Twitter Suspends Republican Lawmaker For ‘Misleading’ Information About The Coronavirus
Michael Cantrell
|
Social media giant Twitter suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from the state of Georgia, for a total of 12 hours over what they claimed was “misleading” information about the coronavirus.
“We took enforcement action on the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for violations of the Twitter Rules, specifically the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” Twitter went on to say in an statement emailed to Axios.
So what did Greene post that ruffled feathers this time? She tweeted a post concerning the U.S. military and vaccines.
“The controversial #COVID19 vaccines should not be forced on our military for a virus that is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65,” she proclaimed. “With 6,000 vax-related deaths and many concerning side effects reported, the vax should be a choice not a mandate for everyone.”
Greene’s claim appears based on the number of deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, which collects data on potential adverse reactions to vaccines. As such, the deaths submitted to VAERS are merely people who died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, not people whose deaths have been linked to a vaccine. According to the CDC, the system “generally cannot assess if vaccine caused an adverse event.”
https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1417096540074565636
Twitter attached a tag to Greene’s post that said: “This Tweet is misleading. Learn why health officials recommend a vaccine for most people.”
Twitter then put the same image with the same tag on another tweet by the congresswoman, in which she stated: “This is why no entity should force NON-FDA approved vaccines or masks. Instead help people protect their health by defeating obesity, which will protect them from covid [sic] complications & death, and many other health problems. We should invest in health, not human experimentation.”
Greene has been an outspoken critic of vaccines, at one point comparing them to Nazi Germany. In May, she tweeted an article about a Tennessee grocery store that had added a “vaccination logo” to employee name badges.
“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s [sic] forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” said Greene, making a reference to the yellow stars that were wornby Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe decades ago. “Vaccine passports & mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable.”
“Pretty soon it will be. ‘We only hire vaccinated people, show your vax papers.’ ‘We only admit vaccinated students, show your vax papers.’ ‘These bathrooms are only for vaccinated people, show your vax papers.’ Then.. …scan your bar code or swipe your chip on your arm,” Greene warned in another post on Twitter.
Greene went on to apologize for the tweets after she paid a visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
“There is no comparison to the Holocaust and there are words that I have said, remarks that I’ve made that I know are offensive and I want to apologize,” she said to the press.
Just last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealed that the current administration is contacting social media giant Facebook and then informing what posts they deem to be “problematic” based on what the Biden administration claims to be “misinformation.”
“This is a big issue of misinformation, specifically on the pandemic. In terms of actions … that we have taken or we’re working to take I should say from the federal government, we’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General’s office,” Psaki went on to say.
“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We’re working with doctors and medical professionals to connect to connected medical experts … who are popular with their audiences with accurate information and boost trusted content. So we’re helping get trusted content out there,” she then stated.
Share: