Guest Post by Sven Henrich
For Fintwit the big news last night was not that the Senate voted not to call witnesses (I don’t think anybody was surprised by that) nor that markets had dropped hard following over more uncertainty about the spreading coronavirus, no, it was the bombshell that popular blogger Zerohedge’s twitter account was suspended.
Friday night massacre.@zerohedge ? pic.twitter.com/xzv56Jrdlv
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) January 31, 2020
This morning Bloomberg, after getting confirmation from Twitter, is suggesting the suspension is permanent.
Zero Hedge, which had more than 670,000 followers, was permanently suspended from Twitter https://t.co/WcxE17vOWD
— Bloomberg (@business) February 1, 2020
My general view is that a permanent suspension is too draconian, a mistake and should be reversed.
As to the substance for the suspension Zerohedge doesn’t need me to speak for them. Their site is up and running and they have spoken for themselves. What triggered the suspension was this controversial article last night in regards to the coronavirus: Coronavirus Contains “HIV Insertions”, Stoking Fears Over Artificially Created Bioweapon.
Twitter doesn’t comment on the specific reasons for suspension, but the suspected trigger may have been this sentence:
“Something tells us, if anyone wants to find out what really caused the coronavirus pandemic that has infected thousands of people in China and around the globe, they should probably pay Dr. Peng a visit”.
Buzzfeed apparently reported the post tweet linking to the article suggesting targeted harassment. Twitter is a private company and has the right to enforce its policies. No dispute about that.
Did the posting of publicly available information constitute targeted harassment? Debatable. Zerohedge didn’t threaten violence or encourage violence, they encouraged information seeking on a hot topic. Is there a substantive basis to the base question on the virus being manipulated? I can’t say. But Zerohedge didn’t just make up the allegations, they sourced the twitter account of a public health scientist and Harvard scholar not a dorm room conspiracy theorist.
Look, I get it, some people hate Zerohedge, some think they peddle in conspiracy theories and find they’ve been relentlessly bearish and critical of the status quo. But ironically many of the same people that profess hating Zerohedge also follow them on twitter and read their information.
Most mainstream media journalists I follow also follow Zerohedge for the same reason I follow them: They publish a lot of accurate, pertinent and yes, often times controversial information.
And full disclosure: Many of my public articles have appeared on Zerohedge. Besides publishing their own articles they are also an aggregator publishing voices and opinions that many times would not be heard in any other way, so they give exposure to these voices.
Many times I don’t agree with these voices, yet my own articles have appeared on the site. So what? I don’t need to agree with everything that’s out there and neither does anyone else. We’re supposedly sentient beings with critical thinking faculties and we can make up our own minds.
Now I get it, “May pay him a visit” may be construed in some eyes as potential harassment or a veiled threat. I didn’t take it that way, but I can see where others may disagree. It’s not a phrase I would ever use.
And nobody should feel threatened or harassed and yes, if I had a major publication suggest people may pay me a visit at my place of work I would be none too pleased. Yet Zerohedge didn’t publish private information, they published publicly available information.
So if “pay him a visit” was the trigger Zerohedge may want to apologize and retract and on that basis a temporary ban may have been justified from Twitter’s perspective, but from my perch a permanent ban is an overreach and draconian.
Everybody makes mistakes and Zerohedge is a publishing monster, they put out a ton of information with a respect deserving work ethic, much of it being very useful and pertinent for many of us in the Fintwit community. And this one sentence, if it was the trigger, doesn’t justify a permanent ban.
Zerohedge has been in business since 2009 and has published thousands of articles and hundreds of thousands of tweets. There is no pattern I can discern of targeted harassment. Controversial opinions yes, factual data yes, but no targeted harassment.
Of course there is a twitter account that does indeed engage in targeted harassment on a consistent basis, even putting individuals in danger: @realdonaldtrump.
Calling the press repeatedly enemy of the people has resulted in myriad of death threats to those in the media. Calling certain people ‘traitors‘ suggestive of thinly veiled threats of execution, or asking an audience to “beat the crap out of them” from the power pulpit of the presidency is evidence of a much more ominous, consistent and pattern of targeted harassment then one sentence encouraging the seeking out of more information.
