TikTok decides it's had enough of QAnon (sort of)

When a deranged conspiracy theory with potential for real-world harm rears its head on your viral-video platform, it's time to take action. Or if you're TikTok, sorta kinda take a baby step towards curbing its influence. 

Late Friday TikTok confirmed to Rolling Stone that it would stop returning search results for QAnon-related words and phrases. Notably, TikTok is still allowing hashtags associated with the "deep state"-obsessed fiction on its platform. The phrases aren't banned, and neither is conspiracy content, but they just won't be searchable. 

We reached out to TikTok both to confirm the new policy and to determine when it went into effect, but received no immediate reply. However, according to Rolling Stone, a TikTok spokesperson said the move was driven by the fact that QAnon content involves disinformation, which is banned on the platform. According to Digital Trends, the #QAnon had more than 83 million views on TikTok up from 3 million in December. TikTok has also been home to a revival of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory among its young users. Read more...