Journalist Alex Berenson: Twitter ban follows months of White House crackdown

Journalist and author Alex Berenson, former science writer Newspaper “New York Times and known as one of the most vocal critics of official coronavirus policy, he reportedly put pressure on Twitter in the months leading up to its permanent ban on the platform, which was recently lifted following the conclusion of the White House’s lawsuit against the social network. . . .

White House officials specifically asked Twitter why skeptical writers weren’t banned from the platform, according to internal discussions among Twitter employees that took place on Slack, a workplace discussion app, and were posted in Berenson’s newsletter.

From Berenson’s newsletter:

Andrew Slavitt, senior adviser to President Biden’s COVID-19 response team, specifically complained about me, according to a Twitter employee in another Slack chat about the White House meeting.

“They really want to know about Alex Berenson,” the employee wrote. “Andy Slavitt suggested they found the data, so [visualization] demonstrated to be the center of persuasive public disinformation.”

According to a June 2021 interview with The Washington Post, Slavitt has worked directly with the most powerful officials in the federal government, including Ron Klein, President Biden’s chief of staff, and Biden himself.

Months after Slavitt’s meeting on Twitter, President Biden began pressuring the public, accusing social media companies of “killing people” and allowing “disinformation” about the coronavirus to spread.

After being permanently banned from Twitter shortly after this pressure campaign, Berenson became the first US media figure to lift a permanent ban on the platform through the legal system.

As part of the court settlement announced this summer, Twitter banned Berenson’s account. Other details of the deal were not disclosed.