Twitter has reversed course after being accused of censorship for abruptly suspending the account belonging to the campaign of Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins.
Mr. Hawkins, a co-founder of the left-wing Green Party, said Twitter notified him that it restored his campaign’s account, @howiehawkins20, nearly two weeks since shutting it down.
“Social media is our campaign’s biggest megaphone. The shutdown by Twitter hurt our campaign,” Mr. Hawkins said in a statement Wednesday.
Twitter previously said in an email dated April 15 that the campaign account was in violation of its policy on impersonation and had been suspended and would not be restored.
Mr. Hawkins subsequently accused Twitter of censorship and utilized his personal account on the platform, @HowieHawkins, until the suspension was reversed on April 28.
Twitter would not immediately offer comment about the reversal.
Mr. Hawkins, a 67-year-old activist, is currently the front-runner for the Green Party’s nomination to run against President Trump in November. Third-party candidates have usually fared poorly in the White House race, however, evidenced most recently by the 2016 presidential election. Fewer than 6% of the votes cast during that contest went to a candidate other than the Republican and Democratic nominees — Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton, respectively.
Joseph R. Biden is currently the presumptive Democratic nominee in November’s race. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican-turned-independent, announced this week the establishment of a an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination, meanwhile.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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