Pro-Trump pundit permanently suspended from Twitter

Conservative pundit Bill Mitchell has been permanently suspended from Twitter, the social media platform confirmed to The Hill on Saturday.

“[Mitchell] has been permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules by using one account to evade the suspension of another account,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an email.

Mitchell confirmed the suspension in a post on the social media app Parler, though he asserted he was booted from Twitter over his stance on wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Twitter just suspended me for opposing masks. Who knows if I’ll ever be back,” Mitchell said. “I’m sure their decision wasn’t political at all.”

Mitchell, the host of the YouTube program “YourVoice America,” is a vocal supporter of President Trump and has repeatedly garnered attention for pushing far-right QAnon conspiracy theories.

Several of Trump’s closest advisers had followed Mitchell on Twitter, including White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and the president’s two adult sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Wait. What happened? pic.twitter.com/5GKMKjbIC4

— Sam Stein (@samstein) August 14, 2020

Twitter has cracked down on misinformation and hate speech in recent months, booting a number of figures from the platform while also flagging several tweets from Trump, drawing ire from the president and Republicans.

In May, Trump signed an executive order that targets the protections given to social media platforms through Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

Under Section 230, internet companies such as Twitter have immunity from lawsuits relating to content posted on their sites by third parties, and it gives them the oversight to make “good faith” efforts to moderate content.