Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and online activist, claims she was suspended from Twitter following a tweet criticizing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) stay-at-home order and encouraging the state’s citizens to violate the directive.
Twitter flagged Owens’s tweet for violating the site’s policies, according to the news source Mediaite. Owens alerted several conservative colleagues of her suspended account following her critique of Whitmer.
A spokeswoman for Twitter confirmed to The Hill that Owens’s tweet violated the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, “specifically around heightened-risk health claims.”
The tweet, which has been removed, said, “Apparently @GovWhitmer believes she is a duly elected dictator of a socialist country. The people of Michigan need to stand up to her. Open your businesses. Go to work. The police think she’s crazy too. They are not going to arrest 10,000,000 people for going to work.”
Owens shared a screenshot of her removed post with the Gateway Pundit, a conservative website, with a comment that stated, “Twitter has locked me out of my account but has decided to omit which of their policies I have violated,” adding that “I stand by my statement about Governor Whitmer acting as a dictator.”
Other conservative accounts chimed in, expressing their support for Owens, including political activist Chuck Woolery and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
Mediaite reported that Owens appealed Twitter’s actions.
Updated 4:40 p.m.