Elected officials suspended or banned from social media platforms
Federal: President • Vice President • Cabinet officials • U.S. senators • U.S. representatives • Supreme Court justices • Other federal judges |
State: Governors • Lieutenant governors • Secretaries of state • Attornies general • Other state executive officials • State senators • State representatives • Judges by state |
Local: Mayors • City council members • Judges by county |
Analysis: Elected officials seeking other offices • Incumbent win rates • Misconduct by officeholders • Social media suspensions |
This page provides an overview of elected officials who were temporarily suspended or banned from the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube during their tenure in office. This page does not include suspensions or bans for non-elected government officials, campaign staff members, or political consultants. It also does not include suspensions made in error.
If you are aware of a suspension or ban that should be included, please email us.
As of March 20, 2023, Ballotpedia had tracked eight elected officials who were suspended and/or banned from Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube while in office.
Overview
The following table provides an overview of elected officials suspended or banned from social media platforms. The reasons for suspensions and bans provided in the table are those provided by the relevant social media platform.
Overview of elected officials suspended or banned from social media platforms | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Position | Platform | Date | Suspension length | Current status | Reason | |
Jim Banks (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | October 23, 2021 | Suspended for 14 days | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's policy prohibiting "targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals" | ||
Briscoe Cain (R) | Texas House of Representatives | September 13, 2019 | Suspended for 141 days | Suspension ended | For tweeting an alleged threat against Beto O'Rourke (D) | ||
Steve Daines (R) | U.S. Senate | February 7, 2023 | Suspended for less that a day | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's Sensitive Media Policy | ||
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | August 10, 2021 | Suspended for 7 days | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy | ||
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | July 19, 2021 | Suspended for 12 hours | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy | ||
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | January 17, 2021 | Suspended for 12 hours | Suspension ended | For tweeting about alleged 2020 election fraud in violation of Twitter's civic integrity policy | ||
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | January 2, 2022 | Permanent suspension | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 medical misinformation policy | ||
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | January 3, 2022 | Suspended for 24 hours | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 medical misinformation policy | ||
Ron Johnson (R) | U.S. Senate | YouTube | June 11, 2021 | Suspended for 7 days | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 medical misinformation policy | |
Barry Moore (R) | U.S. House of Representatives | January 9, 2021 | Temporarily suspended | Suspension ended | For tweeting about alleged 2020 election fraud and the attack on the U.S. Capitol | ||
Rand Paul (R) | U.S. Senate | YouTube | August 10, 2021 | Suspended for 7 days | Suspension ended | For violating the platform's COVID-19 medical misinformation policy | |
Donald Trump (R) | President of the United States | January 6, 2021 | Suspended for 24 hours | Suspension ended | For posting about alleged 2020 election fraud and attack on U.S. Capitol | ||
Donald Trump (R) | President of the United States | January 7, 2021 | Suspended through January 2023 | Suspension ended | For potentially inciting violence | ||
Donald Trump (R) | President of the United States | January 6, 2021 | Suspended for 12 hours | Suspension ended | For tweeting about alleged 2020 election fraud and attack on U.S. Capitol | ||
Donald Trump (R) | President of the United States | January 8, 2021 | Permanent suspension | Suspension ended | For potentially inciting violence | ||
Donald Trump (R) | President of the United States | YouTube | January 12, 2021 | Suspended indefinitely | Suspension ended | For violating policies against incitement of violence |
Federal officials
President Donald Trump (R)
Initial suspensions
President Donald Trump (R) was suspended from Twitter for 12 hours on January 6, 2021, after tweeting about alleged 2020 election fraud and posting a video in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.[1] Trump was also suspended from Facebook for 24 hours for two policy violations. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence."
