Twitter permanently suspended conservative author Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, and COVID-19 vaccine skeptic, for violating the platform’s misinformation rules, Berenson announced Saturday.
In a post on Berenson’s substack account called “Goodbye Twitter,” he shared that his account was removed by the tech giant due to a tweet regarding COVID-19 vaccines that was flagged as “misleading.” “I can’t wait to hear what a jury will make of this,” Berenson said in the post.
In the now-deleted tweet, Berenson said “It doesn’t stop infection. Or transmission. Don’t think of it as a vaccine. Think of it – at best – as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS. And we want to mandate it? Insanity.”
Berenson’s account was removed as a result. Although, he defended the tweet as “entirely accurate.”
In the days that followed, Berenson continued to discuss Twitter’s ban on him via his Substack. One post suggested Berenson was considering opening a new, unverified account. Another post thanked his supporters and said he is “reviewing his legal options.”
“Does it [Twitter] have the right to prevent me (or anyone) from opening another account, verified or not? More interestingly, does it have the right to prevent ANYONE else from ever allowing me (or anyone) to use his or her account to tweet, even a single time? In other words, can Twitter say that only a single account-holder can ever use an existing account? I’m not seeing that in their TOS, but would be interested to know what lawyers think,” Berenson wrote in a post shared Saturday.
“I expected this day was coming. And Twitter can’t touch my Substack (in fact, it reportedly tried to buy Substack last year, but Substack, fortunately, said no). Censorship is dumb, and I am reviewing my legal options,” Berenson wrote in a post on Sunday.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) weighed in on Twitter, calling out the “Leftie Brown Shirts” who applauded Twitter’s decision to ban Berenson.
I don’t know Berenson. But all the Leftie Brown Shirts cheering his being banned—you are the problem.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 29, 2021
You’re supporting authoritarian billionaires’ arbitrary censorship.
& you are contributing to so many people’s distrust of Covid info—by silencing dissent, many are skeptical. https://t.co/7svCRzA8FY
While vaccine skeptics, former presidents, and conservative pundits get routinely banned from the social media giant, don’t expect to see the Taliban spokesmen kicked off anytime soon.