Facebook and Twitter are waging war on the New York City Council’s GOP members, disabling or refusing to verify some of their accounts — including that of a Ukrainian native-turned-national figure, the pols claim.
Brooklyn Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who was born in Ukraine, says Twitter denied her request for verified status with no specific explanation.
“Welcome to the USSR — United States of Soviet Republic,” Vernikov told The Post.
“The problem is I am a conservative. They’re stifling conservative voices. There is no other reason,” she said.
The conservative politician is well-known for winning a seat on Democratic turf last fall and has been interviewed by numerous national and state media outlets discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She has more than 11,000 Twitter followers and recently met with former President Trump.
Vernikov previously complained about Facebook disabling her account during her campaign last year.
Queens GOP Councilwoman Vickie Paladino also received a notice from Facebook on March 22 suspending her official government account.
Paladino said she has no idea why.
“Hi Vickie, Your Facebook account has been disabled. This is because your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards,” Facebook said in the notice.
A baffled Paladino insisted to The Post, “I have always maintained a personal Facebook page and a political page.
“We wanted to set up an additional page for official communications from our government office; however, Facebook took down that page because it had apparently violated their community guidelines, but exactly what that means was not communicated to my staff or to me.
“I would be pleased to comply with Facebook’s guidelines, but that would necessitate that we’re notified of exactly what the issue is so that my staff and I can work with Facebook to address it. The problem here is that these decisions come with no communication and seem completely arbitrary and opaque.”
Paladino chief-of-staff Nicole Kiprilov complained about what she called a “double standard” where right-of-center politicians are censored more heavily than left-of-center Democrats.
“We’ve seen conservative thought shut down all the time on social media,” she said.
Two other GOP council members, Minority Leader Joe Borelli of Staten Island and Joann Ariola of Queens, also say the social-media companies are refusing to give them “verified” status — the stamp of legitimacy confirming they are elected officials, thus bolstering their presence on the platforms.
“We continue to be labeled ‘unverified’ by Twitter but verified by the voters,” Ariola said.
Borelli, who is active on social media, said Instagram rejected his request for verified status.
“They seem to reject Republicans,” Borelli said. “These social-media companies are treating elected officials differently based on political party.”
The Post had its Twitter and Facebook accounts blocked over its Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 presidential election. Other media outlets belatedly confirmed the Post’s reporting.
Twitter and Facebook did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment on the local GOP pols’ claims.
