PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Facebook has suspended the official account for Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase, a Republican candidate for governor that routinely posts false conspiracy theories and other outlandish claims.
Chase, an outspoken supporter of President Trump, posted on her personal Facebook page Friday that her official account was suspended for 60 days, but later told WRIC’s Jackie DeFusco that she can’t post or comment for 30 days and can’t go live for 90 days. She also can’t advertise for 90 days. The account has more than 100,000 followers.
It comes a day after Facebook announced it was suspending the president’s use of Facebook and Instagram “indefinitely,” at least until inauguration day.
“Facebook continues to restrict free speech,” Chase wrote on Facebook. “Because what I have to say does not fit their narrative my Senator Amanda Chase page has been silenced for 60 days. We no longer have free speech here in America.”
Chase recently amplified claims, which haven’t been supported by evidence, that Antifa members led the mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. One post shared a Washington Examiner article, which has since been corrected, that erroneously claimed a facial recognition company’s software spotted Antifa members.
Facebook flagged two Chase posts about those false Antifa claims as false information. Chase did not remove them after that correction by the Examiner was made.
Chase went to the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Wednesday, and has been supporting the false claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. She did not participate in the riot, but was part of protests.
After the rally, Chase wrote: “These were not rioters and looters; these were Patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great republic turn into a socialist country.”
On Friday, Virginia Senate Democrats released a statement calling for her resignation, saying she “galvanized domestic terrorists.” It would take two-thirds vote of the 40 member Senate to expel her.
When asked about the demand from her Democratic colleagues, Chase said: “They’re treasonous. They’re traitors to both the United States Constitution and the Virginia Constitution …they should all resign because they orchestrated an all out attack on our Republic and our Democracy.”
Chase, who represents Chesterfield in the Senate, is one of the two main Republican candidates for governor in 2021. Former House Speaker Kirk Cox, the other main GOP candidate, did condemn the rioters and acknowledged Biden will be the next president.
In response to Chase’s attendance at the rally Wednesday, Del. Lee Carter (D-Prince William) sent a letter to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring requesting a formal opinion on whether the participation of any state legislators in the insurrection Wednesday violated the Constitution.
Carter’s request reads, in part: “At least one member of the General Assembly is alleged to have participated in the events in the District of Columbia on the 6th of January, however, the General Assembly has not had to enforce the prohibition set forth in the 14th Amendment in living memory.”
