Doctor 'blacklisted' on Twitter for COVID lockdown warnings: They wanted an 'illusion of consensus'
Elon Musk's 'Twitter Files' reveals Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was on 'blacklist' for COVID lockdown criticism
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dr. Jay Bhattacharya spoke out against Twitter’s censorship Thursday after revelations he was "blacklisted" on the platform in 2021. Bhattacharya said he believes the move was intentional to keep his message against COVID lockdowns from reaching the public.
Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University, explained on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that he joined Twitter in August 2021 specifically to share that lockdowns and school closures weren’t necessary in managing the pandemic. He wanted the American population to know there are other ways to protect vulnerable people.
"I was put on a trend blacklist the moment I joined," Bhattacharya told host Tucker Carlson. "What that means is that I write a tweet, my followers see the tweet, but the trend blacklist makes sure that people outside of my followers don't see the tweet."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The second installment of Elon Musk's so-called "Twitter Files" shed light on the company's practices of secretly "blacklisting" certain tweets. (Getty Images)
Bhattacharya said he remained on the blacklist until only a week ago. He was then invited by Elon Musk to Twitter’s headquarters, where they discussed the circumstances of the censorship.
Bhattacharya learned he was blacklisted at the request of "unspecified agents" – either inside or outside of Twitter – but it is unclear who the agents were.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bhattacharya is involved in a case with the Attorneys General offices in Missouri and Louisiana as well as the New Civil Liberties Alliance. The case, Bhattacharya claimed, found that government actors were in contact with Twitter and told social media platforms who and what to censor regarding COVID information.
"It was a policy designed to make sure the American public did not hear that there were other alternative scientific views than just lockdown, lockdown, lockdown," he said.
Bhattacharya argued there was "robust" debate among scientists about the right way to manage the pandemic, but he believes the government wanted to create an "illusion of consensus" about the science.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STANFORD PROFESSOR WHO CHALLENGED LOCKDOWNS AND ‘SCIENTIFIC CLERISY’ DECLARES ACADEMIC FREEDOM 'DEAD
UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 10: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya speaks during a roundtable discussion with members of the House Freedom Caucus on the COVID-19 pandemic at The Heritage Foundation on Thursday, November 10, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"They wanted to fool people into thinking that we were following the science," he said.
He said being blacklisted was a violation of his civil and First Amendment rights, but he stressed the most important issue was that Americans weren’t able to hear honest debate about COVID policies.
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"People suffered as a consequence of this censorship," Bhattacharya said.
"I believe that had that honest debate taken place, none of those policies would have been put in place and all of that suffering could have been avoided."