An anti-vaccine influencer who has drawn ire from Dr. Anthony Fauci has been permanently suspended from Twitter.
Alex Berenson, an author who downplayed the severity of COVID-19 and questioned vaccines, lockdowns, and other protocols, was permanently suspended from the platform for "repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules ," a Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Berenson confirmed his suspension, saying the tweet that prompted his removal from the platform was "entirely accurate."
"It doesn't stop infection. Or transmission," the tweet said of vaccines. "Don't think of it as a vaccine. Think of it — at best — as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS."
SUSPENDED, BANNED, AND DELETED: CENSORSHIP WAR BETWEEN BIG TECH AND REPUBLICANS, IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The suspension of Berenson was criticized by some on the Right.
"Alex Berenson has been a courageous voice of reason throughout the pandemic. As a result he has been censored. During his suspension on Twitter, you can find him on Substack, http://alexberenson.substack.com . He provides a valuable counter perspective to the group-think mainstream media," Sen. Ron Johnson tweeted .
Others applauded his removal, with Matthew Cortland, a senior fellow at Data for Progress, writing that it took Twitter "far, far too long to remove" Berenson and "that unconscionable delay harmed us all." Public health officials have repeatedly said the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and the two-dose Pfizer vaccine was granted full approval by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday.
Berenson drew criticism from Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief adviser on infectious diseases, for a speech delivered to the Conservative Political Action Conference in which the anti-vaccine influencer accused the U.S. government of attempting to "sucker 90% of the population into getting vaccinated."
"I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it's a good thing for people not to try and save their lives," Fauci said on CNN's State of the Union in July, calling the crowd's reaction to Berenson's remarks "horrifying."
Berenson previously argued he experienced Big Tech censorship in June 2020 when Amazon attempted to halt sales of his book, Unreported Truths About COVID-19 And Lockdowns Part 1: Introductions and Death Counts and Estimates, which the retailer said did not comply with the company's guidelines.
Amazon then reversed course , which Berenson then celebrated, writing, "WOW WOW WOW" and thanking all who spoke out against the censorship.
The notion that Big Tech platforms have been censoring dissenting voices has made headlines since former President Donald Trump was deplatformed following the Jan. 6. Capitol Hill attack. Twitter, Facebook, and others said Trump's words and actions preceding the attack incited violence and warranted removal.
While Trump's Facebook account may be reinstated someday, the company's independent Oversight Board announced in May that the ban would temporarily remain in place. On June 4, the board determined the ban would remain in place for at least two years.
Trump has retaliated, filing lawsuits last month against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and demanding "an end to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well." On Tuesday, Trump announced he was seeking a preliminary injunction in the case, which alleged a violation of the First Amendment via cooperation between tech companies and the U.S. government.
In recent months, Big Tech has cracked down on misinformation pertaining to COVID-19, but the White House has argued that bans from one platform should translate to other websites.
"You shouldn't be banned from one platform and not others for providing misinformation out there," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing last month.
Psaki also said the Biden administration is flagging coronavirus misinformation in accord with a warning from Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on "health misinformation."
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The United States has seen approximately 38.7 million cases of COVID-19, with 634,157 deaths attributed to the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 173 million people, or 52.1% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated against the virus, the CDC added.