Twitter lifts ban on Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene's personal Twitter account was restored Monday after being banned for almost two years.

Taylor-Greene's personal account was banned on Jan. 2, 2021, due to sharing misinformation about COVID-19, violating Twitter policy. On Monday, she urged the followers of her Congressional account, which was not banned, to follow her personal account.

"I'm the only Member of Congress the unelected big tech oligarchs permanently banned," she tweeted. "On January 2, 2022, they violated my freedom of speech and ability to campaign & fundraise crying "covid misinformation." My account is back. Go follow @mtgreenee for MTG unfiltered."

The reinstatement of the controversial Georgia senator's account comes days after former President Donald Trump's account was restored. Twitter CEO Elon Musk took a poll to decide whether Trump's account should be reinstated and voters were narrowly in favor. Trump indicated he would not be in a rush to rejoin the platform, citing "a lot of problems" with it.

Trump Media and Technology Group launched its own social media site, Truth Social, in February.

Advertisers and human rights leaders are closely monitoring Twitter under Musk's ownership with concerns about his plans to reinstate accounts like Trump's and Taylor-Green's. The site's policy is to ban users for threats of violence, terrorism, abuse, harassment and hateful conduct against others based on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk published an open letter to Musk earlier this month, urging for human rights to be a central consideration as Musk creates his vision for the platform moving forward.

"Twitter is part of a global revolution that has transformed how we communicate. But I write with concern and apprehension about our digital public square and Twitter's role in it," Türk wrote. "Like all companies, Twitter needs to understand the harms associated with its platform and take steps to address them. Respect for our shared human rights should set the guardrails for the platform's use and evolution."

Jonathan Greenblat, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, also voiced concern over how Musk has operated in the recent weeks since taking over Twitter, particularly for welcoming Trump back to the site.

"For @elonmusk to allow Donald Trump back on Twitter, ostensibly after a brief poll, shows he is not remotely serious about safeguarding the platform from hate, harassment and misinformation," Greenblat said.

Greenblat said Trump used Twitter to "foment intolerance, issue threats and incite a violent attack against the U.S. Government."

Musk said banned accounts would remain banned until a policy is in place to do so. No such policy has been unveiled.