Three doctors sue Twitter over censorship of COVID-related posts

By ramontomeydw // 2022-07-07

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Three medical professionals sued Twitter for censoring their posts regarding the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). The suit also accused Twitter of refusing to grant the doctors "verified" badges even though they met the criteria. Drs. Robert Malone, Peter McCullough and Brian Tyson were named as plaintiffs in the suit filed June 27 at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. The lawsuit argued that Twitter breached its own terms of service when it suspended the three plaintiffs for posting the truth. Thus, it asked the court to order Twitter to reinstate their accounts. "A truthful tweet regarding COVID-19 policy, diagnosis and/or treatment would not violate [Twitter's] terms of service, community standards, content moderation policies or misinformation guidelines," noted the lawsuit. It also argued that the Big Tech platform violated its own terms by permanently suspending accounts that did not have five strikes. (Related: Federal judge: Twitter must explain why it CENSORED journalist Alex Berenson, who exposed many unpopular truths about COVID.) Under the five-strike policy, the first one does not result in punishment. The second and third strikes merit a 12-hour suspension, while the fourth results in a seven-day suspension. Users who incur five strikes are permanently banned from Twitter. The plaintiffs pointed out that they were banned from the platform even though "none of [their] tweets qualified as a strike or otherwise violated [Twitter's] stated rules." They added that they seek to hold the social media giant liable "as the counter-party to a contract" and "as a promisor who has breached the terms it put in place." Furthermore, the three doctors mentioned that Twitter refused to grant their accounts "verified" badges – shown as a blue check mark beside their names – on their respective profiles. "Notable and active" users such as "activists, organizers and other influential individuals" are qualified for these badges, which Twitter said were necessary "to encourage and maintain trust" on the platform.

Suit follows earlier letter by the plaintiffs' counsel

The June 27 lawsuit followed a May 12 letter by attorney Matthew Tyson, legal counsel for the three doctors. The letter addressed to Twitter's legal department called on the Big Tech giant to reinstate the plaintiffs' accounts, alongside those of Dr. George Fareed and the late Dr. Vladimir "Zev" Zelenko. Tyson wrote that the five doctors were among "the most knowledgeable and helpful voices in the world regarding COVID-19 treatment" that was "disturbingly" blocked on Twitter. He added that the five "used Twitter as a valuable tool to share their firsthand experiences in treating COVID-19, relay important facts, express their personal viewpoints and opinions, and promote their products and services." "They were widely followed on Twitter and likely saved thousands of lives by posting messages from their accounts before each of them was suspended," noted the lawyer. Tyson noted that while Twitter is a private company and that it was not bound by the First Amendment, it puts "specific community standards to limit COVID-19 misinformation on the platform" which it was bound to follow. "None of these physicians posted false or misleading information, nor did they receive five strikes before suspension," he pointed out. "It's no accident that Twitter violated its own COVID-19 misinformation guidelines and suspended the accounts of [the five doctors]. Twitter received express and implied threats from government officials to censor certain viewpoints and speakers, lest [it faces] the amendment or revocation of Section 230, or antitrust enforcement," the lawyer continued. "Drs. Zelenko, Malone, Fareed, Tyson and McCullough are not bots, scammers or spammers. They are internationally recognized physicians with compelling messages that can save lives. Twitter should let them post, whether it or the current administration agrees with them or not." Watch Veronika Kyrylenko of the New American interviewing Drs. Robert Malone and Peter McCullough at CPAC 2022 in Orlando, Florida. This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.

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Suit follows earlier letter by the plaintiffs' counsel

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