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An ad launched by Progress Action Fund launched, showing an elderly Republican congressman interrupting a couple in the bedroom, has now been banned on X, formerly known as Twitter. According to the Progress Action Fund, which aims to defeat Republicans in red states, the platform “has censored” its account as well as the ad, called “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom.” In addition, the platform has “placed a ‘Search Ban’ and a ‘Search Suggestion Ban’ on the account.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the account did not show up on the social media platform, yet the ad could still be seen on X through retweets from other accounts. The Progress Action Fund said it contacted the platform’s legal department and “appealed the decision, which was denied.” Joe Jacobson, Founder and Executive Director of Progress Action Fund, took a stab at X’s owner: “Elon Musk loves free speech, but only when it’s convenient for him and his far-right political agenda.” “Political speech is protected under law and Musk’s competitors clearly agree that our ad should not be censored,” he continued. “When releasing ads in the future, we’ll be taking them to other platforms, which many others are already doing given Elon Musk’s frantic and poor leadership at Twitter.” The Independent has reached out to X for comment. The ad features a scene in which a woman asks a man if he has a condom. He reaches for the condom in a bedside table drawer, and another suit-covered arm appears, reaching for it as well. “Sorry, you can’t use those,” says an older man, clad in a black suit and red tie, while standing beside the bed. When the woman asks who he is, he replies: “I’m your Republican congressman. Now that we’re in charge, we’re banning birth control.” The ad urges voters to “vote no” on 8 August, in reference to State Issue 1, which would require proposed amendments to Ohio’s constitution “receive the approval of at least 60 per cent of eligible voters voting on the proposed amendment,” rather than a simple majority. Since acquiring Twitter, Mr Musk, a self declared “free speech absolutist”, has touted free speech as a pillar of the platform. As part of this shift during the takeover, he reinstated Donald Trump’s account after a two-year ban, which was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after the January 6 Capitol riot. He also reinstated at least 11 accounts belonging to prominent far-right and anti-trans influencers. On 23 November, the platform announced it “is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy.” As recently as April, the platform claimed to strive to “promote and protect the public conversation. We believe Twitter users have the right to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship.” In May, he wrote: “I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money.” Read More Democratic PAC unveils ‘steamy and horrifying’ ad with GOP lawmaker interrupting couple in bedroom Elon Musk slammed for pushing anti-vax conspiracy in response to LeBron James’ son Bronny suffering cardiac arrest Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom 'X' logo installed atop Twitter building, spurring San Francisco to investigate permit violation EXCLUSIVE: The O.C.’s Ben McKenzie on going down the crypto rabbit hole

By Moussa Aksar NIAMEY (Reuters) -Leaders of the coup in Niger declared General Abdourahamane Tiani as the new head of

Paintings aren’t always what they seem on the surface, as one team of restorers proved recently in surprising circumstances. In fact, many famous artworks feature layers and layers of paint as artists worked and re-worked their compositions in search of perfection. Now, a piece of art has been restored 230 years after it was first painted to reveal a spooky, hidden demonic figure hiding in the background. The painting in question is the 1789 work by English artist Joshua Reynolds titled ‘The Death of Cardinal Beaufort’. It’s been restored by the National Trust, and the work the team have done has revealed a very unusual new feature. The painting features a scene from the Shakespeare play Henry VI, Part 2. Henry says “O! beat away the busy meddling fiend” in the scene, as he begs for a merciful death for Cardinal Beaufort. At the time, Reynolds painted a demon in the background of the painting to reference the “busy meddling fiend” referenced in the dialogue. However, the painting wasn’t well received at the time and that was at least partly due to the depiction of the demon in the background. Three years after it was painted, people attempted to cover up the demon but left a blur on the canvas. Now, the cover up job has been removed and the painting presents as the artist originally intended to mark what would have been Reynolds’ 300th birthday. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks, with several layers of paint and six layers of varnish to uncover. The National Trust’s senior national curator for pictures and sculpture, John Chu, said: “It didn’t fit in with some of the artistic rules of the times to have a poetic figure of speech represented so literally in this monstrous figure. “When it was first shown at the Shakespeare Gallery in 1789 it generated more controversy than any other work on show.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Western leaders gather in Lithuania's capital on Monday to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine amid rare glimmers of disunity over Washington's controversial decision to...