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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suspended from Twitter 'in error' for 12 hours as Democrats move to expel her from Congress

Mar 20, 2021, 01:21 IST
Business Insider
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Jan. 13, 2021.Susan Walsh/AP Photo
  • Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been suspended from Twitter for 12 hours.
  • Friday's move comes as over 70 House Democrats try to expel Greene from Congress.
  • Twitter said the account was suspended "in error."
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Twitter suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal account for 12 hours, her office said in a statement on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Republican lawmaker told Insider that the social media platform provided "no explanation" for the lock, which kicked in at 1 a.m. ET.

The temporary ban comes as a slew of House Democrats attempt to expel Greene from Congress on Friday. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California, has been co-sponsored by 72 Democrats, including high-profile lawmakers Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

"In the dark of night, Twitter chose to silence a sitting member of Congress facing an unprecedented political attack by House Democrats," Greene's office said in its statement to Insider. "This move eliminated any possibility for Congresswoman Greene to defend her reputation, her seat, and most importantly the votes of 230,000 Georgians in the 14th District on the Twitter platform."

Gomez cited Greene's history of incendiary and racist comments as well as her past endorsement of conspiracy theories and political violence as reasons to boot her out of the legislative body. The House had previously rebuked the firebrand congresswoman in February for her controversial statements by stripping her from her assigned committees.

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A super-majority - two-thirds of all Congress members - is required to expel a lawmaker from the House, making the move highly unlikely, as only 11 Republicans previously voted in support of removing Greene from her committees.

On Friday, Greene's office accused Twitter of "assisting Democrats in their attempt to overturn the 2020 election of Congresswoman Greene and silence not only her voice, but the voice of the Georgians who sent her to Congress."

Twitter similarly suspended Greene's account for 12 hours in January based on "multiple violations" of its civic integrity policy.

A Twitter spokesperson said in a statement to Insider that Friday's suspension of Greene's account was "in error."

"We use a combination of technology and human review to enforce the Twitter Rules across the service," the statement read. "In this case, our automated systems took enforcement action on the account referenced in error. This action has been reversed, and access to the account has been reinstated."

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After she regained access to her account, Greene tweeted at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for further clarity on the accidental suspension.

"I was just told @Twitter suspended me for 12 hrs in 'error,' on the same day Dems introduced a resolution to expel me from Congress," Greene wrote. "What a coincidence? Twitter's little error wasn't resolved until after 12 hrs. @jack which employee made the 'error?' Reply to my email, Jack."

Before the lock, Greene sent out several tweets blasting Democrats for their resolution against her.

This report has been updated with a statement from Twitter and Greene's comments on Twitter.

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