Two days of Twitter exile

Are there witch-hunters on twitter?

“I don’t know,” was my repeated response to the question of why I had been taken off twitter. I had never been suspended before and did not know how to find out. I was told twitter must have emailed me - but they had not.

Here is what I know and still do not know about what happened.

A friend found this person who seemed to be gloating that they had got me suspended for “hateful conduct.”

This just left me confused. I have never said anything rude to or about anybody. It’s not me. The time I came close was this tweet which I remember vividly because it crossed that line.

I did wonder if Twitter had a policy of suspend first and investigate later for that accusation for legal reasons. That would explain the lack of email.

I appealed on that basis and therefore was not too bothered as I thought I would be exonerated and returned. I was also trying to get my book on covid myths, Leaving Cloud Covid Land, finished and could do without distractions. If it was to be permanent, I would be angry at the principle of not being able to have that voice for the rest of my life.

There were other accounts who were also claiming to have been the one who had managed to take me down e.g.

There appeared to be a group of twitter witch-hunters who had made me their target. How many others had been targeted before me?

Then this appeared which confused me.

At first glance this is someone also claiming responsibility for having caused my suspension, (while noting his saviour the vaccine for whom all good works are done).

A closer look reveals something odd. The twitter “violation found” says “We reached out to @ClareCraigPath to let them know someone cares and wants to help them. If you know them and want to offer support, we recommend reaching out personally.”

It seems I was the victim of that hateful conduct report not the perpetrator. Twitter did not reach out. Maybe they don’t care after all?

Was the “oops my finger slipped” a reference to someone photoshopping this image to say something else? Is the message from twitter in the top image a standard one? I don’t know.

Naturally no-one could point to what it was I was accused of having said that deemed I should be banished. But then, there are plenty of people on twitter who don’t care for evidence…

There was an outpouring of hate towards me. I was called a “covidiot”, “charlatan,” “fraud, “grifter,” “a malevolent force,” “a truly diabolical human being”  with “vile behaviour,” who “kills people” “#bloodonyourhands.”

I was also called “dangerous.” I was not dangerous, except to these people’s world view. The more real world evidence mounts up that their views are wrong the more they want someone to lash out at

.

I also had an outpouring of support from people I am in touch with regularly, some for whom I hadn’t heard in a while and some who contacted me for the first time. I am really grateful to all who reached out directly or supported me online.

Other victims of such these witch-hunters would not have had the same degree of support and I don’t doubt for a minute that the outrage expressed about Twitter’s conduct that led to my being reinstated.

Twitter acknowledged my appeal on Monday morning so I knew that there was no problem with communication from them to my email, despite no previous correspondence. The next communication from them was Tuesday at 4pm when they said I had been permanently suspended and “Replies to this email will not be reviewed as this decision will not be reversed.”

This was really odd. I appealed again:

“You suspended me without informing me why.

I have since been permanently suspended for one of the following offences:

Creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping uses
Evading a permanent suspension by creating or using another account
Cross-posting Tweets or links across multiple accounts
Aggressive following, particularly through automated means

I have not created multiple accounts with overlapping uses.
I had an account @ThanksDr which was the public face of a company I ran. I last used that account in 2013.
I set up an account @ClareUSA to allow me to access twitter on a USA mobile phone when I lived there in 2015 but for no other purpose.
The only account I have used as an individual is the one you have just suspended me from.

I have never been suspended before so can't be evading a permanent suspension ban.

I have never cross posted or taken part in "aggressive following".

Please tell me what it is that you have decided justifies this permanent suspension.”

I started taking advice on legal action.

Nearly four hours later they responded with this:

I finally had a reason! It was a very unusual one. “We have systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk, and yours was flagged as spam by mistake. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.”

Twitter are not perfect but they have given me a platform that I otherwise would not have had. Other social media companies have been far more intolerant.

If Twitter were bombarded with a series of co-ordinated reports that I was being abusive and hateful and they suspended my account on that basis, then fair enough. Having investigated and exposed that these were fabricated allegations do Twitter allow these people to remain on their platform and attack someone else? Was the story about spam a way to get them out of admitting that they have a problem with Witch-hunters? What would that mean for other people who have been wrongly suspended?

If you ask me now why I was suspended, I would still be tempted to answer, “I don’t know.”

I have at least finally got round to setting up alternative platforms on Substack, GETTR and @DrClareCraigPath on Telegram, although I don’t want to end up in an echo chamber.

On Telegram, @DrClareCraig and @ClareCraigPath are not me and I have reported them multiple times with no response from Telegram. At least Twitter do remove impersonators eventually.

In the meantime, I will add a couple of new paragraphs to the Chapter on Witch-hunts in Leaving Cloud Covid Land and try and get it finished.