Former New York Times reporter suing over Twitter ban looking closely at Elon Musk takeover
Journalist was booted from platform for his COVID vaccine analysis
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New York Times reporter and "Pandemia" author Alex Berenson's lawsuit against Twitter for banning him goes to court Thursday, he told Fox News.
Berenson, whose work now appears on Substack, said he initially filed the lawsuit in December, and that it has survived Twitter's motion-to-dismiss.
"Our lawsuit, I think, is stronger than a lot of other lawsuits that have not survived the motion-to-dismiss stage," he said Wednesday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
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Berenson (FOX)
"It's a very interesting moment because I am, you know, like everyone else -- I'm waiting to see what Elon [Musk] does with the platform. But right now, Elon does not own Twitter and I am not allowed on Twitter," Berenson added, telling Fox News his First Amendment rights were trampled by what California law should consider a "common carrier."
He said that unlike other Twitter critics, he is happy the tech giant is headquartered in the state, because it has strong free-speech protections codified in law.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It also has a section of its civil code that essentially makes clear that Twitter should be defined as a common carrier for the purposes of California law. So I have protections under California law that, if enforced, would essentially force Twitter to allow me back on the platform," Berenson said.
"Twitter is a large private company, and California courts have said before that shopping malls, for example, must allow people to speak even if their speech is not what the malls want -- Twitter is much more powerful than a shopping mall."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter in a deal worth more than $43 billion and take the social media company private. (Reuters)
Berenson maintained he was booted from Twitter for speaking the truth about the vaccine risks and political treachery in the COVID pandemic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"My final tweet said it doesn't stop infection or transmission about the vaccines," he said. "I think everyone in the world would agree about the RNA vaccines (Moderna & Pfizer). That's correct."
"There's this idea that somehow if we allow people free speech, there'll be this complete breakdown," Berenson added. "That's nonsense. Twitter just needs to allow the kinds of speech online that are allowed offline and with the same limits."