'We are taking steps to address evidence that QAnon adherents are increasingly using the issue of child safety and hashtags like savethechildren to recruit and organize,' Facebook said.
USA TODAY reported this week that QAnon has latched onto legitimate efforts to fight child abuse to expose unsuspecting Americans to its ideology.
Observers say the 2016 presidential election spurred the rise of conspiracy theories once confined to the fringes. With influential figures using their social media megaphones to amplify them, incendiary falsehoods that Biden and other Democrats are pedophiles are circulating in the mainstream before the November election in an alarming break from the norms of presidential politicking.
“Stories of child victimization are effective at mobilizing people to support a movement, even if it is based on conspiratorial views," Jensen said. "We are seeing this now with QAnon’s use of the ‘Save the Children’ slogan, which has generated support from more mainstream individuals who do not necessarily subscribe to all aspects of the conspiracy,” Jensen said.
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