And yes, it’s a pattern and it’s targeting people:
Some may be accusing me of false equivalency, but the results of this pattern is real: ABC News finds 36 cases invoking ‘Trump’ in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults.
Twitter is the platform that tolerates this pattern.
Now let me be clear: I’m not beating up on Twitter. I’ve gotten harassed and personally targeted many times and Twitter has been on top of it and I’m grateful for their diligence. I just think they should reconsider and reverse the ban and be in communication with Zerohedge to come to a resolution.
Zerohedge is an important part of the twitter community. And while the site will remain standing on its own I personally would miss Zerohedge in my feed, and I suspect so would many others.
Free Zerohedge!
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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This ‘private company’ loophole for an organization with the reach of the social media firms is ludicrous.
They should be treated like the phone companies. They provide a service and are not in any way responsible for what gets posted, nor may they interfere in the posts.
Don’t get sucked in…..if the socials are “regulated”….who do you think is going to do the regulating? Why the very same liberal, leftist, deep state asshats, small hat MFers that already fuck with us 24/7/365…….
Let Twatwaffle do what they do…vote with your fingers, dollars and eyeballs to a competing site……Gab.ai went full retard DailyStormer but new sites will come along to replace Twitter.
If all the social media sites were regulated like phone companies, then I see no real way for the SJW’s, etc to interfere.
The phone system is a free speech venue. The Internet generally is also. The social media sites could be too.
We need to get the censors out of the way. Waiting for a competitor to Facebook, Twitter, etc isn’t realistic. Those sites came about when the deep state approved of them getting startup money. They’re all arms of TPTsB via their initial funding as the CIA has a venture capital arm; I forget its name. Even if the CIA didn’t provide the funds, they told their VC buddies it was a good idea. wink. wink.
There is no waiting. Gab is already here, up and running.
Why not compare a mosquito to a blue whale.
Read up on Gab’s history and TPTsB have been stepping on it from day one. There’s no way it will ever seriously compete with the majors because the US population is to stupid and / or to cowardly to do so.
To take on the major platforms requires some serious money AND the ability to not have the gov’t or busybody organization pull it down during its infancy. Not going to happen.
Free ZeroHedge and Tommy Robinson.
It’s 1 hour 15 minutes but Tommy breaks it down and it’s happening here too. Same players, different Country!!
“Guess what?” – “It’s a total lie!”
Do the Google test @31 minutes
turns out wherever free speech is allowed the conversation inevitably swings hard right. curiouser and curiouser.
Hammer Head the Daily Stormed is one of the best sites for getting accurate information on these motherfuckers who call themselves Jews but are not …..they are liars . Just like getting information on the number of times each day these fucking niggers attack white people and rape white women. Perhaps this is the reason you took your asshat self to Montana. To get away while you still could . Tell the true meathead .?
Hey, why aren’t all you old white guys out celebrating Black History Month?
When is White History Month? Just asking.
It’s every day until The End of History.
The place where I work has several hundred people and they love their “special emphasis” program. Flyers posted each month celebrating everyone during the year, except us evil white people. I got a kick out of their Hispanic month last year because they had a Salsa contest. After seeing that I wondered why they don’t have any food contest during black history month? 🙂
You need to wait for Juneteenth for that.
We have the same garbage at my work, every group including faggots but nothing for whites males.
The same fucks that used to gather us up for high school pep rallies are the same fucks that sit in their corporate offices and think this shit up and force it on everyone else with those big “you will comply or else” passive aggressive smiles.
The funny part is all those special history month campaigns are pitched at people who primarily don’t get into history or learning or knowledge. So no worries. They can make fake history accessible to the We Wuz Kangz types, while the rest of us know what real history is. And without white history, all they got is a few trivia facts and some famous people, many of whom would never have achieved anything without the system built by the Europeans. It’s a joke on them, really, by the well-meaning racist liberal retards.
