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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

AOC reveals she’s quit Twitter after getting anxiety over negative tweets

House Oversight Committee

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared on her Instagram account that she was keeping away from Twitter due to the amount of "negativity" on the platform.

The New York representative was answering questions on her Instagram stories on Monday when someone asked: "When will you come back to Twitter."

Ms Ocasio-Cortez responded saying she turned off all her devices and wasn't active on social media when she was infected with Covid-19 earlier this month.

"...I found that when I went to open Twitter up again, it just like wasn't making me feel. So I mean literally I would go to open the app and almost felt like anxious," she said.

"People kinda fight and gossip and all sort of stuff so much. And there is a lot of negativity on there," the 32-year-old congresswoman added.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Instagram/ aoc)

"But I'll be back, don't worry. Just feel like a break," she told her 8.6 million followers.

The Democrat announced earlier on 16 January that she had contracted Covid-19 has experienced debilitating symptoms even given the added protection provided by her vaccine.

“Welp, so it happened. Got COVID, probably omicron. As of today I am thankfully recovered and wrapping up quarantine, but COVID was no joke,” she had written.

Since then her response on her own Twitter account has been sparse and was last seen retweeting her interview with MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan on 27 January.

A few days back, a 2019 tweet by Ms Ocasio-Cortez went viral on the anniversary of the Challenger tragedy on 28 January 1986.

On 8 March 2019, Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that it was via the Girl Scouts that she “first practiced how to change brake fluid, start a fire, practice self-defence, recreate the NASA Challenger mission, and [very] importantly: learn to teach myself new skills + navigate ambiguity. There’s a reason a [lot] of Congresswomen are former scouts!”

Her tweet prompted users to ask why girl scouts would have been taught how to recreate the fatal mission.

On Monday she also answered other questions, including how she deals with travel fatigue. She said: “I travel a ton because Congress is in and out of session. Every time they are in and out I am between New York and DC and I have found a great travel hack. Pedialyte”.

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