Twitter permanently suspends Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe

Twitter on Thursday suspended Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe’s account for violations of “manipulation and spam,” according to the social media platform.

“The account you referenced (@JamesOKeefeIII) was permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules on platform manipulation and spam,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a email to The Hill. 

“As outlined in our policy on platform manipulation and spam, ‘You can’t mislead others on Twitter by operating fake accounts,’ and ‘you can’t artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts,’” the spokesperson said.

Twitter confirmed to The Hill that O’Keefe’s suspension is permanent. 

Project Veritas, a right wing group known for publishing undercover sting videos, filed a defamation suit against The New York Times in April regarding the newspaper’s coverage of a Veritas video. O’Keefe this week on Fox News also threatened a defamation suit against CNN.

O’Keefe told The Hill in a statement he plans to sue Twitter over the accusation.

“I am suing Twitter for defamation because they said I, James O’Keefe, ‘operated fake accounts,'” O’Keefe said in a statement provided by Project Veritas. “This is false, this is defamatory, and they will pay. Section 230 may have protected them before, but it will not protect them from me. The complaint will be filed Monday.”

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides a liability shield for tech companies such as Twitter over content posted on their platforms. 

Twitter permanently suspended the Project Veritas account in February, citing repeat violations of the site’s policies against publishing private information.

-Updated 4:40 p.m.