Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

Physicians sue the fuck out of Twitter...
People need to sue their Govts too.
Discovery in these cases will be interesting.


Twitter 'Silenced' Physicians Who Posted Truthful Information About
COVID, Lawsuit Alleges

https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-silenced-physicians-who-posted-truthful-information-about-covid-lawsuit-alleges_4571886.html

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/Robert-Malone-v.-Twitter-Complaint.pdf
https://twitter.com/P_McCulloughMD/status/1541829099165028352
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-garrie-87943420
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewptyson
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/digital-marketing/twitter-s-new-covid-19-misinformation-policy-gives-users-5-strikes-before-they-re-out.html
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/



Three physicians are suing Twitter, alleging the company violated its
own terms of service and community standards when it suspended their
accounts for posting “truthful statements regarding COVID-19 policy,
diagnosis and/or treatment.”

Drs. Robert Malone, Peter McCullough and Bryan Tyson on Monday filed
the lawsuit in Superior Court in California, San Francisco County.
Plaintiffs allege Twitter’s actions were a substantial factor in
causing them harm, and are asking the judge to order Twitter to
reactivate their accounts. (By Lightspring/Shutterstock)

The complaint alleges Twitter breached the terms of its contract when
it permanently suspended the plaintiffs’ accounts, silenced their
voices and failed to provide them with “verified” badges.

Plaintiffs allege Twitter’s actions were a substantial factor in
causing them harm, and are asking the judge to order Twitter to
reactivate their accounts.

All three doctors are represented by attorneys Bryan M. Garrie and
Matthew P. Tyson (no relation to the plaintiff, Bryan Tyson).

Matthew Tyson on May 12, sent a letter to the directors and managing
agents of Twitter requesting the company reinstate the accounts of
five physicians, including the plaintiffs, and provide them with
“verified” badges. Twitter failed to respond.

In the letter, Matthew Tyson acknowledged Twitter is a “private
company” and its terms state it can “suspend user accounts for any or
no reason.”

“However, Twitter also implemented specific community standards to
limit COVID-19 misinformation on the platform, and Twitter was bound
to follow those terms,” he added.

According to the complaint, Twitter’s content-moderation terms
included removal procedures for ineffective treatments and false
diagnostic criteria, and measures for “labeling” information as
“misleading.”

Twitter has a “five-strike policy” as part of its COVID-19
misinformation guidelines and community standards.

Twitter’s website states:

“The consequences for violating our COVID-19 misleading information
policy depend on the severity and type of the violation and the
account’s history of previous violations. In instances where accounts
repeatedly violate this policy, we will use a strike system to
determine if further enforcement actions should be applied.”

Strike 1 is “no account-level action.” Strike 2 results in a 12-hour
account lock. Strike 3 results in another 12-hour account lock. Strike
4 results in a seven-day account lock and five or more strikes lead to
permanent suspension.

Plaintiffs claim they relied on Twitter to employ and enforce its
terms in good faith and it was foreseeable to Twitter that plaintiffs
would rely on the terms the company is obligated to follow.

According to the complaint, 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.

“None of these physicians posted false or misleading information, nor
did they receive five strikes before suspension,” Matthew Tyson stated
in his letter to Twitter.

“It’s no accident that Twitter violated its own COVID-19
misinformation guidelines and suspended the accounts of Drs. Zelenko,
Malone, Fareed, Tyson and McCullough,” he wrote.

The letter stated:

“Twitter received express and implied threats from government
officials to censor certain viewpoints and speakers, lest Twitter face
the amendment or revocation of Section 230, or antitrust enforcement.
This was a financial decision for Twitter.

“For the sake of profits, it chose to abandon its role as a neutral
internet service provider and instead openly and intentionally collude
with government to silence lawful speech.”

In an email to The Defender, lead attorney Garrie and co-counsel
Matthew Tyson said:

“In this political climate, honesty is a rare commodity, and concerns
over new and experimental vaccines and drug therapies and the safety
and effectiveness of alternative outpatient treatments should be the
subject of full and transparent public debate.

