Twitter shadowbanned Dr Bhattacharya
and probably one or two other covid commentators...Reflective intro added April 4, 2023 (in italics)
April 4, 2023: As a medical journalist, I endeavour to present “just the facts” without editorial or opinion. Here I present the “minority view” on lockdowns, masks, and covid vaccines. I refrain from endorsing this point of view, in keeping with my stance as a fact-based journalist. This is challenging when one finds oneself “in the story,” as I found myself in the case of Twitter censorship in 2022.
A brief note, as the Twitter newsdrops (Taibbi, Weiss) are likely familiar to most readers. Alex Berenson, elgatomalo and others have done analysis of the many implications of the news that the so-called impartial platform of Twitter was in fact actively engaged in shadowbans - in direct contradiction to the words of CEO Jack Dorsey in 2018.
This, again, is not news to users of Twitter who found themselves agreeing with the “minority view” expressed by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya MD PhD of Stanford University - re harm of lockdowns, relatively low utility of masks, questionable utility of mass covid vaccination.
However, allow me to explore a Canadian offshoot of this business.
In my own case, for several months prior to my permanent ban in August 2022, correspondents mentioned that my tweets no longer showed up in their feeds, and that it was quite difficult to find my tweets. I noted this situation via Twitter Analytics starting approximately July 2021 - my “reach” seemed to decline by 50-80% - in spite of a consistent pattern of tweeting on my part in terms of frequency and quality. Presumably I was shadowbanned. I checked via the “am I shadowbanned” tools periodically and never detected anything amiss, meanwhile.
Hypothetically, someone at Twitter decided that my work was problematic as of summer 2021. That, and/or perhaps a Canadian governmental/corporate body found it problematic, and was able to persuade Twitter to oblige their concerns via shadowban.
For the time being, this is speculation. However, Elon Musk has indicated that he will make the history of a user’s shadowbanning and suspension, along with the reasons thereof, available in the future.
Presuming that my perception of having been shadowbanned is borne out - question will arise as to whether 1) this was due to Twitter internal policy; 2) due to US federal pressure on Twitter; 3) due to Ontario/Canadian request to Twitter.
The implications of (2) are of interest because all information released so far regarding Twitter improprieties has addressed American users of the system - thus, we may yet see that US federal policy was being applied against foreigners. And the implications of (3) would be equally interesting, as the primary governmental sources of Twitter improprieties to date have been shown to be exclusively American - the Democratic Party, Republican Party, and the FBI.
Interesting times we live in.
I think you will find that you were a target. elgatomalo and ethicalskeptic are awesome, btw.
I'm sure we'll find that Twitter interference was global, no doubt you were a target, what'chya expect with those crazy VAERs charts you were posting??