OF THE
TIMES
Twitter has suspended Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for 12 hours after the vocally pro-Trump lawmaker sparred with a Georgia elections official, alleging fraud was to blame for the GOP losing the runoffs.
In a statement to CNN on Sunday, Twitter confirmed that it had locked the outspoken lawmaker out of her personal account for 12 hours, citing "multiple violations" of its "civic integrity policy."
Greene apparently fell victim to the recently updated Twitter policy, which envisions a system of strikes for pushing "unverified information about election rigging."
In a string of messages on Sunday, Greene squared off with fellow Republican and Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling, after he pinned the blame for defeat on Greene, former Georgia Republican representative Doug Collins, as well as President Donald Trump.
Sterling argued that the rhetoric on election fraud coming from the trio discouraged party supporters from showing up at the polls, and ultimately "cost the GOP two Senate seats and control of the Senate," while "giving Biden and [the] Dems a free hand."
Greene fired back, claiming that the initial Georgia special election on November 3 "was stolen" with the help of Dominion voting tech, and that election officials "ignored" reports of voting irregularities.
Responding to her suspension, Greene said that she had been "silenced" by Big Tech for challenging the mainstream narrative.
"If a conservative dares to utter a political opinion that is deemed unapproved by the internet police they are now subject to the false accusations of 'inciting violence' simply for having an conservative view," she said, calling on Congress to "act swiftly to protect free speech in America."
Twitter has ramped up its crackdown on accounts voicing allegations of election fraud after President-elect Joe Biden's victory was certified by Congress on January 6, in a session disrupted by a crowd of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, alleging the election was "stolen" from the Republican incumbent.
Twitter has introduced a five-tier system of strikes to punish repeated violators. An 12-hour account lock - the measure the platform enforced in Green's case - is reserved for those who have already received two or three strikes. In the case of four strikes, the account is suspended for seven days, and if a user invokes wrath of Twitter censors for a fifth time - then they face a "permaban."
The power (of censorship) itself is illegitimate. (Snip.) It is as noxious, or more noxious, when exerted in accordance with public opinion, than when in or opposition to it. If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind . (Snip.)R.C.
But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it . If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
J.S. Mill, On Liberty, (1859!) Free at [Link]
But it's sad they don't realize that same feeling will be experienced by the group who comes for them.
Doesn't really matter which way the wind blows... push-back from "the other side" or the never-ending purge of "the least woke." (There's ALWAYS a "least woke." Ask the Jacobins.)