Are there any Qualified Twitter Advisors for Covid19 Information?

Dear Friends,

On April 18, 2021, Twitter blocked my account for 12 hours because I ‘broke Twitter rules by sharing Covid19 misinformation'. (see below)

I wrote the following response contesting their determination. I sent this via their impersonal “appeal process” and also sent it via email to Twitter's senior managers.

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For Twitter Senior Management 

Dear Sirs/Madams,

I recommend Twitter employ qualified scientific and medical advisors to provide guidance regarding how to manage and honor the rapidly emerging and changing knowledge regarding Covid19 illness and treatments.  

Reasons for this recommendation follows: 

> Twitter has blocked my account for 12 hours and the reason given does not appear to violate Twitter standards.

>  Why do I question this block? Because I quoted a preprint publication of a study registered with the US Government’s National Institute of Health’s registry for clinical trials.

>  It is difficult to understand how sharing a US Government registered study and preliminary results could be perceived as deliberate Covid19 misinformation by Twitter.

> See https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04832945 where the study is registered 

> the article in preprint is on MedRxiv https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.10.21255248v2

>  MedRxiv is a very reputable source and was founded by Yale University, and BMJ, a global healthcare knowledge provider.

I know that this pandemic is a great challenge for both individuals and institutions.

I am not the only person to have been blocked for posting US government registered studies and reputable peer reviewed and pre-print articles on Covid19.

For these reasons, I recommend Twitter employ qualified scientific and medical advisors to provide guidance regarding how to manage and honor the rapidly emerging and changing knowledge regarding Covid19 illness and treatments. 

I would appreciate your acknowledgement of this communication.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Jenna Luché-Thayer

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Twitter sent me a rote response to my appeal repeating 'sorry you broke Twitter rules on Covid19 misinformation'. 

They stated I was allowed to sign back in as long as the tweet referring to the NIH registered study was deleted from my account.

Once I got back on Twitter, I sent Twitter another response via their appeal process quoting their own policy and restating they had made a mistake.

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/medical-misinformation-policy

COVID-19 misleading information policy: What is not a violation of this policy?

"Public debate about the advancement of COVID-19 science and research, including debate about research related to COVID-19, such as the effectiveness of treatments and mitigation measures, so long as the claims don’t misrepresent research findings."

I had directly quoted the NIH registered study, so it is mystery as to how Twitter determined this could misrepresent its findings.

I then sent these two tweets to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust via my opened account.

Twitter has blocked numerous accounts that provide "Public debate about the advancement of COVID-19 science and research, including debate about research related to COVID-19, such as the effectiveness of treatments and mitigation measures, so long as the claims don’t misrepresent research findings."

I close with the following questions:

1) Why is Twitter failing to meet its own stated policies?

2) Who is advising Twitter on what comprises Covid19 misinformation versus what comprises debate/information on research findings?

3) What are the qualifications of these Covid19 advisors?

4) Will Twitter align their policy with practice or continue to make what appears to be misinformed and/or uninformed and/or arbitrary actions regarding Covid19 information?

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Faithfully,

Jenna Luché-Thayer

Jenna Luché-Thayer, MIA, has 35+ years of policy and grassroots experience in 45 countries. Her expertise includes transparency, accountability and human rights. She is a former Senior Advisor to the US Government and the United Nations.