Twitter bans Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and different QAnon accounts

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, testifies via videoconference in this screenshot from a video taken during a Senate Judicial Committee hearing titled “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election” on Facebook and Twitter regarding the Moderation of content was created on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, November 17, 2020.

Reuters

Twitter announced on Friday that it was permanently banning accounts for sharing content related to the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory.

As part of this purge, the company suspended the accounts of Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, supporters of President Donald Trump.

“The accounts have been blocked under our coordinated malicious activity policy,” the company said in a statement to NBC News. “We knew we were going to take strong enforcement measures against behavior that could lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence associated with this type of behavior in the coming days, we will only permanently lock accounts.” dedicated to sharing QAnon content. “

Former US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn shows as a supporter of US President Donald Trump’s rally to protest election results in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, USA, on December 12, 2020.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Flynn, a retired Army Lieutenant General and former national security adviser to Trump, was pardoned by Trump in November. He pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump was inaugurated four years ago this month. Powell, a lawyer, assisted Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani in rejecting the presidential election results. She made a number of allegations of alleged election fraud, none of which have been recognized as legitimate by a court.

Both Flynn and Powell are active in the QAnon community. Twitter has also banned the account of Ron Watkins, who is the administrator of the 8kun website, formerly known as 8chan.

Attorney Sidney Powell speaks at a press conference on election results in Alpharetta, Georgia, the United States, on Dec. 2, 2020.

Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters

The suspensions come after the riot at the US Capitol on Wednesday.

Twitter’s coordinated malicious activity policy doesn’t allow groups to engage in activities that cause harm on Twitter or in the real world.

Twitter had previously taken action against thousands of QAnon-related accounts in July 2020. Though some accounts involved in the QAnon movement are hard to find, Flynn was a prominent player in the political arena and took an oath to QAnon in July on a publicly available video.

– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.