FORT WAYNE, Indiana (AP) – Twitter has suspended the official account of a congressman from Indiana after deleting a post about a transgender official in the Biden administration for violating the company’s social media rules.
The Twitter action on Saturday came after Republican Rep. Jim Banks tweeted last week about Dr Rachel Levine becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in the U.S. uniformed service. Levine is also the country’s assistant health secretary.
Banks had responded to the US Surgeon General congratulating Levine on his promotion to the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, writing: “The title of first female four-star officer is taken by a man.
The post was deleted with a reference to Twitter’s rules that include a ban on “targeted gender errors” of transgender people. Banks’ official Twitter account remained live on Sunday, but it was not allowed to add new posts. His personal account with fewer subscribers remained active.
Banks, whose district covers Fort Wayne and surrounding northeast Indiana, has often drawn attention with right-wing social media comments. He stuck to his message about Levine.
“My tweet was a statement of fact,” Banks said in a statement. “Big Tech doesn’t have to agree with me, but they shouldn’t be able to cancel me. If they shut me up, they’ll shut you up. We cannot allow Big Tech to stop us from telling the truth.
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