Trump campaign spokesman J. Hogan Gidley accused Twitter of censorship Thursday after running afoul of its rules for posting on the platform about receiving a mail-in ballot meant for someone else.
Mr. Gidley, a national press secretary for President Trump’s reelection campaign, said he was temporarily suspended from Twitter after his post was found in violation of the platform’s rules.
The post, which has since vanished from Twitter, included an image showing voting material Mr. Gidley said he received in the mail addressed to somebody who previously lived at his current address.
“But yeah, sure…the mainstream media is correct…unsolicited vote-by-mail is ’totally safe’,” Mr. Gidley sarcastically commented Tuesday in his tweet containing the image of the material.
Mr. Gidley, a former deputy press secretary for the Trump administration, said Thursday evening on Twitter that he was briefly prohibited from posting on the social media service over that tweet.
“I, like many other Americans, received a ballot in the mail that was not meant for me. Twitter suspended my account for simply posting about it,” Mr. Gidley tweeted Thursday night.
“This censorship is insanity. We must continue to expose and fight Big Tech’s clear bias against conservatives who speak the truth,” he added.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment. Fox News reported that Mr. Gidley was suspended for violating its “rules against posting misleading information about voting.”
Millions of Americans have already voted early in next month’s presidential election as a consequence of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.
The image Mr. Gidley shared on Twitter showed materials sent by the Board of Elections in Washington, D.C., which is mailing ballots to each qualified registered voter on file in the District. In the photo, Mr. Gidley covered up the name and address of the intended recipient.
“Mail-in ballots are safe, secure and simple,” D.C. Board of Elections spokesperson LaDawne White said when the District’s new voting measures were announced March.
Federal election officials agree mail-in voting is safe and secure. Mr. Trump and other Republicans have asserted so-called “unsolicited” ballots sent out in places like D.C. will be abused, however.
Mr. Gidley, 44, announced on Twitter that he was briefly suspended around an hour before the second and final televised debate took place between Mr. Trump and Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden.
The brief suspension was over by the time the debate began, and Mr. Gidley tweeted several times throughout the event.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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