Twitter bans thousands of QAnon accounts in crackdown

Twitter has banned thousands of accounts affiliated with QAnon as part of a crackdown on the conspiracy theory, a spokesperson for the platform confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.

Accounts and content tied to QAnon will no longer be included in email, push or follow recommendations. Twitter will also take steps to limit the spread of that content in trends and search.

Roughly 150,000 accounts worldwide will be affected by that change, according to Twitter.

More than 7,000 affiliated accounts have already been removed in recent weeks for violating the platform’s rules against spam, manipulation and evading bans.

NBC News first reported the takedowns.

The crackdown on the QAnon theory – which posits that President Trump and the military are working together to expose a shadowy cabal of figures in media, entertainment and politics – comes amid problems with harassment against certain figures, according to Twitter.

Some celebrities, including Chrissy Teigen, have been targeted online by social media users recently.

The once-fringe online theory has gained mainstream recognition in recent months, with multiple Republican candidates for Congress expressing support for its tenets.

The FBI labeled the loose community a potential domestic terror threat last year.