Greene cites her Twitter ban in opposing TikTok bill

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) cited her previous ban on Twitter, the platform now known as X, in opposing legislation that could ban TikTok on Wednesday.

“I rise today as the only member of Congress that has ever been banned by social media,” Greene said on the House floor, as the lower chamber prepared to vote on the bill.

“Twitter banned me — banned my personal account on which I was campaigning for Congress, raising money and using my free speech to inform the voters in my district they can vote for me,” she continued. “This was not by a company owned by China. This was by American-owned Twitter.”

Greene was suspended from the platform then known as Twitter in January 2022 for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policies. Her account was reinstated in November 2022, after Elon Musk purchased the social media company.

“I believe that this bill can cause future problems,” Greene added. “It’s opening Pandora’s box.”

The House ultimately voted 352-65 in favor of the bill, which would require TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest from the video-based social media app or face a ban in the U.S.

Greene, who is a close ally of former President Trump, also went after Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, on Wednesday.

Trump, who once vowed to ban TikTok as president, has recently voiced opposition to the legislation, suggesting it would empower Facebook and Zuckerberg. The former president was banned from Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“The Democrats are claiming that election meddling can happen on social media,” Greene said Wednesday. “Well, we could never forget Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. We can never forget the election meddling that happened there.”

Greene also questioned who would buy TikTok if ByteDance was forced to divest from the popular app.

“That’s the question that we should be asking,” Greene said. “Who is going to buy it? Who will be the next to control the data of over 170 million Americans? Are we going to trust Mark Zuckerberg to control their data? I certainly don’t.”