Pro-Donald Trump group account’s suspended by Twitter for violating policy

Microblogging site Twitter on Thursday permanently suspended account of conservative activist group notorious for its use of undercover footage and publicity stunts, after it reportedly violated the platform’s policies on sharing private information, reported AFP.

Group founder James O’Keefe said in a tweet that Project Veritas, which is a brash team of right-wing activists that has long been one of former US President Donald Trump‘s most fervent backers, was banned for “repeated violations of the companies anti-doxxing policies.”

The suspension comes a day after the group posted a video in which its journalists confronted Guy Rosen, Facebook’s head of integrity and security, outside his home.

According to Twitter, the group had been “permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter’s private information policy.” The platform, however, did not specify which tweets had broken those rules.

The account had over 700,000 followers on Twitter at the time of its suspension. Although O’Keefe’s account was removed from the platform, it returned after only a few hours.

Project Veritas and O’Keefe had made sting efforts aimed at exposing “corruption” among progressive activists or liberal elected officials due to which they came to prominence.

The group is also responsible for spreading unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the United States, claims repeated by president Trump last year in the wake of his election loss to Joe Biden.

Those claims ultimately led to a riot at the US capitol and Trump’s permanent banning from Twitter, as well as an unprecedented second impeachment of the outgoing head of state.

In the wake of the January 6 unrest, Twitter has stepped up efforts to crack down on misinformation, prompting outrage and accusations of censorship from prominent figures on the American right.