Newt Gingrich says he’s back on Twitter after being locked out for Biden immigration slam
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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich announced that he is back on Twitter after being locked out for a week following a disputed tweet regarding the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Gingrich defended his tweet and announced that he had been reinstated in an op-ed that ran in the Washington Times Wednesday. He noted that both Texas Republicans and Democrats have been critical of the administration’s refusal to track where undocumented migrants are being released on the southern border as the coronavirus persists.
TWITTER SILENT AS LOUIS FARRAKHAN'S MISLEADING COVID-19 VACCINE CLAIMS GO UNCHECKED
In a tweet that was later deleted, Gingrich wrote, "If there is a COVID surge in Texas, the fault will not be Governor [Greg] Abbott’s common sense reforms."
"The greatest threat of a COVID surge comes from Biden’s untested illegal immigrants pouring across the border. We have no way of knowing how many of them are bringing COVID with them," he added.
Twitter froze the former speakers account, citing violations to their policies and saying, "You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease."
In an open letter to the social media conglomerate, Gingrich argues that his tweet did not violate their policies, and instead drew attention to a topic of immigration and health concerns.
Fox News could not immediately reach Twitter for a response to the letter, in which Gingrich asked the platform how they justify censoring discussions regarding a threat to public health amid a pandemic.
"This entire experience has made it even more clear to me that Twitter is only interested in censoring conservatives," Gingrich said in his op-ed.
He pointed to tweets by the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, who falsely claimed last week that the coronavirus vaccine is deadly, but was not immediately flagged by Twitter for violating their policy on misleading coronavirus information.
The tweet appears to have since been taken down.
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"Twitter and all the major social media platforms have become important places for Americans to communicate. They are currently protected by law as public forums. For public forums to serve the public good, they must be open and unbiased," Gingrich said.
Adding, "I hope Twitter will stop its aggressive and biased censorship, and return to the spirit and ideals of free speech which allowed it to prosper in the first place."
