The rise of this new generation of aspiring politicians – who associate themselves with baseless claims that other politicians, A-list celebrities, and a “deep state” of bureaucrats promote sexual child abuse – poses a major new challenge for companies on social media that have their promise to limit harmful content. And it illustrates what can happen when online platforms are too slow to realize that they allow fringe views or even reinforce them: Those beliefs can quickly go mainstream.
On Wednesday, the same day that Facebook announced action against thousands of accounts and groups linked to QAnon and its discredited claims, President Donald Trump praised his followers openly for supporting him, calling them “people who love our country,” though he claimed he did not know much about the movement.
And in perhaps the ultimate accusation of how online platforms failed to stop QAnon from gaining earlier traction, the baseless claims on which QAnon thrives have already been embraced or sympathized by at least six Republican candidate congresses in districts ranging from Georgia to California.
The problem is about QAnon. Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who called herself a “proud Islamophobe” and has been banned by various online platforms, won a primary on Tuesday and was nominated by the Republican Party in a Florida Congress.
Now, the tech companies find themselves in an even more difficult position: Their obligations must be reconciled to limit the spread of harmful content without appearing to censor the politicians directly involved in sending these messages to an ever-wider audience.
“Once the conspiracy theorists become elected officials, you must either ‘Forget it, we never touch anything, let the conspiracy theories rule’, or they must go in the other direction and say, ‘We must no longer give elected officials more of an exemption, ” said Dave Karpf, a political scientist at George Washington University who has studied digital political movements.
Facebook (FB) en Twitter (TWTR) declined to comment on questions about that challenge.
For years, companies had turned the issue of Trump’s long history of false and offensive statements, but this spring Twitter took the unusual step of notifying users that some of his claims could be misleading if in conflict with the platform’s policies. .
And even when Twitter has been plagued by baseless accusations of mail-in votes from Trump and others, for example, the company has left
some of Trump’s claims on the subject not touched upon.
Trump has largely benefited from shifts in social media policies intended for public figures. Under that policy, material that other users may have received an extension gets a pass because the content is inherently considered valuable as being in the public interest.
This new harvest of political figures could test the limits of that policy. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a nominated GOP congressman in a solid Republican neighborhood, has expressed support for QAnon’s conspiracy theory and has falsely stated that there is “an Islamic invasion in our government offices.” Mike Cargile, a Republican candidate for Congress in California, posted a QAnon-affiliated hashtag on his Twitter bio. Cargile has said that the hashtag, “# WWG1WGA” or “Where we one go we go all,” reflects his belief that “it’s the perfect sentiment for all Americans to have each other.”
Social media platforms have recently tried to curb the spread of QAnon, but even in their piled-up efforts, they seem to give politicians a wide breadth.
In July,
Twitter said activity around the move ran “potentially leading to offline damage”, and that the service would not recommend accounts linked to QAnon. But when Twitter launched its QAnon crackdown last month, the congressional candidate’s accounts remained unaffected – opening up the possibility that active conspiracy theorists could use the reach of political offices to make more misleading claims.
On Wednesday, Facebook said it would also penalize its approach to QAnon. While it briefly stopped banning QAnon content altogether under its policy for dangerous individuals and organizations, the company said that some content related to QAnon will now be restricted, including QAnon messages advocating for violence or considering potential violence.
Politicians like Greene will still be allowed to support QAnon under that policy, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged.
“We will allow people to post content that supports QAnon, as long as they do not otherwise violate our content policies,” Stone told CNN Business. “We will limit the ability of QAnon to organize on our platform through Facebook groups, pages and Instagram accounts.”
As for Loomer, both Facebook and Twitter told CNN Business that they will continue to be banned from their platforms because of past hate activity, suggesting that becoming a public official is not enough to overcome a prior ban.
But Loomer’s case is also clearer than many of her fellow candidates, precisely because she was already denied those services. What is less clear is how companies would treat a politician who behaved like Loomer prior to their ban.
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