Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Sunday that it was no secret social media platforms had been actively “promoting disinformation,” calling colleague Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) permanent Twitter suspension “frankly a little too little and a little too late.”
Jayapal, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, made an appearance with host Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show” to discuss Greene’s suspension, which had been confirmed just hours earlier.
.@RepJayapal on Rep. Taylor Greene’s Twitter suspension: “It’s no secret that our social media companies have been… promoting disinformation, and I think that these steps are important but frankly a little too little and a little too late.” #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/FO9W5VGsLF
— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) January 2, 2022
“Twitter has suspended Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene perm — permanently. Her personal Twitter account,” Capehart began, reading the statement from Twitter on the subject.
We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.
“And not to, you know, remain silent, Congresswoman Greene put out her own statement,” Capehart continued. “It was a long one, you know, lots of conspiracy theories and craziness, but this is the key line: ‘Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.'”
Capehart then turned to Jayapal for her reaction to Greene’s suspension and her statement.
“Well, Jonathan, it’s no secret that our social media companies have been part of their algorithms promoting disinformation, and I think that these steps are important, but frankly, a little too little and a little too late,” Jayapal said. “The reality is it’s not just Marjorie Taylor Greene. All over Twitter, social media, Facebook, all of these companies — have been using algorithms that are just about clickbait, not about truth.”
“And so if we are going to take on the disinformation that’s out there, the big lie and everything else that goes with it, then yes, this is a part of it but it’s got to be much much more,” Jayapal continued. “That said, I think it’s just as well that we take one voice, you know, that is deliberately spreading disinformation, out of the mix as much as possible.”
Others cheered Greene’s removal from Twitter as well. Ana Navarro, CNN contributor and regular host of ABC’s “The View,” shared an article about Greene’s permanent suspension with the comment, “2022 is showing promise.”
“Star Trek” actor George Takei appeared to agree, adding, “Marjorie Three Names has been suspended from Twitter, and 2022 is already off to a decent start.”
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale noted that despite the suspension of Greene’s personal Twitter account, her official congressional account has not been suspended.
“Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 465K-follower personal Twitter account, the one she used to say lots of false things, has been permanently banned from Twitter. She still has a 386K-follower official account, which she has so far used for comparatively benign purposes,” he said.