Twitter lifted its permanent suspension of Trump on November 19, 2022. Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter on October 27, tweeted out a poll on November 18 asking whether to reinstate Trump.[2] The poll showed 51.8% voting yes and 48.2% voting no. Musk tweeted the following day, saying, "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."[3]
Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the platform on January 8, 2021. The company said in a statement, "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."[4]
The company said it evaluated two tweets Trump made on January 8, 2021, against its glorification of violence policy.
- "The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
- "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Twitter said Trump's decision to not attend Joe Biden's (D) inauguration was being interpreted by supporters as delegitimizing the 2020 election results and could be interpreted as providing a target for violence. Twitter also said that the tweets were interpreted by some as supportive of those involved in the January 6 attack or future armed protests.[4]
Trump said, in tweets from the official presidential Twitter account, "As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me.” Twitter temporarily limited the use of this account to prevent the evasion of Trump's initial suspension.[5]
On January 7, 2021, Facebook extended the suspension to an indefinite period of time longer than two weeks. "We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Facebook officials said in a statement.[6] On January 21, 2021, Facebook referred the decision to uphold or overturn the suspension to an independent body with binding decision-making rights called the Oversight Board.[7]
On May 5, 2021, the Facebook Oversight Board upheld the suspension of Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts. It also called the indefinite suspension an "indeterminate and standardless penalty" and requested that Facebook review this policy. Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications at Facebook, said, "We will now consider the board’s decision and determine an action that is clear and proportionate. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s accounts remain suspended."[8]
Trump responded to the decision in a statement on the same day:
“ | What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country. Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before. The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.[9] | ” |
—President Donald Trump (R)[10] |
Facebook announced on June 4, 2021, that Trump would remain suspended until at least January 2023. Facebook said it would then review if there was continued serious risk to public safety, which could trigger an extension of the suspension.[11]
Clegg said, "In establishing the two year sanction for severe violations, we considered the need for it to be long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement, to be significant enough to be a deterrent to Mr. Trump and others from committing such severe violations in future, and to be proportionate to the gravity of the violation itself."[11]
On January 25, 2023, Facebook announced it would lift Trump's suspension. Facebook's President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg wrote, "Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out. As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses."[12]
YouTube
YouTube lifted its suspension of Trump's channel on March 17, 2023. In a statement, the company said, "Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content. We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election. This channel will continue to be subject to our policies, just like any other channel on YouTube."[13]
YouTube suspended Trump's YouTube channel following comments he made during a news conference on January 12, 2021. A YouTube spokesperson said, "After careful review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to the Donald J. Trump channel and issued a strike for violating our policies for inciting violence. ... We are also indefinitely disabling comments under videos on the channel, we've taken similar actions in the past for other cases involving safety concerns."[14]
In March 2021, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki discussed the indefinite suspension: "The channel remains suspended due to the risk of incitement to violence. ... We will turn the account back on. But it will be when we see the reduced law enforcement in capitals in the U.S, if we don’t see different warnings coming out of government agencies, those would all be signals to us that it would be safe to turn the channel back on.”[15]
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was suspended from YouTube for seven days on June 11, 2021, for promoting hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 during a virtual event hosted by the Milwaukee Press Club.
A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement, "We removed the video in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies, which don’t allow content that encourages people to use Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus."[16]
Johnson responded in a statement: “Big Tech and mainstream media believe they are smarter than medical doctors who have devoted their lives to science and use their skills to save lives. They have decided there is only one medical viewpoint allowed and it is the viewpoint dictated by government agencies. How many lives will be lost as a result? How many lives could have been saved with a free exchange of medical ideas? Government-sanctioned censorship of ideas and speech should concern us all.”[16]
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)
Twitter lifted its permanent suspension of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) personal account on November 21, 2022. The company did not issue a statement on the decision.[17]
Greene was permanently suspended from Twitter on January 2, 2022, for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy. She tweeted that vaccines were dangerous and should not be mandated. Twitter said they permanently suspended her account due to repeated violations of its policy.[18] Greene was the first sitting member of Congress to have her Twitter account suspended.
