Twitter Suspends Grabien Media For Quoting Congressman

On Friday, Twitter banned media company Grabien after repeating a quote from US congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who said “Big Pharma Won’t Consider Therapeutics Like HCQ or Ivermectin Because of Economic Interests.“

Grabien tweeted Biggs’ comment and linked to a video of him saying it.

Lo and behold, Twitter suspended Grabien’s account for “violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” according to founder Tom Elliott, who’s been documenting the actions against his media outlet via his personal Twitter account.

As I’ve documented earlier, @TwitterSupport doesn’t have an actual, transparent appeals process. There’s no way to verify they actually acknowledge the merits of an appeal.

Thread: https://t.co/vnsXNyN8fk

Piece: https://t.co/iHWcnYooaX

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 31, 2021

Elliott appealed, yet says he has “no confidence in Twitter doing the right thing.“

I’ve appealed, making this point. However I have no confidence in Twitter doing the right thing and acknowledging this tweet did not violate its terms & conditions. pic.twitter.com/UwFet4NBdo

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 31, 2021

Four days later, and Twitter has yet to respond to Elliott’s appeal.

“It’s been four days since @TwitterSupport received my appeal of their suspension of @GrabienMedia.

So far, no reply,” he wrote in a Monday tweet.

It’s been four days since @TwitterSupport received my appeal of their suspension of @GrabienMedia.

So far, no reply.

How long does it take to verify that Twitter’s rules don’t prohibit journalism? https://t.co/aZCuF9jvoN

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 3, 2022

Nothing to see here. Just one of the world’s largest social media platforms silencing a media outlet for accurately conveying what a sitting member of Congress said.