Twitter cancels US lawmaker’s account for spreading Covid-19 misinformation

Washington, Jan 2 (EFE).- Twitter permanently suspended the personal account of Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green on Sunday for repeatedly disseminating misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Green represents a Georgia district in the US House of Representatives and since she took office early in 2021 has been one of the most controversial figures in Congress.

Twitter said that “We permanently suspended the account … (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”

Twitter did not provide details as to what about Green’s postings it said violated its misinformation policy and led the social network to permanently cancel her account.

In July, Twitter suspended Green’s account for 12 hours after accusing her of using the account to spread misinformation on Covid-19.

Last August, Twitter had warned the lawmaker again over the misinformation she had been posting on her account, this time handing her a temporary suspension lasting seven days after she posted a message saying that the anti-Covid vaccines are “failing” and that they don’t reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

After the suspension was implemented, Green responded to the ban on her Gettr account, saying that Twitter is “an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

At the time it was suspended, Greene’s personal Twitter account had at least 465,000 followers.

However, Green still has access to her official Twitter handle – @RepMTG – provided to her in her capacity as a US congressperson.

Greene has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and his false claims that he was denied re-election because the 2020 election was “stolen” by the Democrats.

The lawmaker is the first member of Congress to be booted from Twitter for violating its rules, although the social network banned Trump in early 2021 after he praised rioters who attacked the US Capitol last Jan. 6 in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to current President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The US is the country that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic with 820,000 deaths from Covid-19, according to official figures.

EFE afs/ie/bp