Yes Gilbert, I guess you’re another racist white motherfucker who refuses to recognize the achievements of us niggers . 20 hail Mary’s for you big boy.?
when i was an engineer i used to work with a guy whose family came from poland and we would talk about how both in college and at the multi-national we worked at there were always engineering groups for everyone else: society for black engineers, for latino engineers (sorry latinx whatever the fuck that is), for ‘asian-americans’ (whatever the fuck that is), even for women. but not for European men. almost like a conspiracy against the only ones who didn’t need a group because we actually invented engineering and have a greater inclination for it. we jokingly brought it up to our black boss and he said we would never get funding for it anyway.
My my my , you racist white fuckers are all over this post.Hey white boy have you seen the Black Panther movie . Nothing else needs to be said .Now fuck off and give me 30 hail Mary’s for repentance.
like my cousin’s wedding to a darkie the town was all out of watermelon and chicken.
As yes MTV , us evil white people. Well I just found out from one of my lib tarded family members that way back in the day ( 1780) my great great great grand pa fucked a niggling from Africa that just got off the boat. If for one moment that this bullshit is true this means I got niggling in me. So are telling me you’re not down with my nigger brothers and affirmative action ? Confess your sins evil white man and do 10 hail Mary’s as repentance.?
Never really needed a celebration to feel good about myself. If I wanted to party I simply did it.
White History Month is April, when taxes are filed and we pay for the EITC and tax refunds of our rapacious and ill-mannered pets.
And here I was thinking that every April was white serfdom month.
I made an effort to hang on until April Fools day as my first day of retirement. It was a glorious day and the adult beverages I supplied for my retirement party at work that day were a great hit unnoticed by management. jack daniels is just great in punch. who would have thought?
Hee haw – I’m gonna steal that one
Where I come from, we just call it history.
We celebrated Mick/Wop Day every Friday night my entire yout…my Mick Dad brought home a six pack of Pabst and a pint of bourbon, and my Wop Mom made homemade killer pizza.
Let the clashing cultures celebrate!
When the old man went to the bathroom, and if my Mom and little sister were in another room…guess who often caught a little beer gulp buzz? (Always brushed my teeth right after…only got caught cold once – but I saw the old man grinning in a mirror after a soft “Why I otta” cuff).
“Copyright ©2009-2020 ZeroHedge.com/ABC Media, LTD”
Nothing to do with ABC News but with this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ivandjiiski
. . . a former investment banker who is nobody’s bitch. That’s why ZH was suspended, because they do not bow to anybody’s agenda but their own.
The dude who started Zerohedge has a big black SEC sanction on his record and is barred from the securities business…so he started Zerohedge as the only way he could monetize his knowledge and experience. Not really a great person though I do tend to agree with ZH on most things.
he was barred b/c of a $780.00 illegal gain–someting fishy in denmark–
Dummy-he should have put it in cattle futures.
Sven is actually defending Twitter??? What an idiot.
fuck twitter
Double-plus ungood. You are banned. AI Bot #12CFE34
Zerohedge isn’t infallible by any means, but they are an indispensable source of political-economic news that’s hard to find anywhere else, and they’re most often right. I’m surprised they weren’t “suspended” long ago because they regularly disprove the official narrative on key topics of the day. The take down of conservative voices continues. Thankfully zerohedge (and other great sites like TBP) have their own webpages, so we can still get their news, but for how long?
I say free the whole Fourth Estate and let REAL investigative journalism loose on these rat bastards!
Forbes list them as a top 5 blog and twitter feed.
ZH should have stuck with their original theme of finance analysis for trading/ economics nerds. They still do it, but their heavy distraction into political bullshit is going to get them into even more trouble ( like with ad buyers and politicians). But hey, they like the eyeball money so there goes a perfectly wonderful snarky site that was good at analyzing wall street and bankster manipulations, subjects that are mostly about non-partisan thievery .
Membership used to be restricted and exclusive. Now it’s a wide open yahoo comment board.
