Twitter has suspended over 70,000 accounts since Friday in an attempt to scrape off its crust of festering QAnon conspiracy gunk. It’s laughably too late, but at least it’s something.
BY AMANDA YEO
Numerous high profile QAnon figures were unceremoniously booted from Twitter after last week’s attempted coup, as the social media platform finally decided it was done facilitating the dangerous conspiracy theory’s spread. However, it seems the purge wasn’t restricted to prominent personalities, with Twitter trying for a deeper clean.
“Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon,” wrote Twitter in a Tuesday blog post.
“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.”
To be clear, this doesn’t mean there are 70,000 fewer QAnon adherents on Twitter, just that there are 70,000 fewer accounts spewing misinformation. According to Twitter, the suspended accounts were mainly concerned with spreading the QAnon conspiracy theory, as opposed to accounts that dabble in it between live-tweeting The Bachelor.
This isn’t to say such accounts aren’t also facing consequences. Twitter noted it is continuing to give limited visibility to accounts which retweet QAnon content, meaning they’re less likely to pop up in search results or on peoples’ timelines. However, these accounts currently aren’t being suspended from Twitter altogether.
“It’s important that these types of accounts — that are not predominantly engaged in sharing this material — can see different perspectives in the open public conversation that Twitter uniquely provides,” wrote Twitter.
Understandably, Twitter’s suspension of so many accounts has caused some users’ follower counts to noticeably drop. So if you’ve noticed a sudden, significant dip in followers, maybe re-examine the content you’re putting out and figure out why so many conspiracy theorists were following you in the first place.
Originally published at Mashable sea asia