Twitter blocks 70,000 QAnon accounts after US Capitol riot

LONDON (AP) — Twitter says it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts associated with the far right QAnon conspiracy theory following last week’s U.S. Capitol riot.

The social media company said Tuesday that given the events last week in Washington, D.C., where a mob of pro-Trump loyalists tried to violently storm the Capitol building, it was taking action against online behavior “that has the potential to lead to offline harm.”

In many cases, a single individual operated numerous accounts, driving up the total number of affected accounts, the company said in a blog post.

“These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service,” the company said.

Twitter’s sweeping purge of QAnon accounts, which began Friday, is part of a wider crackdown that also includes its decision to ban President Donald Trump from the service over worries about further incitement to violence.

The suspensions mean some Twitter users will lose followers, in some cases by the thousands, the company said.

The QAnon conspiracy theory is centered on the baseless belief that Trump is waging a secret campaign against “deep state” enemies and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals. Twitter has previously tried to crack down on QAnon, removing more than 7,000 accounts in July.

Twitter said it’s also stepping up enforcement measures and starting Tuesday it will limit the spread of posts that violate its civic integrity policy by preventing anyone from replying to, liking or retweeting them. The policy prohibits attempts to manipulate elections and spread misleading info about their results, with repeated violations resulting in permanent suspension

https://apnews.com/article/technology-media-social-media-171a5c9062be1c293169d764d3d0d9c8

fucking 'Qanon'

>>12481263

nice to finally see him and know he's ok and still himself!

And he even blew a kiss to the crowd! kek!

Joe Biden says his "priority" is distributing aid to black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and women-owned small businesses.

https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1349023789686935553

The Biden administration will prioritize distributing coronavirus aid to small businesses owned by those in specific minority groups, according to a clip President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team shared Sunday.

The clip, taken from a press briefing Biden gave last week, features the president-elect saying his “priority” for distributing coronavirus economic relief available through the recently passed $900 billion stimulus bill will be small businesses with black, Latino, Asian, Native American, and women owners.

"Our focus will be on small businesses on Main Street that aren’t wealthy and well-connected that are facing real economic hardships through no fault of their own,” Biden says. “Our priority will be black, Latino, Asian, and Native American-owned small businesses, women-owned businesses”:

Biden further clarifies that his administration’s focus will be on small businesses that have faced “systemic barriers” to receiving federal aid. He says, “We’re going to make a concerted effort to help small businesses in low-income communities, in big cities, small towns, rural communities, that have faced systemic barriers to relief.”

Biden then adds, more broadly, that he will direct relief to businesses “hit the hardest”:

Think of the mom and pop owner with a couple of employees who can’t pick up the phone and call the banker, who doesn’t have a lawyer, an accountant to help them through this complicated process, to know if they’re even qualified, or who simply didn’t know where, where this relief is available in the first place.

…

And as we saw in this morning’s jobs report, restaurants, bars, and hospitality industry have been slammed by this virus. We’re gonna direct relief to those businesses and others that have been so badly hit, hit the hardest. We owe them that support to help them get through the other side of this crisis.

Thousands of commenters on social media took issue with Biden’s priorities, finding them overtly discriminatory.

Some observed the demographics Biden excluded while others raised concern over including Asian Americans, who are a relatively wealthy demographic:

Biden’s transition team has not publicly responded to the backlash and did not immediately respond to Breitbart News when asked for comment.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/11/joe-biden-distributing-coronavirus-aid-minority-owned-small-businesses-is-our-priority/

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