High-profile Australians linked to QAnon will remain untouched by Facebook’s crackdown on the conspiracy theory because the ban does not extend to individual posts, the social media giant has conceded.
But experts say Facebook’s announcement overnight that it would significantly escalate attempts to combat misinformation on the site by removing “any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon” would still deal a massive blow to proponents of the conspiracy theory.
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QAnon-linked groups based in Australia have already been caught up in the purge. By Wednesday morning, a number of Australian groups boasting tens of thousands of members had been deleted. Experts who monitor conspiracy theory content in Australia say that while they have reservations about Facebook’s approach the ban is having a major impact.
Facebook’s ban is targeted at pages and groups that directly represent QAnon. Many groups with names or descriptions suggesting a dedication to the conspiracy theory have been removed.
The ban is not targeted at individual posts, or profiles or accounts that may disseminate QAnon material but are not solely devoted to it.
That decision has left several high-profile Australian pages unaffected by the ban, something experts warn will limit its effectiveness.
For example, Facebook said it had no intention of removing the profile of Pete Evans, the celebrity chef who routinely posts material sympathetic to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“When they take down Pete Evans’ Instagram, then I’ll believe they’re serious,” said Kazz Ross, a University of Tasmania expert in conspiracy theories and the far right. “That is the litmus test.”
Other Australian groups, including “99% Unite Worldwide” and “Rise Up For Children Australia & NZ — Operation Underground Railroad”, remain active.
The 99% group, which has helped organise many of the protests held in Melbourne throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, shares QAnon material but is not exclusively dedicated to it. Rise Up for Children shares QAnon content but represents itself as a legitimate movement to save children from paedophilia.
Ross said the ban was having a major impact on the broader QAnon following in Australia.
But she said Facebook’s characterisation of QAnon as “militant” was an over-reach and described the ban as a “blunt tool” which would simultaneously harm innocent users and miss much of the content being shared across the platforms.
“I think the ban will have a massive effect and I think it is going to piss a lot of people off who are by-catch,” Ross told Guardian Australia.
The ban would probably drive hardcore believers to other platforms, such as Telegram, which were harder to monitor and attracted more dangerous extremists, including neo-Nazis. It would also further cement conspiratorial beliefs, Ross said.
“They’re just waiting for the 10 days of darkness when the internet goes down. They’re waiting for that, ‘Oh look here we are, it’s more proof.’ It’s the conspiratorial thinking they have that nothing is a coincidence, everything has meaning and purpose.”
The ban’s chief impact would be on those half-interested in QAnon, who weren’t dedicated enough to be bothered making a shift elsewhere. The ban was also likely to help reduce general exposure to the broader public.
But Axel Bruns, the head of Queensland University of Technology’s digital media research centre, said Facebook had acted far too late.
QAnon has risen from the fringes of forums including 4Chan to become one of the most popular conspiracy theories on Facebook and Instagram, helped in part by Facebook recommendation algorithms that put it in front of anti-vaccine, Trump campaigners and wellness communities.
“It’s certainly a positive step, yes, but it’s also a step that is several years too late in many ways,” Bruns told the Guardian.
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“The hardcore of QAnon isn’t necessarily on Facebook, it’s obviously operating out of a number of other platforms, where the Q drops themselves have been happenings, and where many people are actively coordinating and organising and so on.”
Bruns said the ban was “almost certainly” going to be circumvented by followers who would change their language to avoid monitoring.
“I think the real question is whether Facebook will continue to monitor this and trace and track them to wherever they go now,” he said.
“If you have the page admins of the existing Q pages, are they now setting up new pages, are they now creating the new groups and so on? Is Facebook actually monitoring that?”
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