Elon Musk's Twitter Restores Marjorie Taylor Greene's Personal Account
The personal Twitter account of extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was reinstated on Monday, nearly a year after it was “permanently suspended” for violating the social media platform’s policies on COVID-19 misinformation.
The far-right lawmaker’s account was reactivated days after the new owner and CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, restored the accounts of other controversial figures including former President Donald Trump.
Greene was booted from the website in early January after her fifth suspension, which triggered her permanent removal in line with Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy at the time.
She did not immediately tweet from her reinstated profile on Monday, but acknowledged the decision on her congressional Twitter account, attacking “unelected big tech oligarchs” for her removal.
“On January 2, 2022, they violated my freedom of speech and ability to campaign & fundraise crying ‘covid misinformation.’ My account is back,” she tweeted, directing users to follow her personal account for “MTG unfiltered.”
The post that triggered Greene’s removal from Twitter in January included falsehoods that wearing masks makes children sick, that COVID-19 vaccines do not work, that the immunizations were killing people and that the government was downplaying the figures.
Following Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter in October, the billionaire initially claimed he would not reinstate suspended users until the company had established procedures on how to do so, including a “content moderation council.”
It’s not clear if any such process took place; Trump’s account was reactivated after Musk posted a “yes” or “no” poll, and a large swath of Twitter’s staff, including many of those tasked with content moderation, was laid off after Musk’s acquisition of the company. Many more employees quit after Musk demanded that remaining staff pledge to be “extremely hardcore” and work long hours.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the process behind Greene’s reinstatement. The company reportedly no longer has a communications department.
