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Far-right activist Laura Loomer was one of the controversial figures thought to be in the running to have their Twitter accounts reinstated after the social media site was bought by Elon Musk.
Ahead of his $44 billion takeover, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO vowed to make Twitter a "digital town square" where free speech is not restricted and later promised that a number of previously banned accounts could return to the platform.
Musk kept his promise by reinstating the largest account to have been permanently suspended from Twitter—that of former President Donald Trump.
But while other banned accounts such as Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal page, which was suspended for repeated violations of COVID-19 misinformation, Loomer still, so far, has not been able to return to Twitter.
Loomer, an anti-Muslim extremist and conspiracy theorist, was banned in November 2018 for breaking Twitter's rules against hateful conduct after sending tweets about Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar's Muslim faith.
One of Loomer's tweets claimed that Omar was "pro FGM [female genital mutilation]," and that she was "anti-Jewish."
Following the ban, Loomer handcuffed herself to the door of Twitter's New York City headquarters. During the protest, Loomer wore a yellow star reminiscent of the Star of David that Jewish people were forced to wear under Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.
In August 2020, Twitter confirmed it would not be reinstating Loomer's Twitter account after she won the Republican primary for Florida's 21st Congressional District.
"The account owner you referenced was permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter Rules, and we do not plan to reverse that enforcement action," Twitter said in a statement at the time.
Loomer went on to lose the 2020 congressional election to Democrat incumbent Lois Frankel.
More recently, Loomer has used the Telegram messaging service to accuse Greene of "secretly undermining" Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
Loomer alleged without evidence that Greene's former intern, ex-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, is still employed by the congresswoman and "openly attacking and sabotaging" Trump while working as campaign manager for Kanye West.
West, who also announced plans to run for the White House, recently released a campaign video showing him speaking with Yiannopoulos about a meeting the rapper had with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, along with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
West claimed that Trump was "really impressed" with Holocaust denier Fuentes, prompting outrage from Republican figures and Jewish groups.
The allegations from Loomer were denied by Greene on Telegram and in a statement to Newsweek.
"Internships are inherently temporary and none of our summer interns are employed with Congresswoman Greene," a spokesperson for Greene told Newsweek. "She clearly supports President Trump. She has been very vocal in that and she has endorsed him for president."
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more