On January 27th, 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican Representative from Georgia, posted a tweet to her congressional Twitter account that alluded to violence against her Democratic colleagues. Universal was the shock and outrage expressed by many on social media as well as from around the political spectrum, even within her own party. As a result, Twitter outlined the violation of its policy and, in an unprecedented and rare move, suspended her congressional Twitter account.
Greene’s tweet read, “To Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats wanting to take me out, you just unleashed a volcano of pissed off Americans and patriots who will never back down and they will always stand strong for America, Freedom, and the Republic we live in. #mtgsquad” It alluded to Pelosi who, earlier in the day, asked her Republican colleagues to distance themselves from Greene’s dangerous rhetoric.
Greene was subsequently stripped of her House committee assignments over her past endorsed conspiracy theories and expressed homophobic, anti-Muslim sentiments. On the same day she posted the tweet, Greene launched a personal Twitter account to keep the fiery combative rhetoric alive.
Greene rejected her suspension and told reporters that the suspension was a “political hit job”. Still, many are content with the suspension of Greene’s primary Twitter account, believing it might temper the divisive rhetoric or at least push it away from the mainstream spotlight.
Twitter’s move to suspend Greene was both bold and swift, setting a precedent in how social media giant would respond in the future to members of Congress using its platform to voice inflammatory views. With his move, Twitter has also opened itself up to increased criticism and scrutiny, raising questions on how the platform ought to handle delicate cases concerning prominent figures in the political arena.
In light of the incident, social media experts have emphasised the importance of setting digital boundaries, especially those concerning public figures. They urge public figures to abide by the rules imposed by social media websites, and to remain aware of the consequences of their posts in order to avoid such incidents in the future. By being mindful of these digital boundaries, such disputable episodes can hopefully be avoided.
Hey Subscribe to our newsletter for more articles like this directly to your email.