Twitter bans thousands of QAnon accounts and shuts down topics related to the conspiracy theory

Twitter announced on Tuesday that the social media company had banned thousands of accounts espousing the QAnon conspiracy theory and took steps to limit the spread of topics related to QAnon on its platform.

The company announced the action in a statement on Twitter.

"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service," the statement said.

The QAnon conspiracy includes a multitude of beliefs and claims, but it focuses on the existence of a shadowy figured named "Q" who claims to be in the Trump administration and posts cryptic messages about the president's hidden strategy to take down the "deep state."

"We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we've seen more of in recent weeks," Twitter claimed.

The company went on to say that it would be shutting out content from QAnon accounts in the trending topics and recommendations, work to prevent highlighting the content, and block QAnon content from being shared.

A Twitter spokesperson said that the company banned 7,000 accounts, and the trending restrictions will affect about another 150,000 accounts, according to NBC News.

In August, CNN's Chris Cillizza suggested that President Donald Trump was sending coded messages to QAnon supporters based on his use of the number 17 and the group's belief that the number has a special meaning. That the president and other members of the administration often send coded messages of support for QAnon is a pillar of faith for believers of the conspiracy.

Some on social media wondered if the demands from liberal celebrity Chrissy Teigen that Twitter do something about QAnon accounts criticizing her led to the action by the company.

"It's extremely disheartening. I don't know how to stop this. I don't think anyone quite gets it," said Teigen, of the conspiracy trolling.

Here's more about QAnon trolling Teigen:

Chrissy Teigen Slams Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy Theoristswww.youtube.com