After years of trying to curb QAnon messaging, Twitter has now suspended more than 150,000 accounts

[demmiblue]

Twitter officials say they tracked QAnon for years, as adherents of the conspiracy theory spread misinformation and vitriol on the platform.

While Twitter monitored, collected data and tried to suppress the reach of QAnon accounts, it had stopped short of outright banning them. That changed after the Capitol riot. On January 12, six days after the insurrection, Twitter publicly disclosed it had suspended 70,000 accounts. A Twitter spokesperson now tells CBS News the number has more than doubled — with more than 150,000 accounts suspended for engaging in "sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale."

The accounts didn't come from overseas and they weren't "bots" spewing automated falsehoods. The vast majority belonged to Americans and were "real people," though some held multiple accounts, according to senior Twitter officials.

In interviews with CBS News, senior Twitter officials described a yearslong effort to fight domestic conspiracy theories. They said they adapted similar strategies previously used to combat international terrorism and child sexual exploitation. They recounted how for months before January 6 they limited the visibility of QAnon-associated accounts — hoping to encourage users to modify their behavior — and ultimately took more decisive action after the riot that left five dead and dozens injured.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/qanon-twitter-suspends-150000-accounts-capitol-riot/

[gratuitous]

1. It only took a failed attempt to violently overthrow the government

And Twitter finally did the right thing by deplatforming these blood-gargling psychopaths. I hope they don't want a cookie.

[malaise]

6. THIS

[mzmolly]

2. Trying to curb

my arse. .. Though, I'm glad they've acted - now.

[lagomorph777]

3. Took my headline!

[mzmolly]

4. : )

[crickets]

5. Finally. K&R

[JI7]

7. Social media also needs to do something about comments sections

trolls without any posts of their own have lots of comments to other posts spreading their shit.