Twitter “temporarily ‘permanently suspended’” Breaking911’s news account for “ban evasion,” according to screenshots tweeted by the news outlet. But Breaking911 said it’s never been banned before.
Breaking911 tweeted that Twitter “temporarily ‘permanently suspended’” its account for “ban evasion,” but noted that “B911 has never been banned from the platform.” Twitter restored Breaking911’s account after the news site appealed the censorship. MRC founder and President Brent Bozell called out the platform’s censorship.
“Twitter must stop the endless censorship @elonmusk,” Bozell posted in a quote-tweet highlighting the censorship.
Twitter told Breaking911 that its account “has been suspended for violating the Twitter Rules, according to purported screenshots of Breaking911’s suspension notice. Specifically, for: Violating our rules against ban evasion.” In another notice shared by Breaking911, the platform further explained that the account “is permanently in read-only mode.”
A Twitter spokesperson described the platform’s ban evasion policy after a similar incident earlier this year. “We prohibit attempts to circumvent prior enforcement action, including through the use of other accounts,” said the spokesperson.
Twitter did not respond to MRC Free Speech America’s request for comment and Breaking911 said that the tech platform didn’t respond to its inquiries either.
However, Senior NBC News Reporter Brandy Zadrozny tweeted that Twitter sent her a statement about the incident. The platform purportedly told her: “The account referenced was temporarily suspended in error by an automated spam filter. This action has been reversed and the account is now fully operational.”
This is not the first time Twitter has mysteriously permanently suspended a user for ban evasion and quietly restored it. MRC CensorTrack logged two similar instances in February:
- Twitter permanently suspended Chalkboard Review for alleged ban evasion. A Twitter spokesperson told MRC Free Speech America that the account was “permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules on ban evasion.” But Tony Kinnett, co-founder and executive director of Chalkboard Review, said the account was “the first and only one [they’ve] ever had.” Twitter reversed its decision less than 10 minutes after the platform responded to MRC’s request for comment.
- The platform permanently suspended Defiant L’s and then quietly reinstated the account. The Defiant L’s Twitter account was known for tweeting images of ridiculous tweets from famous liberals or headlines from liberal outlets that are later contradicted by the same person or outlet. A Twitter spokesperson told MRC Free Speech America that the account was “permanently suspended for violations of our ban evasion policy.” Two hours after Twitter responded to MRC’s request for comment, the platform restored the account.
Neither Twitter nor Breaking911 responded to MRC Free Speech America’s request for comment at the time of publication.
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