Twitter suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for spreading COVID-19 misinformation
Twitter suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — again — on Monday night, after she shared information about COVID-19 that violated the company's misinformation policy.
In a series of tweets posted on Sunday and Monday, Greene shared "misleading" information about coronavirus and vaccines, Twitter said. Greene claimed COVID-19 is not dangerous for people who are not obese or over the age of 65, and saying vaccines should not be required. The Georgia Republican, who has previously compared mask mandates to the Holocaust, was locked out of her account for 12 hours.
Her account is accessible in "read-only" mode, a Twitter spokesperson told CBS News on Monday night. If she continues to spread COVID-19 misinformation, the far-right congresswoman could be kicked off the social media platform permanently.
Additionally, several of Greene's tweets now come with a linked warning message that reads, "This tweet is misleading. Learn why health officials recommend a vaccine for more people."
Per Twitter's COVID-19 misleading information policy, the company will take action on "false or misleading information about the prevalence of the virus, or risk of infection or death."
Earlier this year, Greene was banned from Twitter for spreading election fraud conspiracy theories surrounding the Georgia Senate elections.
In response to the most recent ban, Greene said during a Facebook Live on Monday night that "freedom of speech is under attack in America like never before," adding that Republicans are "experiencing being canceled every single day."
In the past week, President Biden has pushed social media companies to take greater responsibility in combatting vaccine misinformation, as the Delta variant spreads rapidly across the U.S. On Friday, he said platforms like Facebook are "killing people" by allowing such misinformation to rapidly spread, saying that "the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated."
He later clarified those comments this week, softening his response.
"Facebook isn't killing people. These 12 people are out there giving misinformation," Mr. Biden said, apparently referring to a report that concluded 12 individuals are behind the majority of all COVID-19 misinformation. "Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It's killing people. It's bad information. My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally that somehow I'm saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation. The outrageous misinformation about the vaccine. That's what I meant."