Twitter has allegedly said that it has permanently suspended markets blog Zero Hedge’s Twitter account, @zerohedge, and it is suspended for violating the company’s platform manipulation policy. On Wednesday, Zero Hedge posted a blog that allegedly doxxed a Chinese scientist and without any evidence strongly suggested that the scientist created the strain of coronavirus that’s currently spreading around the world.
That blog lists a name, photo, email, and phone number that are allegedly tied to the scientist, and suggested that readers “pay [him] a visit” if they wanted to know “what really caused the coronavirus pandemic.” BuzzFeed News reported on Zero Hedge’s blog that doxxed the scientist earlier this evening, ahead of the Twitter suspension.
The Verge is not publishing a link to Zero Hedge’s blog post or information about the scientist just to avoid spreading misinformation.
Twitter even said that it will actively remove users spreading disinformation about the outbreak.
Because Zero Hedge’s Twitter account is now permanently suspended, all its pages have been wiped clean, so it’s still not clear what exactly led to the account’s suspension. However, Twitter in a blog post on Wednesday said that it would remove users that it felt were spreading disinformation.
Zero Hedge allegedly grew to prominence after the 2008 financial crisis and it has regularly been sharing pessimistic world views. Twitter has not commented anything about whether or not it will take down tweets linking to Zero Hedge’s blog doxxing the Chinese scientist or otherwise keep the misinformation from spreading. Before the suspension of its account, Zero Hedge had more than 670,000 followers on Twitter.
Facebook and Instagram said yesterday they would also remove false claims and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. Yesterday, the WHO (World Health Organization) declared that the coronavirus is a global public health emergency. President Trump has also banned foreign nationals who have traveled to China in the last 14 days from entering the US.
