(CN) — Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday doubled down on misleading information about the Covid-19 vaccine that she first shared on Twitter before the company suspended her account for a week.
Twitter suspended Greene's account after she posted a tweet on Monday night that violated the company’s Covid-19 misleading information policy, the company confirmed Tuesday.
In the tweet, the Republican representing northwest Georgia said the Food and Drug Administration “should not approve the covid vaccines,” adding that the vaccines are “failing” and do not reduce the spread of the virus and “neither do masks.”
The tweet has been locked, meaning it can’t be replied to, shared or liked, and it has been labeled as misleading.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the coronavirus vaccines “are effective at protecting you from getting sick” and that “millions of people in the United States have received Covid-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.”
Additionally, a year-long analysis by Duke University of 100 North Carolina schools — which included more than 864,500 students and 160,500 staff — operating in-person found that wearing masks is an effective strategy to prevent in-school transmission of the virus.
Greene’s latest tweet comes less than a month after the platform suspended her account for 12 hours following another misleading claim about the virus.
In that case, Greene claimed the virus “is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65,” the Associated Press reported. People under 65 account for nearly 250,000 of the U.S. deaths involving Covid-19, according to the CDC.
The tweet appears to have since been deleted.
Under Twitter’s Covid-19 misleading information policy, the company began using a “strike system” in March for users who make misleading claims about the virus.
The company did not return a request to confirm how many strikes Greene has accrued, but according to the policy, a seven-day suspension comes only after four strikes.
A fifth strike results in a permanent suspension.
In a lengthy statement to Courthouse News, Greene doubled down on her claims made in her tweet, called for Dr. Anthony Fauci’s firing and dubbed the virus a “Communist Chinese bioweapon.”
Greene also added other misleading claims about coronavirus vaccines, including that 7,000 deaths have been reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
But the CDC states that while the system has received 6,490 reports of death (0.0019%) among people who received a Covid-19 vaccine, the FDA requires health care providers to report any death after Covid-19 vaccination, even if it’s unclear whether the vaccine was the cause.
“To be clear, I’m not opposed to vaccines, people should be free to choose,” the congresswoman said in her statement. “However, in my opinion, the FDA should not approve these vaccines until more research is done.”
“But if I dare says [sic] the truth, Twitter suspends me because the truth is so offensive to the fragile hypocrites all over Twitter!” she added. “Twitter won’t allow any real discussion of the truth from an elected Congresswoman because Twitter only cares about the Democrat Communist agenda for America. It's a good thing my voters couldn't care less about Twitter.”
Follow Rosana Hughes on Twitter
Follow @@HughesRosana
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
-
TikTok creators sue feds to block potential ban May 14, 2024