Mark Slapinski
Conservative commentator Melissa Tate claims she was permanently suspended from Twitter for violating the platform’s policy on “harmful information.” Tate claims she was banned for sharing a viral clip of Joe Rogan interviewing Dr. McCullough. Despite the fact the platform forbids “misleading information” on COVID-19, Twitter critics have labelled the move as “censorship.”
Melissa Tate is the latest high-profile account to be suspended from Twitter. Recently an account that was providing updates on the Ghislaine Maxwell trial was suspended for “platform manipulation.” Tate claims she was unfairly centered out, and that Twitter has been trying to “silence” her for over 5 years. Tate wrote to her followers on Instagram:
“This [Joe Rogan clip] is a video that was trending on Twitter so I’m not the only one who shared it. This was selective enforcement and targeting by Twitter because they have been trying to silence me for over 5 years now, having locked down and deleted a previous account I had before this one.
As an immigrant who came from Marxism to America for freedom, I never thought I would see America fall to totalitarianism.”
In response to the news of @TheRightMelissa being permanently banned from Twitter, many took to the platform to decry her suspension as an act of “censorship.”
Twitter’s policies forbid spreading inaccurate information on COVID-19. According to Twitter’s help center: “[Users] may not use Twitter’s services to share false or misleading information about COVID-19 which may lead to harm.” However, Twitter has been accused of selectively applying its rules, and has failed to remove all misinformation from its website. While Melissa Tate’s account was suspended due to alleged violations of Twitter’s policies, Joe Rogan’s account is still active, as is that of Dr. McCullough.
Conservatives often accuse social media sites of censoring their voices. These claims have been disputed on multiple occasions by independent sources. Many conservatives view the new Twitter CEO Agrawala as the bearer of even more censorship on the platform. This claim has also been disputed.
A report by New York University found that big tech companies, like Twitter, are not biased against conservatives. According to the report, “the censorship claim is false.”
