THREAD: In the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, @Twitter must enforce its rules suspending accounts that post & spread QAnon conspiracy theories that glorify violence, target democratic institutions & seed militant insurrection. adl.org/qanon
QAnon played a key role in the terror attack on the Capitol. QAnon accounts on Twitter and other platforms hailed the violence as a first step in a civil war. According to reports, QAnon supporters were among the first militants to enter the Capitol. usatoday.com/story/tech/202…
One of these supporters, Jake Angeli, a far-right conspiracy theorist dubbed the “QAnon Shaman,” has been a visible presence at several far-right rallies supporting the president’s attempts to discredit the 2020 election. news.yahoo.com/well-known-qan…
.@Twitter promised stronger action on QAnon, claiming to “permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension.”
In Sept, Twitter claimed that as a result of this change in policy QAnon-related content and accounts dropped by more than 50% and announced additions to their coordinated harmful activity policy. huffpost.com/entry/twitter-…
Still, Twitter remains fertile ground for the virulent strain of disinformation and hate that animates QAnon. Their conspiracies continue to flourish more than 5 months after @Twitter announced its policy, culminating in yesterday’s violent terror attack.
.@ADL has found dozens of Twitter accounts supporting QAnon and actively spreading dangerous disinformation and conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 presidential election, in violation of Twitter’s policies.
False claims spread far more rapidly than truth on social media. Platforms benefit from this b/c it drives clicks & engagement. In short, incendiary content boosts the bottom line. It’s dangerous & must stop. It’s time these companies reexamine their entire business models.
The companies seem unable to recognize reality - 12 hr & 2 week bans are insufficient. We need advertisers to hold dollars & demand change; celebrities to use their voice; & gov. to intervene w/ laws that prevent platforms from subverting democracy any further #StopHateforProfit
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
