Twitter bans Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account over COVID misinformation

Joe Hernandez

January 02, 2022 / 8:05 am

caption: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., joins fellow anti-abortion activists in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, on Dec. 1, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

Twitter has permanently suspended the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for "repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy."

In an email to NPR, a spokesperson for the social media company said Twitter "had been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy."

Updated January 2, 2022 at 12:04 PM ET

On Saturday, Greene tweeted a thread about the public health measures imposed during the pandemic, criticizing many of the efforts health officials say were critical in preventing more deaths from the virus and slowing its spread in the U.S.

The Georgia Republican's official government Twitter account is still active, the company confirmed.

Greene, in a statement following her Twitter suspension, said Twitter was 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," she said.

"Social media platforms can't stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech can't stop the truth. Communist Democrats can't stop the truth," she added.

Twitter accounts with five or more "strikes" face a permanent suspension from the platform, according to Twitter policies.

Greene was temporarily suspended from Twitter in January 2021 for violating the company's "civic integrity" policy, which the company had used to remove thousands of QAnon-related accounts. Greene has endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory in the past.

In May she faced criticism from her own party and beyond after comparing COVID-19 safety measures to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

The House of Representatives removed Greene from her committee assignments in February. She'd been condemned for promoting racist, antisemitic and false conspiracy theories and for encouraging violence against Democratic officials before she took office.

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