Twitter Restores Zero Hedge Account After Admitting Error

(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Inc. reinstated the account of Zero Hedge after suspending it earlier this year, saying it made a mistake in accusing the libertarian financial website of violating rules against harassment.

“We made an error in our enforcement action in this case,” a spokesperson for Twitter said in an email. “Based on additional context from the account holder in appeal, we have reinstated the account. We have a dedicated appeals process for all account holders.”

The social network banned Zero Hedge’s Twitter account in January after its pseudonymous author “Tyler Durden” published an article questioning the involvement of a Chinese scientist in the outbreak of the coronavirus. The article also included the name and personal information of a scientist who it said may have knowledge about the source of the virus.

In a piece titled ‘Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?’, Durden included a picture of a scientist at Wuhan’s Institute of Virology and suggested users could pay him “a visit” to find out more about what caused the outbreak.

Zero Hedge returned to Twitter on Friday night after Twitter reactivated the account.

Following the initial suspension, the author known as Durden told Bloomberg that he did not believe Zero Hedge broke any of Twitter’s terms.

“We are glad that Twitter has rectified their error and look forward to rejoining the conversation,” Durden said in an email when asked about the account’s reinstatement.

In 2016, Bloomberg revealed the identities of Zero Hedge’s three main writers. They were Colin Lokey, who quit the blog, Tim Backshall, a credit derivatives strategist, and Daniel Ivandjiiski, a Bulgarian-born former analyst long-rumored to be behind the site.

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