Jayapal says Greene’s Twitter suspension ‘important’ but ‘a little too little and a little too late’

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on Sunday that Twitter’s decision to suspend Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) personal account over COVID-19 misinformation was “important” but “a little too little and a little too late.”

“It’s no secret that our social media companies have been part of their algorithms promoting disinformation, and I think that these steps are important but, frankly, a little too little and a little too late,” the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.”

Jayapal said that much more needs to be done to tackle misinformation, including false claims about the 2020 presidential election results. She also said that social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook are using algorithms that are not meant to highlight the truth.

.@RepJayapal on Rep. Taylor Greene’s Twitter suspension: “It’s no secret that our social media companies have been… promoting disinformation, and I think that these steps are important but frankly a little too little and a little too late.” #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/FO9W5VGsLF

— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) January 2, 2022

Twitter confirmed on Sunday that Greene’s personal account had been suspended permanently for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy, though her congressional account was still up as of early Sunday afternoon. 

“We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

Greene published a statement through Telegram, pushing back at Twitter and saying the company “can’t handle the truth.”

“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies,” she wrote.