The ZH of 2020 is not the same as the ZH of 2009. AFAIK, they got bought out and have changed their content quite a bit over the years, with more focus on clickbait. That said, it’s still one of the best places to get raw financial reporting.
The ZH comment section is almost unbearable. Every paid troll and psyop organization is on that site 24/7 now. Still have some good stories though.
So true. Years ago I really enjoyed the ZH comment section. There was generally a nice mix of well-reasoned debate along with some hysterically funny stuff. Now its just a train wreck.
Been banned from both Faceberg and Twatter. It’s easy, all you have to do is tell the truth.
The Truth used to set us free, now it gets us banned.
“…tell the truth and starve.”
Ancient dictum/ Edward Mayhew/ Ouida / Anthony Britten
For the time will come when people will not put up with Truth. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2 Timothy 4:3
Very appropriate.
Some people will refuse to even listen, much less hear.
Narratives that deviate from the official story are not allowed. Unless you read from the government-issued press releases your days as a news source are numbered.
Complaining about twitter is like complaining about the homosexuals commandeering the rainbow.
Too late.
Anyone that still has a rainbow flag thinking it’s just a nice flag to hang in front of your house because of the pretty colors isn’t living in reality. Ditto using twitter.
Twitter is for the enemy. Let them have it.
+100
all social media are tools used to control the narrative.
Google is too, my friend. Despicable.
Calling certain people ‘traitors‘ suggestive of thinly veiled threats of execution
Wanting to off the Head of Eric Chiarmella with a guillotine would be a bit harsh in eyes of this author.. even if the traitor does deserve it..
did you ever go back to friday fail & say what got you banned again from twitter or are you just gonna be a tease about it?
don’t be the cause of 000 s of pairs of blue eyes,it’s just not right–
I did…
I have an idea… it needs to be shared on r/donald and 8kun
Not sure how to do it.. maybe T4C can help..
Why dont we “photobomb” twitter
It is too late for first primaries but maybe it can be done for Super Tuesday. Get folks to set up 20 or 30 burner twitter accounts and bomb The Which at 8pm EST with Pepe Memes.
It would be funny to watch…
Threats are unacceptable.
That Eric Chiarmella is a traitor and should hang is an opinion.
We did just fine before Twitter. FB. Instagram…the list goes on. Ban them, before they ban you. You provide the content to them…you are their resource. Let them rot in the dull that remains. I’ve never had any of those accounts and do just fine. I found TBP without all that nonsense.
I took two women to lunch the other day and hammered on them for for using Face cock, insta shit, twatter and that fucking Tick Tock app. I told them to stop using that shit around me. Everyone I know are obsessed with that garbage, it’s sad.
My take is millions just take to twatter with burner accounts and piss off one snowflake who then dutifuly reports to @jack at a time..
Rinse and repeat ad infinitum..
Let them play whach a mole in their echo chamber
“Bloomberg” ?? Isn’t he campaigning for a national office?? Great, big money to quiet the masses, again.
So someone is deciding what is ok for us to see and hear. The first amendment doesn’t exist?
YouTube is a joke and the people who run these social media sites have to much power and influence.
I prefer making my own decisions on what is ok to read or watch.
New twat account:
Does outing this guy who lives in china = his death ? I hate twitter and Love the hedge but I think twitter was right on this one. My personal info is also out there for everyone to see, but I wouldn’t want it linked to a deadly outbreak, even IF it was true. A permanent ban is way over the top.
Who cares? people are “outed” everyday for any idiocy that you can come up with, no one is going to do anything to Peng. It is time to stop listening to the fools who are controlling the net.
So what is it mouse @6:48
He sez…
… I wouldn’t want it linked to a deadly outbreak, even IF it was true..
Unfuckenreal!
You think ZeroHedge’s actions require a remedy but even if in the hypothetical case that You were responsible for this outbreak You should be allowed to maintain anonymity and avoid remedy in the town square….
You are holding two contradictory views you fucken hypocrite!
