Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya joined Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” on Thursday to share his reaction on the recent release of the second edition of the Twitter Files.
This edition was particularly relevant to him as the contents of this release specifically detailed his Twitter account.
Journalist Bari Weiss, who released the second edition of the Twitter Files on behalf on CEO Elon Musk, used Dr. Bhattacharya’s account in an example of some of the platform’s censorship prior to Musk’s ownership.
“Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) who argued that COVID lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a ‘Trends Blacklist,’ which prevented his tweets from trending,” Weiss tweeted.
3. Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending. pic.twitter.com/qTW22Zh691
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
Dr. Bhattacharya shared his disbelief over the censorship and stated that if there were an open discussion on the topics surrounding Covid, the schools would not have closed in 2020 and the lockdowns would have lifted much earlier.
This clip of Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya – who was shadowbanned by Twitter – discussing the ramifications of censorship is an absolute must-watch: 👇🔥
"Twitter, by suppressing scientific discussion, harmed science, harmed children, and harmed the American public." pic.twitter.com/7jzyhdp4XT
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) December 9, 2022
“Twitter, by suppressing scientific discussion, harmed science, harmed children, and harmed the American public,” he said.
He furthered the conversation by saying he suspects very strongly that there was government involvement in the Twitter censorship:
“I’ve been involved with this lawsuit brought by the Missouri and Louisiana Attorney General’s offices against the Biden administration and we’ve uncovered tremendous evidence that there were federal agencies that were directing social media companies about what to censor, even who to censor. Now, if that is actually the case, that this blacklisting was directed by the government against American citizens, that’s a direct violation of my civil rights, it’s a direct violation of the First Amendment, and every American should be outraged,” he stated.
He went on the say that he believes that suppression is absolutely appropriate in the event of a violent threat against someone but to suppress discussions based on basic scientific policy is an overreach of power.
During the pandemic all we heard was #TrustTheScience but there was only one "science" allowed. Scientists, doctors & those asking questions (which is how science works) were shadow banned. Who decides what science is? Was Twitter playing science God, the government or both? https://t.co/D6ZRyUQfuD
— Heidi Hatch KUTV (@tvheidihatch) December 9, 2022
Dr. Bhattacharya asked viewers to imagine how different the world would be if there had been open, scientific discussions. He argued there was no open discussion, but rather a forced acceptance of narratives.
