A conservative beauty influencer was suspended from Twitter for copyright infringement on a video from 2016.
Beauty guru Amanda Ensing, who made headlines in early February after Sephora “canceled” her for holding conservative values, was suspended from Twitter on Monday. Ensing told The Daily Wire that a follower on another social media platform messaged her asking her why she was suspended from Twitter.
“I had no idea that I had gotten suspended but I checked my inbox and saw an email from Twitter saying due to ‘multiple copyright infringement notifications,’” Ensing said.
According to the social media company, Ensing violated Twitter’s copyright policies in videos, though it offered no remedy or way for her to reactivate her account.
“Your account has been suspended as the result of multiple copyright infringement notifications,” the email reads. “We cannot offer you advice on whether certain content is authorized for your use or not, nor can we advise on whether to request a retraction or submit a counter-notification … You should consult with your own legal counsel if you have questions about these processes … It is your responsibility to know Twitter’s policies.”
The tweet that Twitter linked to was a makeup tutorial posted on July 2, 2016. Ensing claims she has no recollection of what song she used but said it was most likely an “upbeat vlog type of song without lyrics” or a mainstream pop song.
Ensing told The Daily Wire that the copyright infringement email was odd to her because she claims to have deleted tweets that were more than a year old just a few months ago. “They suspended me for something that doesn’t exist,” Ensing claims.
The day before her Twitter suspension, Ensing tweeted a meme of Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that said “Miss Me Yet?” when he was on stage. She also tweeted a link to watch Trump live at CPAC.
“Seems to me, [people] didn’t like my political views so [they] dug up a video from 2016 that Twitter even says, ‘we cannot offer you advice on,’” Ensing said. “Meanwhile, they leave violence, child pornography, and dictators tweeting about genocide but my makeup video was against their guidelines?”
Ensing gained political prominence after aligning herself with Donald Trump following the 2020 election. She had amassed a YouTube following of more than 1.4 million subscribers over her nine-year career as a beauty vlogger.
In a video entitled, “What’s Next for America,” Ensing opened up about her conservative views and welcomed her followers “to the side of social media where you won’t be judged for thinking for yourself.” She used other social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to promote conservative values.
On February 1, the French beauty giant Sephora canceled a coveted deal with Ensing. Sephora claimed that she was not aligned with the company’s “values of inclusivity.” Instead of backing down, Ensing doubled down on her political values and started her own makeup line, and debuted a merchandise line called “Make Makeup Great Again.”