Twitter permanently bans Marjorie Taylor Greene account for COVID misinformation – CNET [CNET]

Twitter has permanently suspended the personal account of Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after repeated violations of its policies prohibiting dissemination of COVID-19 misinformation, the company said Sunday.

The fifth strike Greene received Sunday means the account won’t be reinstated, according to Twitter’s rules. The account was previously suspended in July for incorrectly stating that the virus doesn’t pose a threat to the health of people who aren’t obese or those under 65 years of age.

“We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy,” Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough said in a statement.

Greene’s official congressional account, @RepMTG, doesn’t appear to be violating Twitter’s rules and remains active.

Twitter’s rules have long banned misinformation about the coronavirus, especially tweets containing false information that could lead people to do harm to themselves. In March, the company announced it would begin labeling any tweets that may contain misleading information about the COVID-19 vaccines.

Twitter began using the “strike” system July, saying that two or three strikes earn users a 12-hour account lock, four strikes gets a week-long account lock and five or more results in a permanent suspension from the social media site. Having a tweet deleted for being misleading will earn users two strikes; being labeled counts as one strike.

Greene’s suspension comes as daily coronavirus cases in the US hit a record high last week, with a seven-day moving average from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing more than 316,000 infections. The previous peak came nearly a year ago, in January. 

To date, there have been 289 million infections globally, resulting in 5.4 million deaths.

Greene couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.