In a bid to fight fake news, Facebook said in a press release on Wednesday that it would take measures to expand its `Dangerous Individuals and Organisations` policy to stop conspiracy theorists like QAnon who pose a significant risk to public safety through their alleged misinformation campaign.

"Today, we are expanding our `Dangerous Individuals and Organisations` policy to address organisations and movements that have demonstrated significant risks to public safety, but do not meet the rigorous criteria to be designated as a dangerous organization and banned from having any presence on our platform," the release said.

It is to be noted that QAnon, a US-based organisation, is widely known for its theory about President Donald Trump at war with pedophiles within the  Democratic Party. The group has also put out posts casting doubts about the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.     

The new policy will also remove pages that delve into discussions of violence without specifically endorsing violent acts.

"As a result of some of the actions we`ve already taken, we`ve removed over 790 groups, 100 Pages and 1,500 ads tied to QAnon from Facebook, blocked over 300 hashtags across Facebook and Instagram, and additionally imposed restrictions on over 1,950 Groups and 440 Pages on Facebook and over 10,000 accounts on Instagram," the release stated.

The new policy will also remove pages that delve into discussions of violence without specifically endorsing violent acts.

For groups that fail to meet the threshold for removal, Facebook said it will limit recommendations, block pages from showing up in searches, reduce rankings in news feeds and remove hashtags that allow people to find similar hashtags.

(With ANI inputs)