As with most internet services the gate keepers are generally left of Hitler when it comes to telling truth to power unless you are criticizing people on the right of the political persuasion . Speak freely about the obvious leftist slant of the majority of what attempts to pass as news media or the now socialist or communist dream that has become the Democratic Party in America and you are fucking Vaporized !
It wasn’t the doxxing of some Chinese researcher, but rather that China doesn’t want to be accused of creating the virus as a bioweapon. So they strong armed Twitter just like they do to Hollywood and Netflix.
These “platforms” are violating 1st Amendment rights. I’ve not found ZH to be peddling “fake news”, rather, I go there to find the ugly truth and they deliver. It’s Twatter that’s at fault here, not ZH. And they’re probably right regarding the offending article.
Who cares? I didn’t even know zerohedge had a twitter account.
Without it, maybe they won’t have quite as many dickbags on the site.
Before they were linked with Drudge, it was a better site.
ARE PROFESSIONAL SPORTS FIXED?
Would you leave a multi-billion dollar industry up to chance?
THE PROOF!
https://www.thefixisin.net/the-proof-5-facts
the meat of the thread which caused the uproar which led to the suspension is much more interesting when you get down into the facts presented. a relative is a microbiologist/biochemist who is experienced in the field. looking forward to an opinion from that quarter.
shocked, shocked I say. that anyone would be kicked out of feed because they were uncomfortable. twit is not worthy of my time, short as it is.
“uncomfortable speech” is speech worth hearing and shall be protected some how.
8 years ago, zerohedge banned me. Now they get a taste of their own medicine. Feels like justice in my case.
you ain’t missing much..
there is a serious hate on for Tesla on ZH, as you likely know….
it makes derision here on TBP minor league by comparison…
ZeroHedge’s downward spiral found the buffers with this ban. Since ZH’s sale there’s been an uptick in clickbait articles, a general ramping up of quantity and a move away from financial to more shall we say “speculative” journalism. That said ZH does NOT deserve a permanent ban from anywhere especially not the SJW pea-brained infested idiots at twitter. The lively insightful comments have degenerated into * dotted rants by mom’s basement types. I sincerely hope that the editorial troupe at ZH take a message from this, however unjustified the action by twitter, and clean house, spellcheck, refrain from amping their short puts with ill-founded content and start to navigate back to something of their previous standing.
ZH user since 2010
How’s Twitter’s astroturf anti-porn campaign working out?
Waiting for Pornhub to go dark.
Another Twitter distraction coming up?
Incitement if violence is a crime.
If ZH doesn’t have the basic common sense to not run afoul of laws, the ban is the least of their problems.
Posting here for perusal… wondering what Admin thinks..
“Brother, (Buddy) Can You Spare A Dime?”
Once I got a bailout, I made a ton
I made it last a short time
Once I got a bailout, and now it’s gone
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower way up to the sun
Of bricks and mortar and lime
Once I built a tower, and now it’s gone
Buddy can you spare a dime?
Once in Brioni suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that Yankee-Doodlee-Dum
A half-a-million bonus went shoppin’ for Dormeuil
And I was the kid with the gun
Say don’t you remember, you called me Al
It was Al all the time
Say don’t you remember, I was your pal
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once I got a bailout, I made a ton
I made it last a short time
Once I got a bailout, and now it’s gone
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
that is some good shit there Varmit!
My commiseration is very limited, as ZH banned me a month ago without any warning or explanation (after being a member for 9+ years.)
Reason I’m guessing is that I posted “[ZH] is slowly turning to shit” – so as they called themselves Fightclub, they can GFT.
if ZH is using ban hammer for something as mundane as that then, well, karma is Bitch and they deserve what they get.
Probably has nothing to do with the mean spirited, racist, twats who are the majority of the denizens on Zerohedge.
Maybe there’s an “APP” for this.
Why care even slightly about Twitter which produces $zero for ZH. Twitter itself made a profit in 2018 and lost both money and users in 2019.
there are so many comments here so maybe this is a duplicate but somebody did some research on the guy who caused all the trouble 4 zerohedge–the guy is a pedo and makes far too many rape jokes 4 them not to be something that he believes in but he still has his twitter account–