Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist running for Congress, pressed Thursday for Twitter and Facebook to lift bans imposed on individuals such as herself amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms. Loomer, who is running as a Republican to unseat Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida Democrat, released through her congressional campaign a recent letter addressed to the incumbent.
“Individuals who are banned or temporarily suspended on Twitter or Facebook are quite literally cut off from real-time crisis information that is being disseminated by local, state and federal authorities in order to save the lives of Americans,” Ms. Loomer wrote the lawmaker.
“As you are a member of Congress, I ask that you demand from Facebook and Twitter that they reverse the bans and suspensions of all Americans until this national threat passes,” Ms. Loomer added.
Ms. Loomer, 26, has proudly billed herself as the “most banned woman in the world” due to being barred from several of the most popular social networks and other online platforms: She was kicked off of Uber and Lyft in 2017 after complaining that she was unable to find a “non-Muslim” driver on either ride-share service; Twitter followed suit in 2018 after finding her repeatedly in violation of the platform’s policies; and Facebook punted her in May after introducing new rules prohibition individuals and organizations deemed “dangerous.”
In a statement released on her campaign website, Ms. Loomer reiterated her plea for Twitter and Facebook to let banned users back on their platforms amid the coronavirus pandemic and accused their respective chief executive officers of putting lives at risk in the meantime.
“While Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg are obsessed with ‘community standards and conversational health’ as outlined in their ever changing ‘terms of service’, they are isolating and endangering segments of our population from critical and time sensitive information that will literally save lives and prevent the spread of this virus,” Ms. Loomer said.
Twitter, Facebook and Ms. Frankel’s office did not immediately return messages requesting comment.
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