Twitter deleted 70,000 accounts linked to QAnon | “L …

Social network Twitter announced Monday that it had “permanently” suspended 70,000 accounts associated with the pro-Trump movement QAnon, in an attempt to stop the spread of violent messages after the assault on Capitol Hill last week by supporters of the incumbent Republican president.

The platform began a purge that began this Friday with the permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account, after the president published a series of tweets encouraging the delegitimization of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden, which could have meant a “risk of incitement to violence”. Facebook and other services such as Snapchat or Twitch also decided to suspend Trump’s account indefinitely at that time.

“As of Friday, more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended,” Twitter reported in a statement Monday. In turn, he explained that the number of blocked accounts is high because many people have more than one account.

“These accounts were heavily sharing malicious content associated with QAnon and were primarily dedicated to spreading this conspiracy theory,” he added.

The QAnon movement recently gained visibility after footage of the capture of the Capitol was released, where one of Trump’s supporters could be seen wearing a fur hat and horn.

QAnon is a far-right conspiratorial movement that argues that the Republican president is waging a secret war against a global liberal sect of satanic pedophiles.

“Plans for future armed protests are proliferating on Twitter and elsewhere, including a second attack on Capitol Hill on January 17, 2021,” Twitter warned on Friday.

This social network was Donald Trump’s main communication tool, where he interacted with his 88 million daily subscribers. In recent days, various European leaders have rejected the suspension of the US president’s account, as they wonder if the decision came from companies and not from a legal regulatory framework.