Per this stipulation, filed late last night in San Francisco.
Now, I can’t say anything more until we actually file the settlement and dismiss the case, and even then I won’t be able to say much about the specifics of the settlement, as those are largely confidential.
But I want to say this: At least from my point of view, Elon Musk had nothing to do with what’s happening here. I emailed Musk briefly about the suit in April, after Twitter accepted his offer and before Judge William Alsup rejected Twitter’s motion to dismiss and allowed my lawsuit to proceed. (At the hearing on April 28, Alsup himself raised the question of whether Musk’s purchase would make the lawsuit moot.) Musk didn’t email back. The last time I’ve heard from him was last year. Whether the deal played any role in Twitter’s decision to settle is a question you’ll have to ask them, but I mostly doubt it, given the fact that no one really knows if - much less when - it will close.
In other words, this settlement comes out of my attempt to enforce my legal rights and Judge Alsup’s decision that I had a claim that should be allowed to proceed, not because of Elon Musk.
And that’s as it should be. Being able to use a functioning legal system is far more important than having Musk’s approval to tweet, especially since he is less than the ideal First Amendment hero. His entanglements and potential conflicts of interest run from China to Amber Heard, and his commitment to free speech may be absolute in principle, but it’s been spotty in practice, as more than one Tesla whistleblower will attest.
Everyone: I appreciate your passion here, but you don't know what you don't know. I am well aware of the commitment I made to you and my earlier public statements. That's truly all I can say right now. If you want to keep speculating and shooting arrows my way, go ahead.
whoa whoa whoa. I thought the (or at least "a") primary purpose of the lawsuit was to see the extent of collaboration between gov't entities and Twitter? To the extent that isn't revealed, what did the contributors/supporters of your lawsuit get for their money? Having followed you for a couple years I hope/assume you ran them through the discovery ringer and will be able to make public who Twitter was colluding with in their bans/restrictions.
I was hoping you would litigate this to the end so that it could serve as a precedent for others. I am not sure what a settlement will accomplish toward the greater good. This is why I, and I presume others, sent in funds for legal fees. All of the malarkey the federal government was doing needs to be exposed. I thought this was the case that would do that.
Very unfortunate. I thought you had said you would not reach a settlement, and would expose all the information and the extent of collaboration between twitter and the government in the censorship efforts? Curious what your price was.
Alex, I contributed $$ after you said you wouldn't settle; that you were going all the way on this. Hoping I won't feel cheated as more info becomes available.
Well that’s a disappointment. You let us down Alex. We sent you money to fight twitter… not settle. Settlement might not have been as bad if you had at least not agreed to the confidentiality BS.
You let all of us down Alex. Now twitter wins in the long run.
Raising money to fight twitter from supporters, and then accepting a payoff from Twitter to go away along with strings attached that you can't talk about the settlement. This is laughable.
If your suit gets settled, then what prevents Twitter from doing the same thing they did to you to the next Alex Berenson? I was hoping your lawsuit would end their ability to censor anyone who posted what they didn't like.
If you received a monetary settlement in excess of the amount of money you received, in the aggregate, from all the people that provided money for your legal challenge, I assume you will pay back all the people? If not, could you explain the rationale? In other words, if you aren’t going to expose Twitter for the scoundrels they are (conspiring with government, stifling free-speech, allowing their woke workforce to dictate company policy, etc) through, interrogatories, discovery, depositions and possibly a trial, then it seems the people who paid money towards your legal fight may not have gotten what they bargained for. In any event, I’d be curious to hear what if anything you will do for your supporters (particularly if you received a monetary settlement).
At first glance, I'm a bit pissed off about what Alex has said this morning also, but let's give him some time and the benefit of the doubt. If it turns out we were played, then I lost $50, but Alex will also have exposed himself as a ONE TRICK PONEY who has contributed very significantly to getting the word out about the Vaccines, but he has been monumentally and WILLINGLY wrong on some other very, very important things like early therapeutics (HCQ/IVM), Trump and now possibly this Twitter ordeal. Three strikes and you're out AB! You're on a short leash now my friend.
