Earlier in the week, conservative White House correspondent Emerald Robinson ran afoul of Twitter’s misinformation policies by tweeting out a conspiracy theory that the Moderna COVID vaccine contains a Satanic tracking device called “luciferase.” While luciferase is an actual luminescent enzyme that exists, it is not used in the Moderna vaccine, which Reuters first reported back in May when the conspiracy theory emerged.
While Robinson’s luciferase tweet was initially pulled by Twitter, the situation has escalated. Robinson’s entire Twitter account is now suspended for “repeated violations” of the platform’s COVID misinformation policies. More notably, her employer, the extremely right wing Newsmax, has pulled Robinson off of the air while it is “currently reviewing the posts” that prompted her suspension from Twitter. Via The Daily Beast:
Several Newsmax staffers cheered on the decision to bench Robinson. “It’s really buzzing the newsroom,” one current employee told The Daily Beast. “I think it’s a good idea. If we are going to be viewed as a news organization, we have to act like one.” Another staffer agreed, reiterating that “it was a stupid thing to tweet.”
The conservative station also rebuked Robinson’s remarks on Tuesday by stating that the COVID vaccines are “safe and effective” and that “we do not believe the vaccines contain any toxic materials or tracking markers.” Of course, the right-wing network is currently staring down the barrel of two multi-billion dollar lawsuits for falsely repeating election fraud claims, so it’s probably not a bad idea to avoid a third one. Satanic tracking devices are never a good hill to die on.
(Via The Daily Beast)