Facebook Removes 'Stop The Steal' Content; Twitter Suspends QAnon Accounts
Social media giants Twitter and Facebook have announced stricter measures on their platforms aimed at curbing misinformation and further unrest in response to last week's deadly insurrection led by pro-Trump extremists at the U.S. Capitol.
Facebook is targeting content with the phrase "stop the steal," referring to false claims of election fraud. Twitter is targeting accounts that focus on the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Both tech companies cited the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as a reason for taking more stringent approaches to stamp out misinformation campaigns.
It comes as social media companies are coming under withering criticism that they should have done more to stop the spread of baseless claims that the November election results were illegitimate.
Twitter said it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts sharing content about QAnon, the fringe far-right conspiracy theory that is influential among many of President Trump's most loyal supporters. Among the false claims QAnon proponents put forward is that President Trump is fighting a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles.
"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm," Twitter said in a statement Tuesday.
more:
http://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/12/956003580/facebook-removes-stop-the-steal-content-twitter-suspends-qanon-accounts?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3S9XUk-WwfBtSQ5pq5RCT98fYLgK7M818wgQxWiUgzlPNwk_1SLd_IESY
DO SOMETHING!
| 
