This week, almost in unison, social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook are cracking down on conversations surrounding the QAnon movement. And we now have TikTok jumping on the wagon and blocking hashtags related to QAnon.
TikTok stated that it was going to limit the search on “QAnonTruth” tag after the BBC’s “anti-disinformation” unit noticed that there was a spike in conspiracy videos under the tag. The Chinese video-sharing company stated that they were cracking down on the hashtags so as to ensure that misinformation doesn’t prevail on its platform. Hashtags including “QAnonTruth”, “QAnon”, and “Out of Shadows”, among others, will not return any search results on TikTok any more.
That said, TikTok isn’t going to remove the videos from the platform. It is simply reducing their reach and ensuring that people won’t discover them easily. It is, however, worth noting that users could still discover such videos if they are provided in their suggestions feed by TikTok itself.
The decision to restrict QAnon-related content was made after Twitter announced a crackdown earlier this week. The social media network has already suspended thousands of accounts related to QAnon. What’s more, Twitter will also block any URLs related to QAnon in an attempt to prevent “offline harm”. Facebook is planning on implementing a similar crackdown next week.
