Twitter’s wrongful censorship of independent journalist Alex Berenson is brought to light as The Twitter Files reveal that even Twitter executives disagreed with his ban. Twitter now faces questions of whether they were complicit in silencing freedom of speech due to potential government or corporate pressure.
Former New York Times journalist and independent writer, Alex Berenson found himself on the wrong end of Twitter censorship in August 2021 for allegedly violating the platform’s COVID-19 rules. Key evidence provided by fellow independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, featuring Twitter’s secret, “problematic” and “sensitive” documents, establishes that the social media platform knew it couldn’t prevail against Berenson in the lawsuit filed by him. Surprisingly, The Twitter Files also reveal that even top Twitter executives disagreed with the decision to ban Berenson.
Documents from 2022 email chains shared by Shellenberger to Berenson suggest that Twitter had already been aware of the Biden White House and a Pfizer board member’s attempts to censor him. Berenson’s tweets also bring attention to Missouri v. Biden, an allegation that reveals multiple collusion plots between Big Tech platforms and the government intending to stifle free speech. Consequently, Twitter’s lawyers, troubled by the secret documents, advised the company to settle with Berenson rather than risking the files becoming public.
In a strange move, Twitter originally encouraged Berenson’s criticism of the COVID-19 narrative but changed its stance under pressure from the Biden administration and other government officials in 2021. As a result, Berenson sued Twitter, accusing it of breaking its own rules. Although Twitter restored his account and accepted error in an embarrassing settlement, the company never disclosed the reason behind the initial ban – perhaps because their argument wouldn’t stand in court.
Micah Rubbo, associate director for litigation, concluded that Twitter had to choose between litigating and disclosing many documents to prevent the disclosure of some now. Interestingly, even Twitter reportedly didn’t know what all the secret documents contained. Berenson supposedly considered and later rejected a higher money offer from the company.
The Twitter Files disclose internal debate and disagreement among Twitter’s leadership and Trust and Safety (T&S) unit regarding Berenson’s ban. This raises the question – did the platform recognize that suppressing Berenson’s free speech was wrong and did they do it at the behest of the federal government?
The Berenson case highlights the urgent need for Big Tech to be held accountable to the First Amendment and demonstrates transparency, clarity on alleged hate speech, and equal footing for conservatives. Contact your representatives to demand accountability for Big Tech, and if you have faced censorship, inform us through CensorTrack’s contact form to help hold these companies to account.