“Drs. Malone, Tyson and McCullough are highly qualified and
credentialed physicians and scientists who posted truthful information
on Twitter that contradicted the mainstream narrative regarding
COVID-19 policy, diagnosis, and treatment.

“They shared fact-based information which furthered an important
public interest as people around the world try to decide how to treat
themselves and their loved ones for COVID-19. Twitter silenced them.

“Our clients seek to hold Twitter liable not as a Section 230
publisher, but as a counterparty to a contract, as a promisor who has
breached the very terms it put in place to moderate tweets. We will
hold Twitter accountable in court and prove the truth of our clients’
statements for the world to see.”
Twitter Refused to Verify Physicians’ Accounts

In addition to being suspended from Twitter, the company refused to
verify the plaintiffs’ accounts even though the accounts met Twitter’s
criteria for verification.

To be verified, an account must be “notable and active.”

Twitter defines a notable account to include “activists, organizers,
and other influential individuals,” including “prominently recognized
individuals.”

According to the complaint, Malone is an “internationally recognized
scientist and physician” who completed a fellowship at Harvard Medical
School as a global clinical research scholar and was scientifically
trained at the University of California and Salk Institute Molecular
Biology and Virology laboratories.

Malone is the “original inventor of mRNA vaccination technology, DNA
vaccination and multiple non-viral DNA and RNA/mRNA platform delivery
technologies,” and has “roughly 100 scientific publications, which
have been cited more than 12,000 times.”

He holds an “outstanding” impact factor rating on Google Scholar and
sits as a non-voting member on the National Institutes of Health
[Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines]
committee, which is tasked with managing clinical research for a
variety of drug and antibody treatments for COVID-19.

The complaint states Malone used his Twitter account to post truthful
statements regarding COVID-19 policy, diagnosis and/or treatment. He
received no strikes for his content and he did not violate Twitter’s
rules, yet his account was permanently suspended.

McCullough, according to the complaint, is a highly accomplished
physician who is the founder and current president of the Cardiorenal
Society of America.

He has been “published more than 1,000 times, made presentations on
the advancement of medicine across the world and has been an invited
lecturer at the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes
of Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European
Medicines Agency.”

McCullough has also served on the editorial boards of multiple
specialty journals and was a member or chair of data safety monitoring
boards of 24 randomized clinical trials.

He was a “leader in the medical response to COVID-19, has more than 30
peer-reviewed publications on the infection, and has commented and
testified extensively on COVID19 treatment, including before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,” the
lawsuit states.

McCullough’s account was suspended, but Twitter allowed him to create
a new account that is followed by more than 480,000 people. Yet, he is
still unable to receive a “verified” badge.

In a June 28 tweet, McCullough said “trouble is on the horizon for the
“common carrier” whose only role is to provide a platform for
communications operations,” referring to the lawsuit.

Tyson is a licensed physician with15 years of hospital and emergency
medicine experience. He practices with Dr. George Fareed, who also was
suspended from Twitter for posting what he claimed was truthful
COVID-19 information.

Tyson and Fareed have “gained international recognition for providing
successful early treatment to more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients, with
zero patient deaths when treatment was started within 7 days,” the
complaint states.

Tyson testified in various proceedings about early treatment protocols
and co-authored a book about COVID-19.

He also ran as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for
California’s 25th Congressional District, yet was not deemed a
“notable figure of public interest” regarding COVID-19 policy,
diagnosis and/or treatment, which prohibited him from obtaining a
“verified” badge on Twitter.

Tyson says he posted only truthful statements about COVID-19 policy,
diagnosis and/or treatment with his account, and none of his tweets
were classified as a “strike” or violated Twitter’s terms of service.

Like Malone’s, Tyson’s and Fareed’s accounts were permanently suspended.

“In a nutshell, these are five [physicians] of the most knowledgeable
and helpful voices in the world regarding COVID-19 treatment,” Matthew
Tyson wrote in his letter. “Disturbingly, Twitter silenced all of
them.”