Marjorie Taylor Greene — the most prominent of the group of young House Republicans who have prioritized a constant stream of controversy over any actual legislation — has been suspended from Twitter after posting vaccine misinformation.
On Monday night, the platform announced it would block her account for 12 hours for violating the company’s “COVID-19 misleading information policy” by claiming that the coronavirus was not dangerous for Americans who are under 65 and are not obese:
Since she was elected in November, Greene’s criticism of masks, vaccines, and vaccination policy has been as frequent as it is misinformed. In this particular instance, the coronavirus is a direct threat to many people without the preconditions she mentioned: Over 100,000 Americans under the age of 65 have been killed by COVID since the pandemic began. And as the Delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the nation, it is largely doing so in the young and the unvaccinated. Hospitalizations are rising among those between the ages of 20 to 40, and in June, 99 percent of coronavirus deaths were of people who did not receive the vaccine. Nor is the vaccine “forced on our military.” While Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has reportedly considered making vaccines mandatory for enlisted members once the FDA approves the candidates on a nonemergency basis, the shots remain voluntary. The Georgia representative’s tweet is still up, but Twitter added a label at the bottom warning users that her message is “misleading” and to “learn why health officials recommend a vaccine for most people.”
Greene, who was accidentally suspended by Twitter twice this year, said in a statement on Monday that “these Big Tech companies are doing the bidding of the Biden regime to restrict our voices and prevent the spread of any message that isn’t state-approved.” The action came hours after President Biden walked back a claim from last week that Facebook was “killing people” via coronavirus misinformation. He also clarified his aggressive statement, adding that platforms need to do more to combat “outrageous misinformation” on the sites.
Twitter’s coronavirus misinformation policy outlines a series of escalating consequences; a 12-hour ban is the result of a user’s second or third violation. After four violations, users are banned for a week. After five, they face a permanent suspension.
