UPDATED 23:10 EDT / AUGUST 19 2020

POLICY

Facebook purges hundreds of QAnon, Antifa groups and limits spread of ‘militia’ support

Facebook Inc. today embarked on one of its biggest purges of content of all time, taking down hundreds of Pages and Groups related to what it calls “U.S.-based militia organizations.”

The main focus of the removals was content supporting the conspiracy theory group QAnon, although Facebook said the net covered any content that was considered in support of militia organizations and those encouraging riots.

These actions were deemed necessary under Facebook’s “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy.” This policy has just been expanded due to the current surge in what Facebook considers problematic content.

“We already remove content calling for or advocating violence and we ban organizations and individuals that proclaim a violent mission,” the company wrote in a blog post. “However, we have seen growing movements that, while not directly organizing violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns of violent behavior.”

The update of the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy will mean that people can still post content supporting groups such as QAnon and Antifa, although its reach will be limited.

Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts will be taken down if Facebook decides the content supports violence, even if the support is veiled or uses certain symbols. Facebook explained, “We will continue studying specific terminology and symbolism used by supporters to identify the language used by these groups and movements indicating violence and take action accordingly.”

If the content stays up and is deemed supportive of such groups, its ranking in the News Feed will be affected. It will be recommended less, reduced in the search feature, will not be allowed to fundraise and will be prohibited from running ads.

“As a result of some of the actions we’ve already taken, we’ve removed over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon from Facebook, blocked over 300 hashtags across Facebook and Instagram, and additionally imposed restrictions on over 1,950 Groups and 440 Pages on Facebook and over 10,000 accounts on Instagram,” Facebook wrote.

Other militia groups, including Antifa, have also been hit. Facebook took down a total of 980 Groups, 520 Pages and 160 ads related to such organizations. The company also restricted more than 1,400 hashtags.

Photo: Sean P. Anderson/Flickr

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