Greene was also suspended from Twitter for a week on August 10, 2021, for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy. She tweeted that vaccines were failing and did not reduce the spread of the virus.[19] She had previously been suspended for 12 hours on July 19, 2021, for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy. She had called COVID-19 vaccines controversial and said that COVID-19 was not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65. A Twitter official said her account had received multiple strikes.[20][21] Greene said in a statement, "These Big Tech companies are doing the bidding of the Biden regime to restrict our voices and prevent the spread of any message that isn’t state-approved."[22]
Greene was first suspended from Twitter for 12 hours on January 17, 2021, for tweets about alleged 2020 election fraud that Twitter said violated the platform's civic integrity policy.[23] Greene said in a statement, "Conservative Americans shouldn't be afraid to speak their mind. They shouldn't have to fear being cancelled by American corporations where they work, do business, and use services."[24]
Facebook suspended Greene's account for 24 hours on January 3, 2022, for violating its COVID-19 medical misinformation policy. The platform released a statement, saying: "A post violated our policies and we have removed it; but removing her account for this violation is beyond the scope of our policies."[25] Greene said: "Facebook has joined Twitter in censoring me. This is beyond censorship of speech."[26]
Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.)
Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) was temporarily suspended from Twitter on January 9, 2021, after he made two posts related to alleged election fraud and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol:[27]
- "Wow we have more arrests for stealing a podium on January 6th than we do for stealing an election on November 3rd! Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit, would be places I recommend you start; there is video evidence of these crimes as well! #ElectionIntegrityMatters"
- "I Understand it was a black police officer that shot the white female veteran. You know that doesn't fit the narrative."
After the suspension, Moore deactivated his personal Twitter account. Moore's chief of staff said he deleted the account "because of the censorship of conservative voices he saw happening.”[27]
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
On August 10, 2021, YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for seven days after he posted a video where he said cloth masks were not effective at preventing coronavirus infection. A spokesperson for the platform said, "We removed content from Senator Paul’s channel for including claims that masks are ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19, in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies. This resulted in a first strike on the channel, which means it can’t upload content for a week, per our longstanding three strikes policy."[28]
Paul tweeted in response, "A badge of honor...leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work."[29]
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.)
On October 23, 2021, Twitter suspended Rep. Jim Banks' (R-Ind.) official account for fourteen days after he made two posts referring to Admiral Rachel Levine, a transgender woman and the United States' first openly transgender four-star officer, as a man. A Twitter spokesman said one of the tweets violated the company's hateful conduct policy, which prohibits "targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals."[30] After Banks deleted the tweet, Twitter restored his account on Nov. 5.[31]
Banks tweeted in response from his personal account, saying: "Twitter has suspended my official account for posting a statement of FACT. I won’t back down. I’ll be posting on my personal account for the time being … Big Tech must be held accountable!"[32]
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
On February 7, 2023, Twitter suspended Sen. Steve Daines' (R-Mont.) personal account for violating the platform's Sensitive Media Policy. According to the senator's press office, Twitter told Daines that the specific violation was a profile picture that showed Daines and his wife hunting. Daines spokesperson Rachel Dumke said, "We've reached out to Twitter to get this resolved because the senator believes it is preposterous that a picture of him and his wife hunting—an activity that is engrained in the Montana way of life—would be against Twitter rules."[33]
The suspension was first reported the morning of February 7. By 12:14 p.m. EST that day, the account appeared to be reinstated with the profile picture in question.[34] At the time, Twitter had not released a public statement on the matter.
