Northwest Georgia's new congresswoman-elect has found herself front and center in the political battle involving Big Tech, as Twitter began repeatedly labeling her posts on the social media site as potentially misleading.
The posts of Marjorie Taylor Greene generally echoed sentiments of President Donald Trump, who has been accusing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden of "stealing the election." Twitter has applied similar labels to the president's posts, amid allegations from conservatives that social media companies favor the left.
Mail-in ballots and absentee ballots in Georgia and other battleground states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona take longer to count than in-person votes.
Election officials in those states and others knew this would happen and have been preaching patience when it comes to election results. Still, as Trump's lead slipped after performing better with Election Day and early in-person votes, some alleged the late tallying allowed for voter fraud.
(READ MORE: Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene riding political fringe to Congress)
Greene was elected Tuesday with no opposition after Democratic rival Kevin Van Ausdal dropped out of the race. On Wednesday and Thursday, she tweeted a stream of tweets about the legitimacy of the election, such as:
- "Every Republican must FIGHT BACK to STOP THE STEAL. Democrat-ran counties across the country are 'finding' new ballots."
- "The Silicon Valley Cartel is in on the STEAL! Censoring our President while DEMOCRATS work overtime to STEAL THIS ELECTION!"
- "The Fake News Media wants you to believe that Joe Biden (who didn't campaign AT ALL) isn't involved in VOTER FRAUD. He literally said he built the 'BIGGEST' voter fraud organization in American history. We aren't going to let Democrats STEAL this election."
Twitter hid the tweets behind a warning, allowing users to see them only after reading the message that the claims were in dispute and may be misleading about the electoral process. From 9 a.m. Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, Twitter hid at least 15 of Greene's tweets.
Greene started a petition called "Stop the Steal" on her website, although the petition effort displayed no information about how many people had signed it.
"Democrats, Big Tech, and the Fake News Media are trying to STEAL this election and remove President Trump," the petition reads. "You and I cannot let that happen!"
People who sign the petition are asked to provide their email address, and the site then directs them to a donation page for Greene's campaign and a chance to win a gun.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Facebook removed a group on its platform called "Stop the Steal" that was organizing protests of vote counts around the country and had grown to 361,000 members within 24 hours.
In a statement to the Times Free Press, Greene said the election is being decided by Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey.
"Twitter has already decided the outcome of this election. Jack and his minions are silencing conservatives who are sounding the alarm on potential voter fraud in Democrat-run counties in critical states," Greene said. "I ran for Congress to be President Trump's strongest ally. That's why I'm leading the Stop The Steal movement to prevent Joe Biden's theft of the Presidency."
(READ MORE: Why Marjorie Taylor Greene's opponent quit the House race)
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.
Protesters gather outside of State Farm Arena during ballot counting on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)