Twitter has “permanently suspended” MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell from the social media platform for what it says are “repeated violations” of its civic integrity policy, a spokesperson told The Washington Post in a Tuesday email. It was not immediately clear which tweets prompted the action, but the policy, implemented after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, states:
You may not use Twitter’s services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes. This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process. 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 policy further adds a definition of “civic process” as “events or procedures mandated, organized, and conducted by the governing and/or electoral body of a country, state, region, district, or municipality to address a matter of common concern through public participation,” including elections, censuses and major referenda or ballot initiatives.
The suspension of Lindell’s account occurred the same day Twitter announced the introduction of Birdwatch, a pilot program to combat misleading information using what it calls a “community-driven” approach.
Last week, Lindell, an open Trump supporter who continues to fight for election integrity, announced that major retailers including Wayfair; Bed, Beth & Beyond; Kohl’s and H-E-B have all dropped MyPillow products as part of the backlash to his political stance.
Other conservatives felt free to speak out regarding Lindell’s removal from Twitter. Commentator Tucker Carlson of Fox News interviewed Lindell and posted on Facebook, “When you support freedom of speech, you are no longer allowed to speak. Those are the new rules.”
Another Twitter user suggested a financial show of support for Lindell:
Time to log on to #MyPillow and make a purchase.
Support #MikeLindell @MyPillowUSA— Scott Donaldson (@scottdphotos) January 27, 2021
And still another user pointed to the way Lindell voluntarily used his production lines to make masks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic:
Everyone needs to support Mike Lindell @MyPillowUSA pic.twitter.com/WR38WECuRq
— Missouri Race Fan (TFord) (@MoRaceFan) January 26, 2021
Lindell faces a possible lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems because he has repeated the claims from Trump lawyers about election fraud, according to the Associated Press. Following the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Twitter has banned more than 70,000 accounts, including that of former President Donald J. Trump. {eoa}
