Facebook acknowledged that it temporarily paused an initiative meant to curb the spread of misinformation because a “glitch” was redirecting people to information related to QAnon — even if they were searching for something unrelated.
“When we first launched the Redirect Initiative for QAnon today there was a glitch that caused people to see information about this topic when they searched for unrelated terms,” Facebook tweeted on Wednesday. “We’ve paused this Redirect while we fix the issue.”
When we first launched the Redirect Initiative for QAnon today there was a glitch that caused people to see information about this topic when they searched for unrelated terms. We’ve paused this Redirect while we fix the issue. https://t.co/YJb4E46BJf
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) October 21, 2020
On Aug. 19, Facebook announced that it was taking steps to reduce the amount of content on the social media network related to QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy group that promotes the belief, among other things, that a group of powerful politicians is involved in a child sex-trafficking ring and that a deep state exists to thwart President Trump.
Since then, Facebook has issued a series of updates on the policy, including removing accounts and pages related to QAnon even if they contain no threats of violence, which was the initial reason for content being removed. The initiative was supposed to take these efforts one step further on Wednesday, redirecting people who search for QAnon-related content to verified information from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology.
“Starting today, when someone searches for terms related to QAnon on Facebook and Instagram, we will redirect them to credible resources from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), the academic research network of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism,” Facebook wrote in a blog post. The move “will direct people to resources that can help inform them of the realities of QAnon and its ties to violence and real world harm.”
“As we continue to study the impact of our enforcement against QAnon, we’ll partner with GNET to assess the impact of this Redirect Initiative, and we’ll continue to reassess the list of terms that, when searched for on our platform, should direct people to these resources,” the update concluded.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Facebook for comment.
