Twitter has permanently suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s (R-GA) personal account “for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” according to the company. His official government account remains active.
Rep. Greene has been prolific in publishing articles and statistics purporting to relate to the pandemic, but they are often misleading or outright false. This is one of the topics that Twitter has drawn a line in the sand on, as misinformation about the virus, its spread, the effectiveness of vaccines, etc. has serious implications for public health.
Twitter’s COVID-19 policy is described here; in a statement, the company said, “We have made it clear that, in accordance with our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”
The permanent ban comes after several shorter account lockouts and warnings, which occurred and were reported throughout 2021. Greene then complained of violations of her “freedom of speech”, despite Twitter being a private, operated platform with clearly stated rules, and made a final complaint in a statement this morning: “Twitter is an enemy of America and cannot handle the truth. That’s fine, I’m going to show America that we don’t need it and it’s time to defeat our enemies.
It’s unclear if this statement means she herself will stop using this “enemy” platform she claims she doesn’t need. His official US Representative account remains online, although it hasn’t been used for a week. I asked Twitter if this account was also put at risk by its violations, and I’ll update this post if I hear a response.
Twitter routinely issues bans to fringe figures who have violated rules on inciting violence, posting false or private information, or spreading false information regarding the pandemic.
Update: Shortly after, Facebook also issued Greene a temporary suspension for disinformation.
