Twitter Bans Thousands of Accounts
In the fight against the spread of conspiracy myths, Twitter has shut down more than 70,000 accounts. Right-wing activists in particular are affected by the measures. The tech company justifies the move with the recent violence in the US capital Washington.
Twitter has deleted more than 70,000 accounts of the conspiracy theory QAnon movement, which supports outgoing US President Donald Trump. As a consequence of the riots in Washington by Trump supporters, these accounts have been permanently removed by Twitter. In many cases, several of the accounts with QAnon content could be traced back to a single author.
Supporters of the elected president stormed the seat of the US Congress on Wednesday and caused violence and chaos there for hours.
A Trump supporter was shot to death by police in the Capitol, and a police officer died the day after his injuries sustained during the riot. Among the demonstrators who stormed the Capitol was a prominent representative of the QAnon movement, Jacob Anthony Chansley, conspicuous for his fur and horned headdress. In the meantime, Washington prosecutors have reported formal charges against Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli, of violent entry into the Capitol.
Twitter had already deleted tens of thousands of QAnon accounts
Supporters of the QAnon movement claim that Trump is in a secret war against a global left-liberal cult of pedophile satanists. Twitter had already deleted tens of thousands of QAnon accounts before the US presidential election on November 3rd, which Trump then lost to Joe Biden.
After the announcement, the share came under selling pressure. Apparently, Twitter wants to avert a future stricter regulation of social media, said investment strategist Michael Hewson of the brokerage company CMC Markets.
Twitter Bans Thousands of Accounts
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