An internal Facebook investigation has revealed, for the first time, just how large the QAnon conspiracy theory community is on the platform, documents reviewed by NBC News show.
Facebook has been looking into supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims President Trump is leading a secret war to thwart political, business, and Hollywood elites who worship Satan and are involved in sex abuse. As it turns out, there are thousands of QAnon communities on Facebook plus groups of pages, many of which are private (hence the previous lack of clarity about its expanse), that have a combined 3 million followers. The top 10 groups identified in the investigation alone have collectively accrued more than 1 million followers, although it's unclear how much crossover there is between them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Music reviews: Tyler Childers and MadonnaFeature "Snipe Hunter" and "Veronica Electronica"
-
Art review: Noah DavisFeature Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, through Aug. 31
-
How can you borrow less for grad school?the explainer Borrowers will soon face stricter limits on federal student loans. But there are other ways help cover the cost of grad school.
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
