Twitter temporarily blocks U.S. Republican Greene for COVID-19 posts

[July 20, 2021]  (Reuters) -Twitter Inc on Monday said it temporarily suspended Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's account for tweets which violated the social media's misinformation policy on COVID-19.

Greene posted that the coronavirus is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65, and that organizations should not force "non-FDA" approved vaccines or masks. These tweets have been labeled as "misleading" by the platform.

The United States is using vaccines made by Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson under Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization. None of these vaccines are fully approved but numerous studies have proven their efficacy.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called on the social media companies to take action on vaccine misinformation.

"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 in an emailed statement.

Greene's account will remain locked for 12 hours, according to Twitter.

In a video statement on Facebook Live, Greene acknowledged that she had been temporarily suspended from the platform and blamed the Biden administration for trying to control free speech.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) holds a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol following a private visit to the Holocaust Museum, to express contrition for previous remarks about Jewish people, in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

"Remember, last week when our press secretary said the White House is working to stop the spread of (misinformation) because they want to be careful and they want to be in control of the information that is shared about COVID-19 and vaccines, isn’t that concerning?" Greene said.

The Republican representative has come under fire before for remarks on the pandemic. In June she apologized after comparing COVID-19 mask requirements and vaccinations to the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.

In January, Twitter locked Greene's account after she sparred with a state election official over voter fraud allegations.

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar, Maria Ponnezhath and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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