The Westboro Baptist Church Was Dealt a Major Blow on Twitter

At least two Twitter accounts affiliated with the Westboro Baptist Church, the group known for its virulent, anti-gay protests, have been suspended by the popular social media platform.

Pink News, a gay and lesbian media outlet based in the U.K., recently noted that the account @WBCSays, formerly the group's main Twitter handle, was suspended as of last week.

And in a separate report, KPIX-TV revealed that @WBCShirl, an account belonging to Shirley Phelps-Roeper, one of the church's leaders and the daughter of founder Fred Phelps, was also suspended.

Both accounts remained inaccessible and offline as of Tuesday morning.

A tweet from an account claiming to be affiliated with the church said last week that Westboro had picketed Twitter last August and that, as a result, the social media platform decided to "steal" the aforementioned accounts.

"Dear @pinknews plz keep up. WBC picketed @Twitter in August. Their response: steal @WBCsays & @WBCShirl #OldNews #CostOfPreachingTruth," read the tweet.

Other accounts affiliated with the church, including @WBCSaysRepent, @WBCVideo and @WBCSigns, are still active on Twitter, KPIX-TV reported.

It is unclear what led to the suspensions, though TheBlaze has reached out to Twitter for comment on the matter.

(H/T: Christian Today)