Media

James O’Keefe And Project Veritas Suspended From Twitter, Forced To Delete Tweets

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Michael Ginsberg Congressional Correspondent
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Conservative journalist James O’Keefe and his publication, Project Veritas, had their Twitter accounts briefly suspended on Feb. 11 following allegations of posting private information.

O’Keefe and Project Veritas “violated [Twitter] rules against posting private information,” according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller. Their accounts were restored after they deleted the tweets.

The offending tweets both link to a 53 second YouTube video titled “Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen Refuses To Comment When Confronted By Veritas Senior Journalist.” In the video, Project Veritas reporter Christian Hartsock attempts to interview Rosen near his home, although Rosen declines to comment. (RELATED: Project Veritas: CNN Manager Says, ‘We’re Totally Left-Leaning… We Don’t Wanna Admit It)

In the video, Rosen’s home address number is briefly visible. Project Veritas does not share Rosen’s street name, city, state, or zip code.

Project Veritas Media Relations Manager Mario Balaban told the Daily Caller that neither Facebook nor Instagram, who Rosen works for and are the subjects of the video, have flagged the video or suspended the accounts of O’Keefe or Project Veritas. “It’s pretty outrageous that Twitter has done this for a harmless video. It shows that Twitter and Facebook are teaming up to censor content that Americans deserve to see,” Balaban said.

This is not the first time Twitter has suspended Project Veritas for violating a rule prohibiting sharing “other people’s private information.” Project Veritas was suspended in 2019 for publishing documents showing that the social media site Pinterest placed pro-life group Live Action on a pornography block list. At the time, Pinterest argued that Live Action published anti-vaxxer content that violated misinformation rules.

Twitter’s rule against publishing personal information has faced scrutiny amid accusations that it is enforced unevenly. New York Times Magazine writer and 1619 Project editor Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted the phone number of Washington Free Beacon reporter Aaron Sibarium after Sibarium emailed her a request for comment, the Free Beacon reported. Jones left the phone number up for two days, only deleting the tweet after Sibarium published an article mentioning it, according to Free Beacon editors.

Twitter did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.