Diamond and Silk’s Twitter account locked for breaking coronavirus misinformation rules
Twitter briefly locked the account of online personalities and prominent Trump allies Diamond and Silk over a tweet that violated the company’s rules against coronavirus misinformation, a spokesperson for the social media firm told POLITICO on Wednesday.
It’s the latest instance of Twitter taking enforcement action against a notable surrogate of President Donald Trump for ruling afoul of its recently enacted rules against medical hoaxes and misleading information during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The duo, whose legal names are Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, claimed in a tweet Wednesday afternoon that individuals will get sicker if they stay inside amid the pandemic, a statement directly at odds with the advice of public health experts who have called for millions of Americans to self-isolate.
“The only way we can become immune to the environment; we must be out in the environment. Quarantining people inside of their houses for extended periods will make people sick!” the pair tweeted from their official account, which boasts 1.4 million followers.
The account later appeared to be unlocked, indicating the violating tweet had been deleted. A public message appended over their post reads, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules."
Twitter recently expanded its rules against medical misinformation to include posts that contradict guidance from authoritative health agencies. The social media company in recent weeks has separately found that posts by Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani broke its rules against Covid-19 misinformation.
Diamond and Silk have repeatedly accused Twitter and other social media platforms of suppressing their content online. The pair attended a White House reception in honors of black history month, where they praised Trump for helping to make them famous and urged participants to vote Republican.
"Mr. President, there are those that write history. There’s those that read history. And I want you to know that you are making history," said Hardaway, who uses the pseudonym Diamond.
A request for comment through their professional website was not immediately returned.
