QAnon, the fringe conspiracy theory community centered around decoding clues from a supposed government insider called Q, has crossed a digital line. At least for Reddit.
The online community’s largest QAnon subreddit, r/greatawakening, counting over 70,000 subscribers, was banned from the platform today. The backup for the community, r/the_greatawakening, was also banned.
QAnon communities continue to exist on Facebook, Twitter, and 4chan, among others.
The community, a spokesperson for Reddit told Quartz, was banned “due to repeated violations of the terms of our content policy.” According to the site’s terms of service, “posting content that incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses will get users and communities banned from Reddit,” the spokesperson said.
The group had recently focused on a conspiracy theory about late senator John McCain’s death, which suggests he had been murdered as part of a purge of Donald Trump’s enemies. McCain died from complications of brain cancer.
This is the second large QAnon-centered community to be banned for Reddit, a platform where communities with extremist views find a platform for discussion. In March, it banned another QAnon community called r/CBTS (Calm Before The Storm), which counted over 20,000 subscribers.