Twitter has suspended the official account of Republican congressman Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) after he misgendered the first openly transgender four-star officer in any of the nation’s eight uniformed services.
“The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man,” Banks said in a tweet.
Twitter suspended Banks’ account because the tweet violated the platform’s ‘hateful conduct policy’ which bans the promotion of “violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
The policy also prohibits “repeated and/or non-consensual slurs, epithets, racist and sexist tropes, or other content that degrades someone,” which “includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”
In a statement on his personal account on Saturday Banks vowed never to back down.
“Twitter has suspended my official account for posting a statement of FACT. I won’t back down. I’ll be posting on my personal account for the time being. Please Retweet this message and follow me,” he said, adding that “big tech must be held accountable.”
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to The New York Post that Banks’ official account was “temporarily locked” for violating its hateful conduct policy.
