Twitter Limits Arizona GOP Chair Days Before Election

PHOENIX — Twitter limited Arizona Republican Party Chair Dr. Kelli Ward’s account after she shared a viral video deemed by the tech company to be spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The move came days before Arizona’s primary election on Aug. 4.

Ward, a physician and former Arizona state senator, retweeted the video July 27 and received account limitations from Twitter. The video, banned by both Twitter and Facebook, featured doctors standing outside the Capitol promoting hydroxychloroquine and zinc as cures for COVID-19. Both treatments have been knocked down multiple times by doctors and researchers who study the coronavirus.

“Truth apparently violates Twitter standards,” Ward tweeted.

A spokesperson for Twitter told Patch that Ward’s post was in violation of their COVID-19 misinformation policy. Ward was not banned, the spokesperson said, but was required to delete the post in question. The functionality of her account was limited for 12 hours.

Zach Henry, a spokesman for Arizona’s Republican Party, told Patch in a statement that Ward believes social media companies should not have the ability to “censor opinions with which they disagree,” calling such decisions “fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic.”

Henry also said Twitter’s decision is particularly detrimental as Arizona heads to the polls on Tuesday.

“Chairwoman Ward’s Twitter account reaches tens of thousands of people every day, many of whom are loyal Republican voters in Arizona,” he said. “Being silenced by Twitter prevents her or, as an extension, the Republican Party of Arizona, from reaching those voters as effectively with only days to go until our primary election.”