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April 15, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Twitter has suspended the accounts of Project Veritas and its founder James O’Keefe, just days after the conservative investigative group began a series of reports on a CNN insider’s private admissions that the company engages in “propaganda” and “manipulation” to benefit Democrats.

Conservatives on Twitter began noticing Thursday afternoon that O’Keefe’s account, @JamesOKeefeIII, had been suspended, replaced with a generic message that “Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.” 

On Telegram, O’Keefe published an email from Twitter Support declaring the ban was “permanent” and “will not be reinstated” because O’Keefe had supposedly violated the platform’s rule against “Fake accounts: You may not register or create fake and misleading accounts or use multiple accounts to manipulate Twitter conversations,” or “engage in spamming, abusive, or disruptive behavior.”

O’Keefe responded by denying the accusation and announcing he would be taking Twitter to court. “I am suing Twitter for defamation because they said I, James O'Keefe, ‘operated fake accounts,’’ he said. “This is false, this is defamatory, and they will pay. Section 230 may have protected them before, but it will not protect them from me. The complaint will be filed Monday.”

Earlier this week, Veritas began releasing a series of undercover videos in which CNN technical director Charlie Chester admits and boasts about the news organization's use of “propaganda” and “manipulation” to oust former President Donald Trump, efforts to “milk” COVID-19 and climate change because “fear sells,” and practice of “leading” guests in such a way as to reinforce their predetermined narratives.

While most conservatives recognized the damaging nature of the revelations about CNN, and some predicted social media giants would take action against O’Keefe to prevent its spread, attorney Dan McLaughlin, senior writer for the conservative movement’s former flagship opinion journal National Review, attacked the Veritas report’s veracity by suggesting past Veritas videos have contained false or misleading information. McLaughlin ignored multiple challenges by O’Keefe and others (including this author) to produce supporting evidence for his insinuation.

Conservatives remain divided on whether and how to change existing laws to rein in social media giants’ censorship of and discrimination against conservatives, but O’Keefe’s impending lawsuit may represent, for at least some cases, a path forward without having to wrestle with contentious philosophical or constitutional issues. If successful, it would set a precedent of Twitter facing real consequences for banning conservatives under false pretenses, using existing law and long-established principles of legal defamation.