State officials
Texas State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R)
Texas State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) was suspended from Twitter for 141 days on September 13, 2019, after retweeting 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's (D) proposal for mandatory buybacks of certain weapons and writing, "My AR is ready for you Robert Francis." O'Rourke called the tweet a death threat. Cain returned to Twitter on January 31, 2020, and tweeted a screenshot of the tweet that led to his suspension. He wrote, "But seriously @twitter, y’all banned me for this." Both tweets were no longer available on the platform.[35]
See also
- Breach of U.S. Capitol during electoral vote count (January 6, 2021)
- Misconduct in American politics (2021-2022)
Footnotes
- ↑ NBC News, "Facebook and Twitter lock Trump's accounts after posting video praising rioters," January 6, 2021
- ↑ The New York Times, "Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Deal to Own Twitter," October 27, 2022
- ↑ Twitter, "Elon Musk on November 19, 2022," accessed November 21, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Twitter, "Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump," January 8, 2021
- ↑ TechCrunch, "President Trump responds to Twitter account ban in tweet storm from @POTUS account," January 8, 2021
- ↑ Facebook, "Our Response to the Violence in Washington," January 7, 2021
- ↑ Facebook, "Referring Former President Trump’s Suspension From Facebook to the Oversight Board," January 21, 2021
- ↑ Facebook, "Oversight Board Upholds Facebook’s Decision to Suspend Donald Trump’s Accounts," May 5, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ ABC News, "Trump responds after Facebook ban extended pending additional review," May 5, 2021
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Facebook Newsroom, "In Response to Oversight Board, Trump Suspended for Two Years; Will Only Be Reinstated if Conditions Permit," June 4, 2021
- ↑ Facebook, "Ending Suspension of Trump’s Accounts With New Guardrails to Deter Repeat Offenses," January 25, 2023
- ↑ YouTube on March 17, 2023," accessed March 20, 2023
- ↑ NPR, "YouTube Joins Twitter, Facebook In Taking Down Trump's Account After Capitol Siege," January 13, 2021
- ↑ Reuters, "YouTube will lift ban on Trump channel when risk of violence decreases: CEO," March 4, 2021
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Washington Post, "YouTube suspends Ron Johnson for a week after GOP senator touts questionable drugs to fight covid-19," June 11, 2021
- ↑ Associated Press, "Elon Musk’s Twitter reinstates Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene," November 21, 2022
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Twitter Permanently Suspends One of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Accounts," January 2, 2022
- ↑ CNN, "Twitter suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene's account for one week," August 10, 2021
- ↑ Newsweek, "Twitter Suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene After She Said COVID Not Dangerous for People Under 65," July 19, 2021
- ↑ NBC News, "Twitter suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, again, for Covid-19 tweets," July 20, 2021
- ↑ The New York Times, "Twitter Suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene for Posting Coronavirus Misinformation," July 19, 2021
- ↑ NPR, "Twitter Suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Account," January 17, 2021
- ↑ CNN, "Twitter temporarily suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for election misinformation," January 17, 2021
- ↑ NPR, "Facebook suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene's account over COVID misinformation," January 3, 2022
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Facebook Removes Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Post a Day After Her Twitter Suspension," January 3, 2022
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 AL.com, "Rep. Barry Moore deletes Twitter account after suspension, controversial Capitol riot tweets," January 11, 2021
- ↑ NBC News, "YouTube suspends Sen. Rand Paul over a video falsely claiming masks are ineffective," August 11, 2021
- ↑ Twitter, "Senator Rand Paul," August 10, 2021
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Rep. Jim Banks intentionally misgendered a high-ranking trans official. Twitter locked his account.," October 25, 2021
- ↑ ABC 7 Chicago, "Jim Banks, Indiana rep., deletes Twitter post 'misgendering' Dr. Rachel Levine, regains access," November 6, 2021
- ↑ New York Post, "Twitter suspends Rep. Banks’ account for misgendering trans health official," October 25, 2021
- ↑ Newsweek, "Steve Daines' Twitter Suspension Over Hunting Photo Enrages Republicans," February 7, 2023
- ↑ Twitter, "CongressChanges on February 7, 2023," accessed Ferbuary 7, 2023
- ↑ Austin American-Statesman, "After Twitter suspension, Briscoe Cain shares offending post again," January 31, 2020