Twitter bans account of Marjorie Taylor Greene for Covid-19 misinformation

Twitter Inc. on Sunday said it permanently banned the personal account of Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for repeated violations of the platform’s prohibition against spreading misinformation about Covid-19. 

The Georgia lawmaker was previously suspended for tweeting false claims about the Covid vaccine and health risks during the global pandemic. A Twitter spokesman said the company has “been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”

Greene’s fifth and final strike was a Saturday tweet misrepresenting data on the death rate from the vaccine, the spokesman said.

Greene can appeal the permanent ban, according to Twitter’s policy on medical misinformation. She still has access to her official account, @RepMTG, where her last tweet was a Christmas Eve message for her congressional district. 

The Republican lawmaker on Sunday took to messaging service Telegram to call Twitter an “enemy to America” and to criticize Democrats, CNN and an Iranian account for their past tweets. 

“That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies,” Greene said on Telegram. 

Twitter isn’t the only place where Greene has been censured for controversial statements. The Democratic-led House last February voted to strip her of her two committee assignments for past statements suggesting support for conspiracy theories and violence against Democrats. 

The San Francisco-based social network has faced criticism from right-wing users that it censors conservative voices, especially after it permanently banned former President Donald Trump in January last year following his supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Spurning Covid-19 Masks Is Costing Two U.S. Lawmakers a Small Fortune

(Bloomberg) -- Defying the U.S. House of Representatives mask mandate is costing two Republican lawmakers a pretty penny.

This year, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene alone has accrued at least $48,000 in fines for refusing to cover her nose and mouth at work, according to documents posted to the House Ethics Committee website. That’s more than a fourth of her $174,000-a-year salary.

Greene’s office says the true figure is even higher, about $78,000, as notices come out on a delay to give lawmakers a chance to appeal. In all, she’s been fined around 32 times, according to figures shared by her spokesperson.

All the lawmakers cited for mask violations in ethics committee documents are Republicans. Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde trails only Greene in penalties, racking up at least $30,500. Eight other members have been fined around $500 each, records show.

House members who defy the mandate incur $500 for the first offense and $2,500 for subsequent violations. If lawmakers don’t appeal or their request is rejected, the penalty is deducted from their $174,000-a-year-salaries. Dollars from the fines go to the Department of the Treasury.

Greene appealed her first fine, according to ethics committee records, but hasn’t filed any challenges since. The Georgia Republican, alongside Representatives Thomas Massie and Ralph Norman, sued Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the mandate in July, arguing that it’s unconstitutional.