Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana has regained the ability to post content on his @RepJimBanks Twitter account after the social media company locked the account in October.
Twitter took the action in response to a tweet in which the congressman referred to Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine as "a man."
Levine is biological man who identifies as a woman.
An HHS release last month described Levine as the "first-ever female four-star admiral" in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Twitter took issue with a tweet on Banks' account that declared, "The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man."
NEW: Twitter has censored @RepJimBanks for calling HHS' Rachel Levine a man. He will be locked out of his account until he deletes the tweet, "The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man."pic.twitter.com/6wdDqJ36kH— Mary Margaret Olohan (@Mary Margaret Olohan) 1634991440
Banks said in a Friday statement that while he has deleted the tweet, he stands by its veracity.
"Twitter was blocking my communications with Hoosiers right before Congress votes on the largest expansion of the federal government since the Great Society. Twitter demanded I delete the tweet if I wanted to participate in a momentous political debate, which is my job, so I did, but I stand by every word in my factual statement," Banks said in the statement, according to WANE.
A House vote on a massive spending proposal opposed by Republicans did not materialize on Friday, but the chamber may potentially still vote on a bipartisan infrastructure measure.
"I'm not the first, I won't be the last conservative that Big Tech tries to silence," Banks said in a video that marked his first post since being blocked from utilizing the account.
I\u2019m back.pic.twitter.com/xk9GhQpQaR— Jim Banks (@Jim Banks) 1636135147
UNBELIEVABLE: THIS politician has been absent 33.4% of the time, but there’s someone with an even WORSE record