US President Donald Trump has said he does not know much about the QAnon conspiracy theory movement but understands it is gaining in popularity and has a favourable view of him.
"I don't know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate," Mr Trump told reporters at a briefing in the White House yesterday.
"I've heard these are people that love our country," he added.
"These are people that don't like seeing what's going on in places like Portland, in places like Chicago and New York, and other cities and states," he added, referring to anti-racism protests that have taken place across the country over the death of George Floyd in police custody in May.
QAnon followers espouse an intertwined series of beliefs based on anonymous web postings from someone claiming special insider knowledge of the Trump administration.
The core tenet is that Mr Trump is secretly fighting a cabal of child-sex predators including prominent Democrats.
A spokesman for Joe Biden said the Republican president was "again giving voice to violence."
"After calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville 'fine people' and tear gassing peaceful protesters following the murder of George Floyd, Donald Trump just sought to legitimise a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a domestic terrorism threat," Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Yesterday, Facebook said it had removed nearly 800 QAnon conspiracy groups for posts celebrating violence, showing intent to use weapons, or attracting followers with patterns of violent behaviour.
The moves, which were made across both Facebook and Instagram, were against accounts tied to "offline anarchist groups that support violent acts amidst protests, US-based militia organisations and QAnon," the social media platform said in a blog post.
More than 790 groups, 100 pages, and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon were pulled from Facebook and more than 300 hashtags were blocked across the social network and Instagram, according to the post.
In addition, restrictions were placed on more than 1,950 groups and 440 pages on Facebook and more than 10,000 Instagram accounts, the social network said.
Facebook said it has also removed more than 980 groups and restricted hashtags related to militia organisations and "those encouraging riots."
Facebook additionally announced it was expanding rules against groups and movements that it said "have demonstrated significant risks to public safety but do not meet the rigorous criteria to be designated as a dangerous organisation and banned from having any presence on our platform."
The social network already bans content calling for violence and organizations that proclaim violent missions.
Twitter in July cracked down on QAnon as the loose-knit group increased its reach into the mainstream of US politics.
From an anonymous 2017 posting claiming bizarre child exploitation and deep state plots, the headless and bodiless movement has earned a place in Trump's Twitter stream.
Twitter's decision to shut down some 7,000 accounts pushing QAnon material came amid rising concerns that the movement could spawn violence.
The FBI last year said in a report that QAnon was one of several movements that could drive "both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts."
