Drs. Peter McCullough and Robert Malone were reinstated to Twitter Monday night. Both had been kicked off the platform for allegedly spreading misinformation and for challenging the establishment narrative concerning pharmaceutical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The restoration of their accounts, which some critics reportedly have suggested will cause harm, comes amid a campaign under the social media platform’s new leadership to ostensibly foster and protect free speech — an initiative once called into question by one of the former Twitter exiles.
What are the details?
Robert Malone, a biochemist involved in the invention of the mRNA vaccine platform, had his account banned late last December for “violating [Twitter] policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
Upon learning of his ban, Malone, branded a “Covid Misinformation Star” by the New York Times, wrote on his Substack, “We all knew it would happen eventually. Today it did.”
“Over a half million followers gone in a blink of an eye. That means I must have been on the mark, so to speak. … It also means we lost a critical component in our fight to stop these vaccines being mandated for children and to stop the corruption in our governments, as well as the medical-industrial complex and pharmaceutical industries,” Malone added.
The ban took place ahead of Malone’s appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience,” which was entered into the congressional record by Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) after both YouTube and Twitter removed the interview from their platforms.
Malone suggested to Rogan that he might have prompted the final censorial response when he referenced on Twitter a “fantastic video” put out by the Canadian COVID Care Alliance group detailing alleged “malfeasance and data manipulations, misinterpretations associated with the Pfizer vaccines and their clinical trials,” which he conceded may have been “interpreted as something that would cause people to become vaccine hesitant.”
Cardiologist Peter McCullough is the former vice chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, an author of roughly 677 medical publications in peer-reviewed journals, one of the world’s most cited medical experts, and a medical practitioner who treated COVID-19 patients. He had his account permanently suspended on Oct. 6.
At the time, McCullough told the Falun Gong-run broadcaster NTD, “This is just another example of medical censorship by Big Tech on doctors who have the freedom, according to the First Amendment, to express their scientific views through freedom of speech.”
Their reinstatements come after Twitter dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, first formed in 2016.
Back in the saddle
In his first tweet after reinstatement, McCullough wrote, “Alright everyone, I am back on Twitter! Let’s see my verification and completely uncensored, no unfollow programs, no bots assigned to me, and absolutely no shadow-banning. Let the world hear the medical truth (98% want it) on the pandemic and more!”
McCullough proceeded to promote his socials and note that if Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who visited Twitter’s headquarters on Saturday, had something to do with his “release” then he is “indebted.”
After calling for other silenced medical professionals to be permitted back on Twitter, the cardiologist went on to tweet, “Since Twitter struck me down, I have come back even more powerful, more than @elonmusk can ever know! Let’s join forces to break the psychological-pathological spell of the bio-pharmaceutical complex and get the world back on its axis!”
Upon his return, Malone similarly called for the restoration of other suspended doctors’ accounts.
After retweeting a post accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of causing “more harm to humanity than any other scientist in history,” the biochemist also responded to critiques of his reinstatement, writing, “Well, there are still the usual Twitter trolls tossing old corporate media hit pieces and snark at me. What they do not know is that our lawsuit against the WaPo is progressing, and we are biding our time for many others including the Atlantic and the NYT. Truth is like a lion.”
It is unclear whether Malone’s reinstatement will affect his previous distrust for Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Malone penned an opinion piece for LifeSite in October, suggesting that Elon Musk does not really care “about scientists’ and conservatives’ ability to interact on the social media app.”
The biochemist accused Musk of seeking to “bring social media, banking, auto loans, Amazon type buying, insurance, paying loans and utility bills, medical insurance, service estimates, you name it, under the umbrella of Twitter. Everything you do, buy, or need could be bought on the Twitterverse. This is about power and money.”