely posts their updates and has threatened to block anyone who argues with her about their validity.

        There is nothing there to indicate that your close friend actually believes it.

    • You mean the QAnon conspiracy believers are themselves a conspiracy to make people believe in QAnon believers?

  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:51PM (#60419569)

    This seems like a solid step but I think labeling accounts as having been subscribed to this garbage would be better for everyone. The easily mislead should come with a warning label.

    • Re:Good. (Score:4, Funny)

      by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:00PM (#60419625)

      I suggest a pointy dunce-cap above their avatars.

    • by DogDude ( 805747 )
      That's a really interesting idea. That's something I've never considered. But at the same time, is it really necessary? The instant I read something from somebody who mentions "Q" I know that I can immediately discount anything they say because they're either a moron or a Russian troll. So, I'm not so sure how much your (novel) idea would accomplish.
      • When the "QAnon" finally putters out, they'll still be easily mislead by the next crackpot group. It would be nice to know who you shouldn't bother associating with before wasting time getting to know them.

  • by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @02:51PM (#60419571)

    ...we had them peacefully contained on facebook groups only senile old farts read. Now they've flushed them out and they will scurry everywhere else until they can build a new nest.

  • by fish_in_the_c ( 577259 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:01PM (#60419627)

    i canceled Facebook long ago... I have from time to time thought of creating an account specifically so I can read certain groups or have discussions about certain topics. However, I have no desire to create an account that requires me to de-identify myself and give up anonymity. aka I will not give out my phone number which no one even has a right to know exists. I actively encourage everyone to quite Facebook until they enable anonymous account creation.

  • The real conspiracy is their attempts to discredit QAnon by making up nonsense stories about supposed "antics" they are blamed for.

    • by Ksevio ( 865461 )

      But isn't that the point of QAnon - to be so vague that anyone can extract whatever meaning they want from it and then get into the supposed antics?

  • QAnon nutters are always good for a laugh until they start shooting people.

    Seriously, believing in QAnon stuff should make you ineligible to vote, drive a car, or breed.

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:14PM (#60419715) Homepage

    Look, I believe in conspiracies. I am absolutely certain that a bunch of violent southern secessionists tried to not only kill the Republican President but actually succeeded. Not that you hear it in Big Media today. (God Rest Abraham Lincoln).

    That a bunch of people in Florida planned to destroy 4 major landmark buildings - and only took out 3 due to the good work of the passengers on flight 93.

    That a bunch of business men plotted a coup but an honest General refused to participate (Semper Fi indeed, Major General Smedley Butler )

    But the idea that: a. The world is ruled by a bunch of secret pedophiles/cannibals (how many satanists out there that you have to say these are the satanic pedophiles, rather than the satanic arsonists?) , b. The President of the United States thinks he has to keep the fight against them SECRET (because why? does he think it will make him less popular), and c. That someone helping the President has to TELL THE WORLD ABOUT HIS SECRET FIGHT?????

    Stupidest conspiracy ever. Absolutely none of it makes any sense at all and I fully the idiots to die thinking it was true. Because anyone that believes something that silly simply does not have the brains to realize he is an idiot.

    • by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:57PM (#60419901) Journal

      There have been plenty of crazy conspiracy theories before this. Some of them gained enough traction to cause some folks serious problems. The whole Satanism thing during the 80s and 90s evolved from some crazy ass books published in the 1970s and early 1980s (the height of nonsense like alien's visiting the Mayans and the like) is a pretty obvious predecessor to the super-powerful pedophile ring nonsense (if I were more interested, it would be interesting to see at what point in time they intersected and one evolved into the other).

      But the belief that secret cabals of Satanists quickly became a pretty good example of mass hysteria, and all got started with the Kern County child abuse cases back in 1982. It ruined some folks lives, as self-professed experts acted as expert witnesses for overzealous prosecutors, and incompetent police used wildly ridiculous tactics to question young children. In the end, it was all revealed to be a pile of bullshit, but folks went to prison and their lives were destroyed, all because of an incoherent and idiotic moral panic, bad police work, self-aggrandizing expert witnesses and prosecutors more interested in getting high profile convictions than in actually looking at how the evidence was even being gathered.

    • by q4Fry ( 1322209 )

      But the idea that: {a} The world is ruled by a bunch of secret pedophiles/cannibals, {b} The President of the United States thinks he has to keep the fight against them secret (Because why? Does he think it will make him less popular?), and {c} That someone helping the President has to tell the world about his secret fight?

      Stupidest conspiracy ever. Absolutely none of it makes any sense at all

      Finally. Someone who gets it.

      I wasn't aware of the Business Plot, though I'm with you on the other real conspiracies. I'll add to that one of my own: Russian interest in Syria was primarily about creating as many refugees as possible, with a view to acrimony in Europe and the USA over how many asylum-seekers to accept. Maybe it's just hindsight bias, but it seems to have worked out too perfectly not to be a plan.

  • by organgtool ( 966989 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @03:33PM (#60419807)
    Holy shit, now Facebook is defending the Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles?! The conspiracy runs deeper than we could have ever imagined!
  • These weekly Qanon stories show that too many people are permitting Trump to live rent-free in their head

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Trump is actively making my life miserable, so while he's not "living in my head", I certainly do spend a lot of my time thinking how happy I'd be if he keeled over dead.
  • by cygnusvis ( 6168614 ) on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @05:13PM (#60420199)
    The QSlider and QSpinBox widgets are far better than the QAnon widget. Hell, I would even say that QPushButton works better and is more widely used than QAnon!
  • Is the crazy conspiracy the one with the guy with a private jet and an island filled with teenage slave girls flying out presidents and celebrities and then dying while every single possible protection fails in a federal prison, or the one with prostitution taking place using front businesses in DC?

Were there fewer fools, knaves would starve. - Anonymous

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