Over the summer, the conspiracy group QAnon spread rumors on Facebook alleging that Antifa was responsible for the latest California wildfires. That false information led the social media giant to announce it would take new, aggressive steps to crack down on QAnon.  

According to Media Matters, a not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media, Facebook is failing at its own initiative.

Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, blames right-wing criticism. 

"Critics will say they have anti-conservative bias," he told Capital Tonight.                      

Media Matters did its own analysis and found that "Q-affiliated Facebook groups explicitly violating this policy are now just as active as ever, and they have continued to gain members in recent months."

The New York Times describes QAnon this way: "QAnon is a vast conspiracy theory that falsely claims that a satanic cabal runs the world," and "have cast President Trump as the hero in their baseless conspiracy…"

QAnon has amplified misinformation surrounding the election, including the false rumors that widespread voter fraud is already taking place.  

It’s also spreading rumors about tonight’s presidential debate, claiming that Democratic nominee Joe Biden has secret ear implants into which answers to debate questions will be passed along to him.

"It’s completely whacky," said Carusone. "But it’s saturated Facebook so much that even Fox News has spent a good part of the day uncritically reporting that. Even the Trump campaign has asked for an official inspection of Joe Biden’s ears."