The top 10 QAnon Facebook groups reportedly have over one million combined members, a sign of the increasing popularity of the far-right conspiracy
Trump supporters wearing QAnon shirts before a presidential rally in Tennessee in 2018. Photo: Getty Images The subject matter of QAnon — the conspiracy theory painting Trump as the last line of defense between American ideals and the foul intentions of deep-state agitators and Democratic pedophiles — has been widely remarked upon as a sign of how deeply misinformation has been accepted among far-right supporters of the president.
According to an internal Facebook audit obtained by the network, QAnon groups on the social media platform have millions of members. “The top 10 groups identified in the investigation collectively contain more than 1 million members, with totals from more top groups and pages pushing the number of members and followers past 3 million,” NBC News reports, adding the important caveat that it’s not clear “how much overlap there is among the groups.
According to two employees who spoke with NBC News, the information gathering is part of an investigation that could determine if Facebook will take any action to limit its QAnon users. Last month, the social media giant stated that it was looking at the conspiracy as part of a larger inquiry into groups with possible ties to violence.
Facebook isn’t the only tech leader currently grappling with how to handle its Q community, which is now in its third year of guesswork. In July, Twitter banned thousands of QAnon accounts due to their “potential to lead to offline harm,” while TikTok began blocking hashtag searchers of the conspiracy.
Perhaps a more telling sign of the increasing popularity of the conspiracy are the candidates in its sphere of influence that may soon be entering the halls of Congress. Last month, Republican Lauren Boebert won her primary in Colorado’s rural third district, and has said that from “everything that I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real.
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