@alexberenson

Hello Twitter

Let’s get the official statement - the reinstatement statement - out of the way first:

The parties have come to a mutually acceptable resolution. I have been reinstated. Twitter has acknowledged that my tweets should have not led to my suspension at that time.

Take a look at that third sentence again.

Twitter has acknowledged that my tweets should have not led to my suspension at that time.

Oh.

(Yeah, I think you got this wrong):

To recap: last August, Twitter banned me after I got five strikes under its Covid-19 misinformation policy. Which meant I’d supposedly made “claims of fact” that were “demonstrably false or misleading” and “likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm” (that’s the policy, that’s what it takes to get a strike, look it up).

Now we come to find those tweets “should not have led to my suspension”?

Oopsie.

Hey, everybody makes mistakes.

Not everybody’s mistakes lead to a worldwide series of defamatory articles like this one, though:

All in the past, though! The lil bird and I are now the best of friends.

And I can’t wait for Insider and NBC News and everyone else who drooled over my suspension in August 2021 and later to devote equal space to the fact that I’m back and Twitter’s admission it should not have banned me. Much more, actually, because this has NEVER happened before.

You know what it took Twitter to admit it shouldn’t have done what it did?

You do not, and I can’t tell you, because the statement is all I can say about the settlement.

Except I need to add one thing. The settlement does not end my investigation into the pressures that the government may have placed on Twitter to suspend my account. I will have more to say on that issue in the near future. I made a promise to readers last month, and I take my promises to readers seriously.

—

Now the thank yous:

To James Lawrence, a great lawyer and an even better guy;

Sean Gates, who was far more than local counsel;

Peter Girvan and Kevin Winters, who brought the fight to Ireland;

The many other lawyers who provided helpful advice;

The man in Hollywood who back in September made a helpful suggestion;

Judge William Alsup, who gave the lawsuit fresh eyes;

Chris Best and the Substack team, who kept my voice from being completely silenced the last 10 months;

Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s former director of communications, whose accidental honesty proved very helpful;

Twitter and its lawyers, without whose arrogance and overreliance on Section 230 we could not have survived the motion to dismiss;

Jackie and the kids, who were were semi-willing participants in many a conference call with James Lawrence (Dada, is James younger than you?);

Most of all, the thousands of you who put up your own hard-earned money where my mouth is.

You provided not just the resources I needed to stand up to the little bird but good wishes and prayers against the bitter cynicism of the many woke journalists and self-styled legal analysts who said I didn’t have a chance. And you reminded me why Berenson v Twitter mattered.

This battle for truth and free speech is won. The war is far from over.

Onward.