The journalist Alex Berenson has filed a lawsuit against Twitter after the social media platform banned him for comments about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that despite assurances from Twitter that the company backed his right to free expression, that changed dramatically in July.
“On Sunday, July 11, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, called Mr. Berenson’s comments about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy ‘horrifying.’ By Friday, President Biden himself piled on, blaming social media companies for ‘killing people’ on account of their failure to adequately censor content. Hours after President Biden’s comment, Twitter locked Mr. Berenson out of his account for the first time,” the suit states.
“On August 28, in the wake of even more calls for censorship from government officials, Twitter permanently suspended Mr. Berenson from its platform, citing ‘repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules.’ Mr. Berenson did not violate those rules,” the suit states. “Twitter, on the other hand, broke its promises to Mr. Berenson as well as its policies, and violated his rights as it served the federal government’s censorship demands.”
The eight-count complaint for damages and injunctive relief seeks a jury trial. A Twitter spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
“Berenson, it is alleged, was kicked off Twitter in violation of Twitter’s own policies because of government joint action and/or enticement. This state action, it is alleged, led to deprivation of Berenson’s 1A rights,” Adam Candeub, Professor of Law, Michigan State University and Senior Fellow, The Center for Renewing America, said in an email response to the Northern California Record.
The key question is whether Twitter’s ban of Berenson is illegal.
“Yes, if the facts prove true,” Candeub said. “Twitter cannot collude with the government to silence critics of public policy. That’s the whole point of the First Amendment. Further, Twitter can’t remove people, like Berenson, who follow the Twitter TOS, but incur the wrath of powerful people. That’s a violation of contract.”
Candeub noted the lawsuit raises a number of key arguments.
“There are several—but most revolve around Twitter working with the government to kick off Berenson in violation of Twitter’s own policies and promises,” Candeub said.
Calls to Berenson’s attorneys were not returned.
“Berenson is one of the nation’s most eminent health journalists,” Candeub said. “He has been critical, however, of government responses to the COVID epidemic—though his reporting has always been rigorously faithful to current scientific understanding and the facts. No one has ever alleged Berenson has been wrong or unjustified in his claim. Rather, Twitter, it is alleged, has become the thought police coming after those who question government wisdom on health policy.”
Berenson, who formerly worked for the New York Times and had hundreds of millions of views and more than 340,000 followers on Twitter, has recently been posting on Substack and provided further comment on the suit there Tuesday.