Florida's Fired Covid-19 Data Manager 'Permanently Suspended' From Twitter

Florida's fired Department of Health data manager Rebekah Jones has been 'permanently suspended' from Twitter, 'for violations of the Twitter Rules on spam and platform manipulation,' a Twitter spokesperson tells Slashdot.

Florida's Sun-Sentinel reports:
Jones, a former Department of Health data manager fired for alleged insubordination, emerged as a political lightning rod as COVID-19 cases spiked in Florida last year. Supporters see her as a whistleblower speaking truth to power and exposing an effort by the state to paint a rosier picture of the pandemic. Her detractors say she has peddled disinformation for her own financial benefit, unfairly casting doubt on the reliability of Florida's COVID-19 statistics... Jones helped to build the state's online coronavirus dashboard in the early days of the pandemic. In May 2020, she was fired from her post at the Florida Department of Health, where she was manager of Geographic Information Systems. Jones said her bosses pressured her to manipulate statistics to justify reopening the state amid lockdown.

In an article Monday Forbes investigated 'the curious case of Rebekah Jones' suspension,' citing a researcher who specializes in Twitter fraud:
There was clearly a concentrated surge in new follower activity... What is not known is whether Rebekah Jones purchased the followers herself, or whether it was a false-flag campaign meant to discredit her (someone else purchased the followers and directed them at her account to make it appear she broke Twitter's rules).

Nearly 21,000 followers were added in a short amount of time...

Following up with Twitter's spokesperson, Slashdot asked them about Forbes' theory, and whether they had evidence that Jones herself (and not one of her detractors) had perpetrated the surge in follower activity.

Twitter's response? 'We have nothing further to add beyond what I shared.'

Jones had already attained more than 400,000 followers, reports the Washington Post. But they also note that her suspension is now being celebrated on Twitter by Florida governor DeSantis's press secretary, 'who was hired after she wrote an article calling Jones's claims 'a big lie.''

DeSantis's office also pointed to an April Twitter thread from a prominent disinformation researcher alleging that an app has surreptitiously directed thousands of users to follow a number of accounts, including Jones's. Jones responded to the researcher, according to a screenshot, with a tweet saying: 'This is insane.'

'I've never heard of this app,' she wrote.
Jones has since opened a new account on Instagram named 'insubordinatescientist'.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.