Twitter suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account over Covid misinformation
The Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter account was temporarily suspended on Monday over tweets that violated the social media company’s Covid-19 misinformation policy.
Greene posted that the coronavirus was not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65, and that organisations should not force “nonFDA” approved vaccines or masks on people. These tweets have been labelled as “misleading”.
The US is using vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson under the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorisation. None of these vaccines are fully approved but numerous studies have proven their efficacy.
Joe Biden has called on social media companies to take action on vaccine misinformation.
“We took enforcement action on the account @mtgreenee for violations of the Twitter rules, specifically the Covid-19 misleading information policy,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Greene’s account will remain locked for 12 hours, according to Twitter.
In a video statement on Facebook Live, Greene acknowledged that she had been temporarily suspended from the platform and blamed the Biden administration for trying to control free speech.
“Remember, last week when our press secretary said the White House is working to stop the spread of [misinformation] because they want to be careful and they want to be in control of the information that is shared about Covid-19 and vaccines, isn’t that concerning?” Greene said.
The Republican representative has come under fire before for remarks on the pandemic. In June she apologised after comparing Covid-19 mask requirements and vaccinations to the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.
In January, Twitter locked Greene’s account after she sparred with a state election official over voter fraud allegations.