Twitter bans Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene over Covid posts

The move is the latest strike against the firebrand whose embrace of conspiracy theories has been called “a cancer” for the Republican Party and led the House to boot her from committees.

The Georgia Republican’s account was permanently suspended under the “strike” system Twitter launched in March, which uses artificial intelligence to identify posts about the coronavirus that are misleading enough to cause harm to people.

Two or three strikes earn a 12-hour account lock. Four strikes prompt a week-long suspension. Five or more strikes can get someone permanently removed from Twitter.

Twitter is an enemy to America and can't handle the truth

Marjorie Taylor Greene

In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Ms Greene criticised Twitter’s move as un-American.

She wrote that her account was suspended after tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a government database that includes unverified raw data.

“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Ms Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

Twitter had previously suspended her personal account for periods ranging from 12 hours to a full week.

The ban applies to Ms Greene’s personal account, @mtgreenee but does not affect her official Twitter account, @RepMTG.

The first-term congresswoman has repeatedly stirred controversy over inflammatory commentary.

On social media, she has voiced support for racist views, unfounded QAnon pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories such as the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and calls for violence against Democratic politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Last February, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called her embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party."

The Democratic-led House that same month removed her from her two committee assignments, the House Education and Labour Committee as well as the House Budget Committee.

In July, Twitter suspended Ms Greene for a week after President Joe Biden urged tech companies to take stronger action against bogus vaccine claims that are “killing people”.

Twitter has defended its efforts to keep dangerous misinformation about Covid-19 off its site, saying it has removed thousands of tweets and challenged millions of accounts worldwide.