Facebook Clamps Down on QAnon-Linked Sabmyk Network of Disinformation

Facebook has blocked a number of accounts that are part of a disinformation network which is trying to appeal to followers of the far-right cult of QAnon.

Sabmyk is a rapidly growing movement which borrows from the terminology of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that claimed former President Donald Trump was waging a war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

Sabmyk peddles far-fetched narratives such as the messianic belief that a savior carrying a sword once owned by the "Orion Kings of Atlantis" will lead an "awakening" against a group of prominent people it says is manipulating the public.

The network, whose name has a Biblical origin, has expanded greatly through the messaging app Telegram.

However, some of the accounts began on prominent social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook has blocked eight accounts, including five on its Instagram platform, that were linked to Sabmyk after Newsweek highlighted them to the company this week.

Their names included "shawunawaz", "unsplit soul", "SABMYK", "Atmumra" and "Noah's prophecy." Also blocked were three Facebook accounts titled "Noahs prophecy", "Atmumra" and "Sabmyk."

"We have removed the pages/accounts you shared with us for violating our policies," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

Since December 21, 2020, more than 100 Sabmyk channels where conspiracy theories have been shared, have attracted a combined one million subscribers.

Among the biggest channels are "Q Donald Trump", "Q Speaking" as well as "WWG1WGA", which stands for the QAnon rallying call "where we go one, we go all".

In a bid to attract QAnon and other far-right followers, it shares messages that promote skepticism about COVID masks, anti-vaccination conspiracies as well as the false claims that the U.S. election was stolen from Trump.

In October, Facebook announced a clampdown on QAnon, saying it would ban all all accounts linked to the group's conspiracy theory. This was an escalation of an earlier decision to remove or restrict groups and accounts that shared and promoted QAnon material.

A small group of QAnon followers turned up at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 4 which conspiracists had promoted as the date that Trump would be reinstated after losing to Joe Biden, now-President Biden, in the 2020 election.