Conspiracy theories
QAnon Facebook groups have more than 3 million combined followers, investigation reveals
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.
Facebook's investigation will likely inform any action it decides to take against the QAnon community, which the FBI designated as a potential domestic terrorism threat in 2019, NBC News reports. The social media giant is considering rejecting advertising and excluding QAnon groups and pages from search results and recommendations to reduce its visibility. Read more at NBC News.