Nearly one year after journalist and writer Alex Berenson was kicked off Twitter for being a sometimes COVID-19 contrarian, his account has been restored. He had to sue the tech platform to be reinstated.
Berenson announced a settlement with Twitter on Wednesday on his Substack page, “Unreported Truths.”
[L]ast August, Twitter banned me after I got five strikes under its Covid-19 misinformation policy. Which meant I’d supposedly made “claims of fact” that were “demonstrably false or misleading” and “likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm” (that’s the policy, that’s what it takes to get a strike, look it up).
Now we come to find those tweets “should not have led to my suspension”?
Here’s the tweet that got him “permanently suspended.”
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.— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) July 6, 2022
Berenson is the former New York Times reporter whose specialty was reporting on pharmaceutical companies, dangerous drugs, health care, and government oversight. After leaving The Times, Berenson wrote novels and pamphlets. When COVID-19 burst onto the scene, Berenson began looking closely at government claims and wrote books and pamphlets about the disease.
When Dr. Fauci and his minions at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control began a program of lockdowns, face mask mandates, and forced vaccinations, it was Berenson’s criticism of the COVID “vaccines” that got him in the most trouble with the Twitter and government speech police.
Mask scolds, government and Twitter censors, people with “Thank You, Dr. Fauci!” signs on their front lawns, and those who lit St. Fauci prayer candles in their new religious rite poured hate on Berenson. Things came to a nadir when the journalist questioned the efficacy and government claims about the so-called COVID “vaccines.” Reading the government’s own literature, Berenson wrote of the COVID shots:
“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.”
His claim was labeled by Twitter censors as “misleading.”
Berenson took great umbrage. He accused Twitter of defaming him with its “misleading” label.
“Hey Twitter censors: what is misleading about this tweet? Please be specific. The @cdcgov and everyone else now agree the #Covid vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission. Nor am I suggesting that anyone specific not be vaccinated, only that mandates don’t make sense…Referring to this tweet as “misleading” without explanation defames my reputation as a reporter and I ask that you remove the label immediately.”
2/ Referring to this tweet as “misleading” without explanation defames my reputation as a reporter and I ask that you remove the label immediately.
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) August 28, 2021
News outlets accused Berenson of being a COVID “conspiracy theorist” and crowed over his suspension. Berenson fought back, suing Twitter. On Wednesday, he announced that a settlement had been reached. He wrote on his Substack “Unreported Truths” page.
You know what it took Twitter to admit it shouldn’t have done what it did?
You do not, and I can’t tell you, because the statement is all I can say about the settlement.
Except I need to add one thing. The settlement does not end my investigation into the pressures that the government may have placed on Twitter to suspend my account. I will have more to say on that issue in the near future. I made a promise to readers last month, and I take my promises to readers seriously.
This battle for truth and free speech is won. The war is far from over.
Onward.
Berenson’s Substack piece on the settlement gave some clues as to what happened during the negotiations, depositions, and other communications with Twitter in his months-long legal battle. In his acknowledgments, he thanked family and attorneys and then thanked:
Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s former director of communications, whose accidental honesty proved very helpful;
Twitter and its lawyers, without whose arrogance and overreliance on Section 230 we could not have survived the motion to dismiss
He’s not done with his legal fight. He’s now hoping to discover if the government COVID speech cops worked with Twitter to silence and censor people and messages they found inconvenient. And he’s also considering a legal move against the corporate media, which dismissed him as a “conspiracy theorist.”
I can’t wait for Insider and NBC News and everyone else who drooled over my suspension in August 2021 and later to devote equal space to the fact that I’m back and Twitter’s admission it should not have banned me. Much more, actually, because this has NEVER happened before.
Berenson was ahead of the curve. He was ahead of the CDC and the NIH speech police and narrative setters because he knew how to translate technical documents and compare them against government claims — something the “brought to you by Pfizer” corporate media wasn’t doing.
He was right. Twitter was wrong.
Now, where does Alex Berenson go to get his reputation back?
UPDATE: Elon Musk has asked Berenson for more information, but Berenson says he can’t provide it.
I wish I could, @elonmusk, but the settlement with @Twitter prevents me from doing so. However, in the near future I hope and expect to have more to report. https://t.co/vela05eY1K
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) July 6, 2022
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