Twitter suspends Meghan Markle's sister's account over alleged harassment

Twitter has suspended an account which Samantha Markle allegedly used to post conspiracy theories about Meghan Markle and her son Archie.

The account handle @TheMarkleSammy has a notice that read, "Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules." A representative for the social media platform told Newsweek, "We suspended the account due to ban evasion."

Twitter's ban evasion policy states, "Our rules exist to help keep everyone using Twitter safe and ensure they can participate freely in the public conversation. Therefore, we prohibit attempts to circumvent prior enforcement, including through the creation of new accounts."

The rules add: "You can't imitate a suspended account if the apparent intent is to replace a suspended account."

The policy is said to stop users from getting around past enforcement action by creating new accounts. It also applies to third parties who create accounts posing as the suspended person.

The suspension comes following reports that the account posted conspiracy theories about Meghan Markle and her son Archie, 2. However, Samantha's lawyer, Douglas A. Khale said that "Samantha's Twitter account appears to have been hacked." He claimed that "someone changed her password" and that "some of the Twitter screenshots that have appeared in the media very recently appear to have been altered or Photoshopped. "

Khale added, "However, due to the urgency of this matter, we are still investigating."

Aside from @TheMarkleSammy, Twitter also suspended other accounts with similar names along with a warning that read, "Caution: This account is temporarily restricted. You're seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account. Do you still want to view it?"

The suspension comes following news that Samantha has filed a lawsuit against the Duchess of Sussex over the Oprah interview. She accused her half-sister of defamation and for lying about the things she said about her growing-up years.

Samantha also accused Meghan Markle of trying to destroy her reputation through the briefing email she sent to the "Finding Freedom" authors. In it, she allegedly tried to "slut-shame" her sibling with claims that she has three children from different fathers. This is said to be false because she married twice and has three children. She also denied claims that she lost custody of the children.