Facebook restricts promotion of new groups, existing political groups before election

“We have taken the steps to stop recommendations in groups for all political content or social issue groups as a precaution,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday at a hearing before the US Senate.

As reported by Reuters, many groups have been critical of Facebook recently, and of the way Facebook's algorithm recommends groups and pages to its users. Some critics feel that this helps spread and encourage political extremism, along with misinformation and disinformation.

Facebook also said that they would limit the dissemination of the hashtag #saveourchildren because of its association with the now-banned QAnon movement, which Facebook considers to be dangerous to the public. Members of QAnon believe that Trump and others speak to them using numerological codes, and is fighting an international cabal of pedophiles.

Part of the plan includes redirecting the hashtag to what Facebook calls "credible child safety resources", according to a Facebook spokesperson. She also went on to say that Facebook hasn't yet decided when the restrictions will be lifted. “We will assess when to lift them afterwards, but they are temporary,” she said.