I thought this was about exposing them more than paying you off so why settle if you have to then keep your mouth shut? Particularly because you were pretty confident you would
Major grift vibe here. You were very clear that you wanted to get to the bottom of the relationship between Twitter and the Biden admin. Now it’s obvious that wasn’t true. I don’t care that you settled, which should put you back on Twitter. But that’s not how you sold this, soliciting donations so you could pursue this lawsuit and expose Twitter. … very disappointed in you
So, basically, you're being bought off. Got it. Honestly, I thought this crusade was less about you and more about exposing gov't/social media collusion in violating the First Amendment of countless Americans.
Not going to jump the gun here but I will be grievously disappointed if the terms preclude any revelations pertaining to Twitter’s ties to the government.
Congratulations on your settlement. As for Musk, I don’t see how restricting the speech of employees about work is even remotely in the same league of restricting free thinking individuals on an “open” platform.
Alex, I didn't donate to your lawsuit, so I have no stake here. But in my opinion, you owe it to all those who DID donate to this cause to REFUSE any settlement agreement that does not allow you to disclose the terms publicly. You benefit no one but yourself if you enter into an agreement that keeps the terms private. My guess is you will agree to it, because unfortunately it's become crystal clear in the past 10 months that you are a one-man band, not a team player. But that's a crying shame, in my opinion.
I couldn't care less about confidential financial terms of settlement. However, settlement before full discovery is completed means Twitter and their collaborators are paying to keep smoking guns from being made public. If discovery is never completed, AB himself has no idea what and how much they are hiding. I can't imagine the NDA will permit disclosure of any of the stuff in AB's 6/6 post about what's most important about the suit.
"Not for reinstatement, not for money, not for all the viruses in China. I will NOT agree to any settlement that does not preserve my discovery rights about third-party communications AND give me the right to publicize them..."
I wish this had gone to court so you would lose, then appeal, then lose until you get to SCOTUS. It’s important to have gone through a process that I feel would have ruled that the government acting in contravention of the 1st amendment by holding press conferences demanding that SM ban individual citizens, that Twitter then banned (and was therefore also in contravention of the 1A). Alas...
I hope you refund the donations. By settling you cut off the path to the SCOTUS and don't establish a legal precedent. From a personal risk point of view I understand why you are willing to settle. From a making history, curbing the tech censorship and helping save our Republic point of view, many are very disappointed. Money wins!!
I feel like I felt when I watched the freedom convoy in Ottawa get crushed under Trudeau’s jackbooted thugs… after a glimmer of hope that average people (or person in this case) could rise up and challenge the authoritarian system, it’s all just an illusion and the system will always triumph. :(
I can't speak for other people, but I donated to the legal cause because suing a major corporation is not cheap and I wanted to see an injustice corrected, not because I expected a certain outcome. I am in no way naive enough to believe that the collaboration between this current administration and social media will ever be revealed. They've got the freaking justice department carrying water for them! Twitter settling is a win because it is an admission that they do not want something exposed. Settling is a win IF Alex is allowed back on Twitter because Alex is symbolic for so many who have been banned or been placed in temporary Twitter jail.
I hope (and assume) that as part of the settlement you will be allowed back on Twitter (also assuming you want to be). I also understand you probably cannot respond to my comment right now.
Settle? WTF??!! If you do settle and do not expose twitter you will be just another bullshit grifter. Guess it doesn’t matter though, as it appears integrity always has a price. Later, loser grifter.
Wait, a lot of us gave contributions to help get all of this info out. We all wanted to know, publicly, the BS that the birdy is keeping. Are we going to get to see what all of this was about somehow? If I am missing something and this is all going to come out, then disregard my comment/question. Hopefully I am just reading this incorrectly. It wouldn't be the first time.
Recovery of legal fees, an official apology, some damages that are real due to lack of access, and restored access to the platform I bet are the minimums here. Twitter gets to not take the L in court, and the quiet part out loud is that should they do this to people again they know they can be sued, and loose. Although I'm sure the TOS gets changed promptly to avoid that....
Everyone: I appreciate your passion here, but you don't know what you don't know. I am well aware of the commitment I made to you and my earlier public statements. That's truly all I can say right now. If you want to keep speculating and shooting arrows my way, go ahead.
whoa whoa whoa. I thought the (or at least "a") primary purpose of the lawsuit was to see the extent of collaboration between gov't entities and Twitter? To the extent that isn't revealed, what did the contributors/supporters of your lawsuit get for their money? Having followed you for a couple years I hope/assume you ran them through the discovery ringer and will be able to make public who Twitter was colluding with in their bans/restrictions.
