Facebook announces QAnon conspiracy theory account bans across all platforms

Facebook will ban all pages, groups, and Instagram accounts purporting to represent the popular QAnon conspiracy theory.

The company said Tuesday that its employees had begun removing accounts, but that the work "will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks."

"Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports," the company also said.

The conspiracy theory, which began gaining traction three years ago, posits that there is a group of politicians and A-list Hollywood star that participate in a child sex abuse ring. The theory also dictates that there is a powerfully rooted "deep state" effort to undermine President Trump, who is one of the few forces of good standing between the group of elite pedophiles and societal collapse. 

In August, the company began removing accounts across the Facebook and Instagram platforms that promoted QAnon, in addition to some pages peddling the ideology of Antifa and other militant anarchist groups. Facebook said the accounts exhibited behavior that celebrates violence.

Last year, the FBI cautioned that avid and engaged QAnon supporters are a domestic terror threat.