Trump-supporting 'My Pillow Guy' suspended from Twitter

CEO of the pillow manufacturer My Pillow Mike Lindell is considering a run for governor of Minnesota. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A high-profile Donald Trump supporter who backed the former president's claims of electoral fraud has been permanently suspended from Twitter, the social media giant said Monday night (Jan 25), the latest in a series of bans of prominent right-wingers and conspiracy theorists.

Photographs this month of Mike Lindell, CEO of the pillow manufacturer My Pillow, appeared to show the 59-year-old businessman carrying documents into the White House suggesting Trump could declare martial law after what he claimed was widespread vote rigging.

Lindell, known as the "My Pillow Guy," also has political ambitions of his own and is considering a run for governor of Minnesota, Politico reported.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed Lindell's suspension, and said action was taken after "repeated violations of our Civic Integrity Policy."

It was unclear what tweets had led to the ban. The Civic Integrity Policy attempts to moderate misinformation and disinformation on the platform, specifically around elections. Lindell's suspension is the latest in a series of high-profile social media bans and lockouts in the wake of a January 6 riot at the US Capitol, in which armed right-wing protesters sought to overturn November's vote.

It follows Trump's own ban on January 8, along with tens of thousands of followers of a conspiracy theory known as QAnon, which claims, without credible evidence, that the former president is engaged in a battle against a global cult of Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

Newly elected Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was also hit with a 12-hour suspension last week. Greene - a Trump supporter who has also promoted QAnon - had tweeted claims of alleged election fraud in her home state Georgia, leading to her most recent suspension.

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