Marjorie Taylor Greene suspended from Twitter for posting ‘misleading’ coronavirus vaccine information

Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been suspended from Twitter for 12 hours for violating rules on spreading vaccine misinformation.

Greene, who has been vocally opposed to vaccines, mask mandates and other public health measures intended to quell the coronavirus pandemic, crossed a line when she tweeted false information over the weekend, causing them to be labeled “misleading,” CNET reported Monday.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. speaks outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center after touring the facility Wednesday July 14, 2021, in San Diego.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. speaks outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center after touring the facility Wednesday July 14, 2021, in San Diego. (Denis Poroy/AP)

In her tweets, she stated that the virus is only dangerous to obese people, or those over age 65. She also alluded to false claims of health problems causes by the vaccine, including high death rates.

“We took enforcement action on the account …(@mtgreenee) for violations of the Twitter rules, specifically the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” a Twitter spokesperson said Monday.

Continuing to share misinformation about COVID-19 via Twitter could get her permanently banned, CNN reported.

The ban came after the White House pushed back against social media platforms that are enabling such misinformation to spread.

“I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy wrote in an advisory last week, according to CNN. “Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort.”

Greene has repeatedly refused to scale down her rhetoric, and in her most recent tweet she falsely claimed there had been “6,000 vax related deaths and many concerning side effects reported,” and that as a result “the vax should be a choice not a mandate for everyone.”

She also came out against masks, though she apologized last month after comparing mask mandates in the House of Representatives to the Holocaust.

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