MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Banned From Twitter, Again, After Brief Return

MINNEAPOLIS (AP/WCCO) -- MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was banned from Twitter for a second time after attempting to use a new account to access the social media platform.

Lindell set up a new account Sunday on Twitter under @MikeJLindell. The account was quickly suspended.

Twitter said Monday that Lindell's new account was permanently suspended for violating its rules on ban evasion.

Lindell rose to become a national political figure during the Donald Trump presidency. Following Trump's defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Lindell was one of Trump's most outspoken allies who claimed that the election was stolen.

In February, Dominion Voting Systems sued Lindell for defamation over his election fraud claims, seeking over $1.3 billion in damages.

Lindell's original Twitter account was permanently banned in January 2021 after he continued to perpetuate the baseless claim that Trump won the 2020 election. At the time Twitter said that it decided to ban Lindell due to "repeated violations" of its civic integrity policy.

Trump has also had his account permanently suspended by Twitter. The former president posted on Truth Social, his own platform, on Thursday. He had not made any appearance on the platform, save for one quick post before the platform was opened to the public in late February. He has said that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musk's agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion.

While it remains to be seen if Musk will reinstate accounts that are banned on Twitter, the Tesla CEO calls himself a free speech absolutist who believes in allowing any content that doesn't run afoul of the law.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)