Officially the Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by Chinese Americans who fled communist China and sought to create an independent media outlet to bring uncensored and truthful information to the world.

Practically, it is linked to the anti-communist Falun Gong religious cult and dishes out money from unknown sources for far-right political parties all over the world so it is not exactly neutral. The paper was a big supporter of Donald Trump because Falun Gong believers look forward to a "judgement day" in which communists are sent to hell and Falun Gong's allies are spared. Donald Trump was viewed as a key anti-communist ally and would hasten that judgment day.

China has banned Falun Gong and the Epoch Times which has been widely slammed by all sides of the political spectrum.

Twitter appeared to allow people to visit the site after they had pressed a few buttons which indicated they knew what they were doing and they were visiting a risky site.

Those who condemned Twitter "censorship" included right wing republicans such as Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson and Rick Scott.

“Twitter is blocking all links to @EpochTimes, including a story about a human trafficking survivor, and labeling them as ‘spammy’ and ‘unsafe.’ Twitter must explain itself for this outrageous act of censorship,” Rubio wrote in a July 29 tweet.

Johnson described Twitter’s action as “alarming.”

Scott asked Twitter in a July 29 tweet “where’s the respect for free speech and freedom of press, Twitter.”