Twitter permanently banned the founder and editor-in-chief of the Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, on Saturday for violating the platform’s “civic integrity policy.” The move came shortly after the site temporarily suspended Gateway Pundit reporter Cassandra Fairbanks.
A Twitter spokesperson claimed that Hoft was banned for “repeated violations” of a policy that prohibits users from tweeting messages “for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,” including misinformation regarding the outcome of an election, according to a report by The Hill.
Twitter had also suspended The Gateway Pundit journalist Cassandra Fairbanks for twelve hours for violating its “civic integrity policy.”
“Twitter has suspended @CassandraRules for no listed reason,” tweeted journalist Tim Pool. “It likely has to do with her releasing video of ‘Vote Mobile’ vans pulling up at 4am to the TCF center in Detroit.”
“We have determined that you have violated the Twitter Rules, so we’ve temporarily limited some of your account features,” reads a purported message from Twitter to Fairbanks.
“While in this state, you can still browse Twitter, but you’re limited to only sending Direct Messages to your followers — no Tweets, Retweets, or likes,” the message added.
A Twitter spokesperson told Breitbart News that Fairbank’s account “has been temporarily locked out for repeated violations of our civic integrity policy.”
The “civic integrity policy” states that Twitter users cannot use their account “for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,” according to the platform’s website.
“This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process,” the policy adds. “In addition, we may label and reduce the visibility of Tweets containing false or misleading information about civic processes in order to provide additional context.”
Twitter’s actions against Hoft and Fairbanks comes in the wake of prominent conservative figures being locked out — or outright banned— from the social media platform, including former President Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from the platform last month.
One of Twitter’s more recent suspensions includes MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — a staunch supporter of President Trump in the business world — who was also banned from the platform for violating its “civic integrity policy.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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