The Twitter account of Jim Hoft, the founder and editor of far-right news site the Gateway Pundit, has been permanently suspended from the platform, a company spokesperson says.
In a statement emailed to Global News, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed Hoft’s account has been suspended permanently for “repeated violations” of the platform’s civic integrity policy.
According to the policy, users “may not use Twitter’s services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes.”
“This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process,” the website reads.
The Gateway Pundit website has repeatedly perpetuated unproven theories suggesting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
Election officials across the country, and the U.S. government, have confirmed there was no indication of widespread voter fraud, and say no irregularities occurred.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office on Jan. 20.
In a post on the Gateway Pundit website Saturday evening, Hoft commented on Twitter’s decision saying it was made after his company released a video of alleged voter fraud at the TCF Center in Detroit, Mich., and had claimed it had “more videos” to be released in “coming days.”
In the post, Hoft continued to suggest “tens of thousands” of votes during the 2020 U.S. presidential election were delivered to the TCF Center after the deadline to return absentee ballots had passed.
However, ABC affiliate WXYZ Detroit has fact-checked the footage and said the boxes that the Gateway Pundit claims are ballots seen in the video are actually camera equipment owned by their newsroom.
In an email to Global News, Hoft said he was notified by his writers Saturday afternoon that the account had been suspended.
“I did not see a specific reason for the permanent suspension from Twitter,” he wrote.
Hoft claimed the account was “targeted and shadowbanned” by Twitter “for years.”
The news of Hoft’s suspension comes just under a month after Twitter announced it had moved to permanently suspend the account of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
His account was suspended after thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, sending hundreds of lawmakers, their staff and members of the media fleeing.
Five people, including one Capitol police officer, died as a result of the riot.
In a post on its website, Twitter cited “risk of further incitement of violence” as the reason for Trump’s permanent suspension.
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