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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appears to be one strike away from being banned from Twitter.
The Georgia Republican, known for espousing conspiracy theories and a vocal skeptic of COVID-19 vaccines, has been suspended from tweeting for one week for a repeat violation of the company’s misinformation policy, Twitter Inc.
TWTR,
said Tuesday.
On Monday night, Greene tweeted that the Food and Drug Administration should not give full approval for coronavirus vaccines, claiming they were “failing” and were ineffective at stopping the spread of COVID-19. The tweet was later taken down from the site.
In an emailed statement, a Twitter spokesperson said Greene’s post “was labeled in line with our COVID-19 misleading information policy. The account will be in read-only mode for a week due to repeated violations of the Twitter Rules.“
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the COVID-19 vaccine is effective and “a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control,”
though a small number of breakthrough infections will occur.
New coronavirus cases have been spiking nationwide as the more contagious delta variant spreads. COVID-19 infections are up 171% over the past two weeks in Greene’s home state of Georgia, according to a New York Times tracker, with a 142% increase in hospitalizations there. Only 39% of eligible Georgians are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
Twitter instituted a “strike” system earlier this year, with progressing levels of responses, in an attempt to crack down on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.
This was apparently the fourth strike against Greene; the previous two instances resulted in 12-hour Twitter bans. According to Twitter’s policy, a fifth strike will result in a permanent suspension.
Pfizer’s
PFE,
vaccine, which received emergency-use authorization last year, could get full FDA approval by Labor Day, according to a report last week.
