We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
A careful reading of the announcement makes it clear that Twitter (at least for now) does not intend to suspend accounts merely for tweeting about Qanon. They plan to suspend accounts that have violated their terms of service by creating multiple accounts, engaging in targeted harassment, or evading prior suspensions. As long as an account does not engage in one of these behaviors, they should not be suspended just for posting about Q. (At least that's Twitter's official policy.) The other actions in the bullet list describe how Twitter plans to limit the spread of Q-related information on the platform.In addition, we will:
1⃣ No longer serve content and accounts associated with QAnon in Trends and recommendations 2⃣ Work to ensure we’re not highlighting this activity in search and conversations 3⃣ Block URLs associated with QAnon from being shared on Twitter — Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
Apparently, this is Twitter's current, but not their final position. They will adjust their enforcement policy regarding Q in the future if the current steps don't resolve their perceived problem. It's a safe bet that the perceived problem will persist and Twitter will take further steps. Future policy changes would probably lead to accounts being suspended merely for discussing Q. Again, they would justify their actions by claiming that Q followers are violent. This suggests that the media will create future connections between acts of violence and supposed Q followers. Yesterday's article by the New York Times sheds light on the plans of other social media platforms as they deal with Q's growing influence.These actions will be rolled out comprehensively this week. We will continue to review this activity across our service and update our rules and enforcement approach again if necessary.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
Facebook is preparing to take similar steps to limit the reach of QAnon content on its platform, said two Facebook employees with knowledge of the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The company has been coordinating with Twitter and other social media companies and plans to make an announcement next month, the employees said. Facebook declined to comment.We've known for almost two years that blanket social media censorship of Q was coming. In September of 2018, an anon asked Q why he deleted posts from the read-only board /patriotsfight/. Q's response suggested that a total ban of Q-related discussions was coming and that his board would become the hub for all such discussions in the future.
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