Twitter on Saturday issued a permanent suspension for the account run by Jim Hoft, founder and editor-in-chief of far-right news website Gateway Pundit, for violations of its “civic integrity policy.”
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the news to The Hill, citing “repeated violations” of its policy that bars users from tweeting messages “for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,” including misinformation regarding the outcome of an election.
The policy includes a series of punishments depending on the frequency of violations, with five or more strikes resulting in a permanent suspension.
Gateway Pundit was among the conservative media outlets that had advanced unsubstantiated claims from former President Trump and his allies of widespread voting irregularities and voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
According to an archived version of Hoft’s account, his most recent tweets came on Jan. 29, when he shared criticisms of coronavirus restrictions and claims that certain ballots cast for President Biden were illegal.
Bloomberg reported Saturday that Hoft was photographed at Trump’s “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, ahead of the violent mob attack at the Capitol, in which several people died amid the chaos.
Last month, CNN reported that Gateway Pundit was among the groups utilizing Christian fundraising website GiveSendGo.com in efforts related to challenge the results of the presidential election.
Hoft’s outlet raised more than $135,000 to investigate alleged voter fraud in Michigan and to “take on the tech giant censorship of conservative voices.”
Saturday’s Twitter suspension comes as one of the latest issued by Twitter in connection with users repeating unsupported claims of a “rigged” election in favor of Biden more than two weeks after he was inaugurated.
Twitter on Tuesday officially suspended the MyPillow company Twitter account after founder Mike Lindell used it to make several posts attacking Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and promoting claims of election fraud. The move came just one week after Lindell’s personal account was suspended.
Lindell among other claims, has stated that problems with Dominion Voting Systems machines led to irregularities in ballots.
Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, over false claims about the company, and also sent a letter to Lindell threatening him with legal action for leading a “misinformation campaign.”