Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON — Twitter has permanently suspended Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Twitter account @mtgreenee, the company confirmed to CNN Sunday morning.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company "permanently suspended" the account "for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy."
Greene, a right-wing Republican, most frequently tweeted from the handle @mtgreenee, which had more than 465,000 followers. She still has access to and can tweet from her official congressional account @RepMTG, which has more than 386,000 followers.
The Georgia lawmaker has a long history of embracing baseless conspiracy theories, and she has been a serial tweeter of false claims — about the election, the Capitol insurrection and other subjects — since she won her seat in November 2020.
Twitter had previously temporarily restricted Greene's account for sharing misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19.
Greene's ban comes almost a year after the platform banned former President Donald Trump in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection.
The tweet that prompted the permanent ban included a misleading graph purporting to show deaths related to COVID-19 vaccines, which Greene claimed have been ignored, according to a person familiar with Twitter's decision.
Americans are encouraged to submit details on adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination to the US Department of Health and Human Services' Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. While many adverse events — including deaths — have been reported, very few have been causally linked to the vaccines. All COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States have been scientifically proven to be extremely safe and highly effective.
The tweet was sent at 1:46 p.m. EDT on New Year's Day, according to a screenshot obtained by CNN.
According to Twitter's COVID-19 misinformation policy, users can receive a one-week suspension if they violate that policy four times. Violating the COVID-19 policy five or more times can result in a permanent ban.
Greene released a statement after the ban, part of which 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. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!"