I was hoping you would litigate this to the end so that it could serve as a precedent for others. I am not sure what a settlement will accomplish toward the greater good. This is why I, and I presume others, sent in funds for legal fees. All of the malarkey the federal government was doing needs to be exposed. I thought this was the case that would do that.
I would much, much rather see all of the Discovery that Twitter was supposed to provide than a settlement. I feel like "we" lost, but "you" won.
Very unfortunate. I thought you had said you would not reach a settlement, and would expose all the information and the extent of collaboration between twitter and the government in the censorship efforts? Curious what your price was.
Alex, I contributed $$ after you said you wouldn't settle; that you were going all the way on this. Hoping I won't feel cheated as more info becomes available.
On your word that you wanted discovery to expose the lies, I sent $1000 to your attorney. If you made a monetary settlement, I expect a refund.
Hmm…are you going to make the discovery documents public? As you said that was your bold red line?
Well that’s a disappointment. You let us down Alex. We sent you money to fight twitter… not settle. Settlement might not have been as bad if you had at least not agreed to the confidentiality BS.
You let all of us down Alex. Now twitter wins in the long run.
So if a settlement in your favor happens, will you be returning donations?
Wait, what? You're taking a secret, confidential settlement?! I thought the point was to get discovery regarding Twitter's nefarious dealings?!
People didn't write checks to you for a settlement with a NDA.
So you got paid, no legal decision is made regarding their conduct so they get to continue on as if nothing happened.
Raising money to fight twitter from supporters, and then accepting a payoff from Twitter to go away along with strings attached that you can't talk about the settlement. This is laughable.
If your suit gets settled, then what prevents Twitter from doing the same thing they did to you to the next Alex Berenson? I was hoping your lawsuit would end their ability to censor anyone who posted what they didn't like.
No reason to dump on Musk. Not nice.
why would you even agree to non-disclosure of the "specifics"? Reasonable chance they just paid you to go away
I’m not in position to say what you should or should not do, but I have a far greater respect for the Project Veritas approach to NEVER settles…
If you received a monetary settlement in excess of the amount of money you received, in the aggregate, from all the people that provided money for your legal challenge, I assume you will pay back all the people? If not, could you explain the rationale? In other words, if you aren’t going to expose Twitter for the scoundrels they are (conspiring with government, stifling free-speech, allowing their woke workforce to dictate company policy, etc) through, interrogatories, discovery, depositions and possibly a trial, then it seems the people who paid money towards your legal fight may not have gotten what they bargained for. In any event, I’d be curious to hear what if anything you will do for your supporters (particularly if you received a monetary settlement).
At first glance, I'm a bit pissed off about what Alex has said this morning also, but let's give him some time and the benefit of the doubt. If it turns out we were played, then I lost $50, but Alex will also have exposed himself as a ONE TRICK PONEY who has contributed very significantly to getting the word out about the Vaccines, but he has been monumentally and WILLINGLY wrong on some other very, very important things like early therapeutics (HCQ/IVM), Trump and now possibly this Twitter ordeal. Three strikes and you're out AB! You're on a short leash now my friend.
I thought this was about exposing them more than paying you off so why settle if you have to then keep your mouth shut? Particularly because you were pretty confident you would
ultimately win in court?
Twitter is dead as more than a third of the accounts are rumored to be "bots". The number could even be higher.
Major grift vibe here. You were very clear that you wanted to get to the bottom of the relationship between Twitter and the Biden admin. Now it’s obvious that wasn’t true. I don’t care that you settled, which should put you back on Twitter. But that’s not how you sold this, soliciting donations so you could pursue this lawsuit and expose Twitter. … very disappointed in you
So, basically, you're being bought off. Got it. Honestly, I thought this crusade was less about you and more about exposing gov't/social media collusion in violating the First Amendment of countless Americans.
As many here, I thought the main motivation of the lawsuit was to expose Twitter.
