Twitter has temporarily suspended the account of the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who has gained a large following on social media, in part by posting incendiary videos and comments.
Greene, a Republican businesswoman, is the first candidate who expressed support for the baseless, far-right QAnon conspiracy theory to win a US House seat. Greene in November won the race for Georgia’s 14th congressional district after her Democratic opponent had dropped out.
On Sunday, she posted a clip from an interview with a local news outlet in which she condemned Georgia election officials and expressed support for debunked theories claiming that voting machines, absentee ballots and other issues led to widespread fraud in the state during the presidential election.
Twitter responded to the tweet, and others, with a message that called the election fraud claim “disputed”, and saying it posed “a risk of violence”.
A statement from Greene’s team on Sunday included screenshots from Twitter that appeared to show the company informing the congresswoman she had violated its rules and would be prohibited from interacting with content on the site for 12 hours.
Greene said in a statement her account had been suspended “without explanation”.
Greene has faced national scrutiny for racist and bigoted statements and posts supporting QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory rooted in antisemitic tropes whose followers believe Donald Trump is secretly fighting against a cabal of Democrats, billionaires and celebrities engaged in child trafficking.
The FBI has identified the movement as a potential domestic terrorism threat, and it has repeatedly inspired vigilante violence.
Last week, Greene wore a face mask that said “censored” on it during her remarks on on Trump’s second impeachment. Greene was speaking on the House floor, during a session broadcast on national television.
Twitter last week banned Trump from its platform, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.
As of 12 January, the company had also suspended more than 70,000 accounts associated with QAnon as it attempted to rein in harmful activity ahead of the presidential inauguration.
Twitter has said it is taking action against online behaviour “that has the potential to lead to offline harm” after the mob of Trump supporters tried to violently storm the Capitol building.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Greene’s suspension.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
