Twitter Unsuspends Defiant L’s Account

Twitter suspended an account called Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) on Tuesday, February 15. The news quickly went viral, and journalist Glenn Greenwald questioned why the suspension happened. However, Defiant L’s is now back and no longer banned. The account shared that Twitter had unsuspended them, but they weren’t sure why. Here are the details of what happened.

Defiant L’s Shares Side-by-Side Contradicting Tweets from Mostly Left-Wing Personalities

TwitterDefiant L’s Twitter

Defiant L’s is an account that mostly focuses on sharing side-by-side screenshots from celebrities or politicians (mostly on the liberal side of the spectrum) that show tweets or statements that contradict each other. The account also will occasionally retweet other messages or reply to tweets. An example is shown in their pinned tweet, showing two quotes from President Joe Biden side-by-side.

The account’s bio on Twitter reads: “Some Are Defiant • Most Are Hypocrites • Post Blocked Screenshots Below • DM Submissions.”

The Twitter account had more than 350,000 followers at the time it was suspended. At the time of this article’s publication, it had more than 415,000 followers.

Fox News reported that the anonymous account was banned for “ban evasion.”

Defiant L’s spoke with Twitter user @elizableu about the suspension, Fox News reported.

“So about an hour ago, @DefiantLs account was suspended. The word currently is ‘ban evasion’ though I’ve never had an account suspended so I’ve never had a ban to evade. Regardless, I’ve appealed the suspension and will keep everyone updated,” Defiant Ls told @elizableu.

Here is the last tweet they shared before they were suspended.

At one point, the hashtag #FreeDefiantLs began to trend as people asked Twitter to reverse the ban.

The Account Is Now Unsuspended

About a day after the suspension, Defiant L’s tweeted that they were back.

The account is now reinstated, and Defiant L’s simply shared a screenshot that reads, “We’ve unsuspended your account” and wrote above it, “IM. BACK.”

Just an hour or so before the account was unsuspended, journalist Glenn Greenwald had tweeted about the suspension.

Greenwald wrote that the account was “well-researched and entertaining” and that all the account ever did was “juxtapose a person’s past tweet to their current one in order to show hypocrisy.” Greenwald speculated that Twitter banned them “since most of its targets were liberals.”

Defiant Ls also shared updates on Instagram while they were banned on Twitter, including screenshots from Justin Trudeau that the account had planned to share.

One person replied, writing: “Just wanted to let you know people are finding you here because of the Twitter ban.”

Another person wrote, “Bro please get your twitter back I’m lost without you 😂. The world needs you back on twitter.”

Several people said that tags connected to Defiant.Ls were being blocked.

One person wrote, “IG blocked all tags on you 🤨.” 

Another person commented, “i tried to tag you in my latest instagram video but they have a shadowban on your acct and it wont let me tag you. Keep fighting the good fight. Twitter is insane for banning you.”

As of the time of this story’s publication, the Defiant Ls Twitter account has not elaborated on what Twitter said to them about the suspension or why they were reinstated.

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