Indiana congressman regains control of Twitter account but stands by post that misgendered official

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) regained control of his official Twitter account on Friday after losing access over a post that misgendered a transgender health official, but says he still stands by his original post. 

“Hey everybody, it’s been two weeks since Twitter censored me, but I’ve got my Twitter account back,” Banks said in a video posted to his @RepJimBanks account. “I’m not the first, I won’t be the last conservative that big tech tries to silence.

The Indiana Republican said that if Republicans regain control of the House in 2022, he would “lead the charge to hold big tech accountable for their censorship of conservative voices.”

I’m back. pic.twitter.com/xk9GhQpQaR

— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) November 5, 2021

Banks’s account was suspended late last month over a post he made about Rachel Levine, who is the assistant secretary for health in the department of Health and Human Services.

Earlier in October, Levine became the first openly transgender person to serve as a four-star officer after she was sworn in as an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

In a now-deleted tweet in response to the swearing in, Banks said “the title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man.

A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill at the time that the tweet violated the hateful content policy, which can include “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”

In a statement to The Hill, Banks said that even though he deleted the tweet, he stands by what he said. 

“Twitter demanded I delete the tweet if I wanted to participate in a momentous political debate which is my job, so I did, but I stand by every word in my factual statement,” Banks said. 

“Twitter provides a crucial platform for elected officials to communicate with voters, which is part of what makes Twitter’s biased and arbitrary censorship so dangerous,” he continued. “Fighting the left’s censorship will remain a priority of mine for as long as I’m in Congress.” 

Updated at 10:14 p.m.