A settlement is as good as a dismissal from that initial perspective
Sure glad I didn't contribute my $ if Alex is going to just settle. Hopefully he returns the funds to those that did.
Not going to jump the gun here but I will be grievously disappointed if the terms preclude any revelations pertaining to Twitter’s ties to the government.
Wait, you're settling????
Congratulations on your settlement. As for Musk, I don’t see how restricting the speech of employees about work is even remotely in the same league of restricting free thinking individuals on an “open” platform.
Alex, I didn't donate to your lawsuit, so I have no stake here. But in my opinion, you owe it to all those who DID donate to this cause to REFUSE any settlement agreement that does not allow you to disclose the terms publicly. You benefit no one but yourself if you enter into an agreement that keeps the terms private. My guess is you will agree to it, because unfortunately it's become crystal clear in the past 10 months that you are a one-man band, not a team player. But that's a crying shame, in my opinion.
I couldn't care less about confidential financial terms of settlement. However, settlement before full discovery is completed means Twitter and their collaborators are paying to keep smoking guns from being made public. If discovery is never completed, AB himself has no idea what and how much they are hiding. I can't imagine the NDA will permit disclosure of any of the stuff in AB's 6/6 post about what's most important about the suit.
We supported Berenson just to realize he is just another fraud looking out for himself
Without this part happening:
"Not for reinstatement, not for money, not for all the viruses in China. I will NOT agree to any settlement that does not preserve my discovery rights about third-party communications AND give me the right to publicize them..."
I expect a refund of my donation.
Grifter
Why settle?
I hope this agreement is good news for ALL Twitter users.
I wish this had gone to court so you would lose, then appeal, then lose until you get to SCOTUS. It’s important to have gone through a process that I feel would have ruled that the government acting in contravention of the 1st amendment by holding press conferences demanding that SM ban individual citizens, that Twitter then banned (and was therefore also in contravention of the 1A). Alas...
It's all about the discovery. If they hide (or gag you from disclosing) the juicy discovery, then you have let everyone down.
I hope you refund the donations. By settling you cut off the path to the SCOTUS and don't establish a legal precedent. From a personal risk point of view I understand why you are willing to settle. From a making history, curbing the tech censorship and helping save our Republic point of view, many are very disappointed. Money wins!!
I feel like I felt when I watched the freedom convoy in Ottawa get crushed under Trudeau’s jackbooted thugs… after a glimmer of hope that average people (or person in this case) could rise up and challenge the authoritarian system, it’s all just an illusion and the system will always triumph. :(
I can't speak for other people, but I donated to the legal cause because suing a major corporation is not cheap and I wanted to see an injustice corrected, not because I expected a certain outcome. I am in no way naive enough to believe that the collaboration between this current administration and social media will ever be revealed. They've got the freaking justice department carrying water for them! Twitter settling is a win because it is an admission that they do not want something exposed. Settling is a win IF Alex is allowed back on Twitter because Alex is symbolic for so many who have been banned or been placed in temporary Twitter jail.
Are you going to refund all those who donated to your cause?
A full refund plus interest would be fair.
hmm
I hope (and assume) that as part of the settlement you will be allowed back on Twitter (also assuming you want to be). I also understand you probably cannot respond to my comment right now.
Settle? WTF??!! If you do settle and do not expose twitter you will be just another bullshit grifter. Guess it doesn’t matter though, as it appears integrity always has a price. Later, loser grifter.
Y’all are dupes. Total joke.
Wait, a lot of us gave contributions to help get all of this info out. We all wanted to know, publicly, the BS that the birdy is keeping. Are we going to get to see what all of this was about somehow? If I am missing something and this is all going to come out, then disregard my comment/question. Hopefully I am just reading this incorrectly. It wouldn't be the first time.
Looking forward to full public disclosure of all documents regarding communication between Twitter and anyone pressuring it to throw you off Twitter.
What a waste... they are just going to ban you again. They will never give you the legal opening again.
Recovery of legal fees, an official apology, some damages that are real due to lack of access, and restored access to the platform I bet are the minimums here. Twitter gets to not take the L in court, and the quiet part out loud is that should they do this to people again they know they can be sued, and loose. Although I'm sure the TOS gets changed promptly to avoid that....