Twitter Reinstates Doctor It Suspended for Sharing Study That Shows Pfizer Vaccine Impacts Semen

Twitter Reinstates Doctor It Suspended for Sharing Study That Shows Pfizer Vaccine Impacts Semen
A sign is posted on the exterior of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, on April 27, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
7/15/2022
Updated:
7/15/2022
0:00
Twitter reinstated a doctor it recently suspended for sharing a study that showed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine impacts semen.

Dr. Andrew Bostom was informed late July 14 that access to his account was restored.

“After further review, we have unsuspended your account as it does not appear to be in violation of the Twitter Rules,” the message from Twitter stated.

Bostom told The Epoch Times in an email that his account never should have been suspended.

“Twitter’s arbitrary COVID-19 Lysenkoism must cease, permanently, if it is to be considered a true free speech platform for the sharing of information, and ideas,” he said.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Study

Researchers in Israel discovered that men who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine experienced a reduction in motile count, or number of sperm, sperm concentration, and semen volume.
Their research was published by Andrology following peer review.

The decline in sperm and semen was described by Dr. Itai Gat as temporary, but a table in the study showed that while the semen volume bounced back over 145 days after the vaccine, sperm concentration and total motile count were nowhere near the pre-vaccination levels.

Bostom, with the Brown University Center For Primary Care and Prevention, shared the study on Twitter on June 19.

Twitter permanently suspended him, citing an alleged violation of its policy against “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”

Legal Threat

James Lawrence III, a lawyer representing Bostom, sent Twitter a letter on July 14 warning of legal action if Bostom’s account was not restored.

“Dr. Bostom did not violate Twitter’s policy. At a minimum, nothing in our client’s tweet was ‘demonstrably false or misleading,’ nor was it ‘likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm,’” Lawrence wrote, citing Twitter policy.

“Dr. Bostom tweeted findings from a peer-reviewed study, and he summarized its content within the 280 character limit Twitter’s platform allows,” he added.

Lawrence said Twitter violated its “five-strikes” policy on suspending accounts that supposedly spread COVID-19 misinformation and pointed to a recent case he brought on behalf of journalist Alex Berenson, where the judge said Twitter did not follow its rule when it banned Berenson.

Lawrence asked for an account restoration by July 21.

“While our client trusts that litigation will be unnecessary in this case, he is prepared to sue Twitter if necessary,” Lawrence said.

Hours later, Twitter restored the account.

“Your account is now unsuspended. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience,” Twitter wrote to Bostom.

Berenson

Berenson, a prominent critic of COVID-19 vaccines, reached a settlement with Twitter in early July and was reinstated on July 6.

Berenson was assured by a Twitter executive that he wasn’t in danger of being suspended but was anyways, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee, said in a ruling rejecting Twitter’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit that Berenson “plausibly avers that Twitter’s conduct here modified its contract with plaintiff and then breached that contract by failing to abide by its own five-strike policy and its specific commitments set forth through its vice president.”

Berenson, before Bostom was reinstated, asked Twitter why the doctor had been suspended.

Bostom’s post “looks like an entirely factual and accurate description of the Israeli study on sperm counts post-mRNA vaccination,” Berenson wrote on Twitter. He later posted his own summary of the study, and was not punished.

Bostom thanked Lawrence and Berenson for their efforts.

Berenson called the restoration “another huge victory for Twitter users.”

“Each time Twitter backs down, it acknowledges fair enforcement of those rules is integral to its terms of service and opens the door wider to breach-of-contract lawsuits for violating them. Unless it tosses its rules entirely it has no choice but to enforce them honestly,” he added.