Thread by @jason_kint

This needs US attention:
Andy Wigmore, an air-tight biz partner to largest donor in UK political history, was suspended from Twitter in Nov for "posting violent threats." It appears he may be using a sock puppet account to continue to threaten a globally recognized journalist. /1

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1388106909136433154

My first logical question is whether this "Team Belize" account is indeed Wigmore? The tweets and his Belize history, make it almost certain. But there are also selfies from 2012-2016 - way prior to his being a household name - that make it near 100%. /2

Second logical question is why is he still suspended from Twitter and is he violating their rules again with another account? Here is a screen grab from claims he was unfairly suspended. Not sure if there were other violations - only @TwitterSupport would know. Red box mine. /3

This brings us back to Banks's role in this. This same sock puppet account boosted Banks and his threats and harassment in November and again as recently as yesterday. Banks almost certainly knows about it. And again, the account likely violates Twitter policy. @TwitterSupport /4

If all of this holds up (it almost certainly will) then my questions:
1) Wigmore should have lifetime ban
2) Banks should already be suspended for targeted harassment and threats
3) Banks knowledge of the sock puppet account is deeply concerning /5

Context for all this:
- Banks continues to try to chill journalists by threatening lawsuits and suing journalist personally.
@ICFJ and @UNESCO put out a report on online violence against women journalists yday citing Wigmore that prompted sock puppet. icfj.org/our-work/chill… /6

Banks's motivations in his attempts to chill the press are unclear but public interest in his $ sources, Russian embassy meetings and widely-promoted relations with US concerns, too, including Trump. All of this is more effective in the UK especially when US press ignores it. /7

Here is a report from The Guardian on Banks's SLAPP lawsuit against @carolecadwalla as further background. /8 theguardian.com/law/2019/dec/1…

Lastly, I happened to be tweeting about the case yesterday so here is a thread with links to the crowdfunding site for Carole's defense. She would be reluctant to ask anyone to help fund it but I can. Banks is a wealthy bully with despicable means. /9

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1387822851181498374?s=20

And if anyone can help draw more attention to this, it's appreciated. Twitter more than some others has been a friend to journalism and press freedom. Every one of these tweets, including boosts from sock puppet, puts women journalists in harms way. Hence the case studies. /10

And again, if I can ask you to also read and share the ICFJ report. P84 explains Banks and Wigmore. @mariaressa is a very important case involving not only financial harassment but her freedom as the Duterte govt works to chill their reporting. /11 icfj.org/sites/default/…

Bye bye

https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1388268374820540417

I’ll add that “bye bye” was a moment of seeing something appropriate happen. Again, the account was used for online violence against a female journalist.
And that was the easy part.
The hard part is proper reporting it and Arron Banks’ role in harassing and chilling the press.

And now it’s clearly labeled as “suspended.” Twitter did the right thing here. Now we just need to remember there are real people behind this online violence and we know exactly who they are.