Nicki Minaj told her 157M followers on Instagram that she was locked in ‘Twitter jail.’ Twitter denies it.

• Nicki Minaj claimed she was in “Twitter jail” after tweeting about the coronavirus vaccines.
• Minaj shared a story about her cousin’s friend in Trinidad who claims he had a bad reaction to the vaccine.
• The rapper also says she was invited to the White House; however, the White House claims she was only offered a phone call.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Rapper Nicki Minaj, who has been criticized recently for her claims on social media about the coronavirus vaccine, says she was in “Twitter jail” because of a recent post.

Minaj on Wednesday posted to her 157 million Instagram followers claiming that she was unable to tweet after the social media company “didn’t like” what she was saying.

The rapper, who originally took to Twitter to explain she did not attend Monday’s Met Gala because she was hesitant about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, a requirement for the fundraiser, started tweeting misinformation related to the vaccine after saying that a friend of her cousin in Trinidad became impotent after getting vaccinated and was left with swollen testicles and a ruined marriage.

Minaj claimed on Instagram she was in “Twitter jail” over the post — but the tech giant denies that.

Because Minaj’s tweet was a personal anecdote, it didn’t violate the company’s rules, a spokesperson told Insider.

Twitter’s policy states that “for content related to COVID-19 to be considered violative under this policy, it must advance a claim of fact, expressed in definitive terms” and “personal anecdotes or first-person accounts” are not a violation.

Minaj also tweeted that she was invited to the White House to speak to officials about the coronavirus vaccine. A White House official told a Bloomberg reporter Minaj was only offered a phone call.

-Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) September 15, 2021

Minaj later went live on her Instagram on Wednesday to defend her position, saying “do y’all think I would go on the internet and lie about being invited to the f— White House?”

Minaj and her team did not respond to Insider’s request to comment about her claims she was asked to the White House.

Celebrities like Minaj often wield a lot of power on the internet because of their large fanbase. Minaj’s dedicated fanbase, also known as “Barbz,” often comes to her defense when she is openly criticized by the public. In 2018, a critic who posted a tweet about Minaj’s artistic direction received harassment from Barbz online. When the critic later posted about the harassment, it only made Minaj’s fans more upset and further incited hateful messages, Insider reported.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, responded to Minaj’s claims on CNBC, warning the artist that she needs to “think twice” about what she posts about COVID-19 because of her large platform even if her tweets were “innocent.”