Twitter bans Trump allies Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell in QAnon purge

Social media giant committed to permanent ban on platform for conspiracy theory

Twitter has banned Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell in a purge of high-profile Donald Trump supporters who pushed QAnon conspiracy theories.

Mr Flynn, the former national security advisor, and Ms Powell had both met with the outgoing president in the White House as he tried to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.

They are both prominent names in the QAnon community and Mr Flynn even took an “oath” to the conspiracy theory in 2020.

QAnon believers were among the violent pro-Trump mob who stormed the Capitol Building to try and overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.

These included “QAnon Shaman” Jake Angeli, who police stopped from rushing across the Senate floor shirtless and wearing a pair of horns.

“The accounts have been suspended in line with our policy on Coordinated Harmful Activity," said a Twitter spokesperson.

 "We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content."

QAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory that Donald Trump is carrying out a covert war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

Twitter also banned the account of Ron Watkins, the administrator of the website 8kun, formally known as 8chan.

It is from that account that “Q” posts information to followers.

Last year Twitter permanently banned thousands of accounts associated with QAnon and in October Facebook also banned it from all its platforms.