Thread by @NeilFlochMD

About 5 years ago I had 150 new people following me every day. My tweets were seen by many then one day it all stopped…. A website in Europe detected that I was #shadowbanned by @twitter 1/

https://twitter.com/NeilFlochMD/status/1601156185960456193

Clearly my tweets and retweets were not getting the same impact - I had gained notoriety from my social media presence and I had no answers. I had no recourse. No one at #twitter would respond to my texts, emails, or calls. So… I just worked harder… 2/

I worked on influencing others on and off social media to advocate for fair treatment of those with #obesity and access to care for treatment- others became involved in social medi and #twitter 3/

I added other social media outlets such as @instagram @facebook and now @tiktok_us but unfortunately @twitter still had the most impact. Clearly thought…. I was preaching to a choir and no longer screaming from a rooftop. 4/

As a spokesperson and running other sites I was able to effectively boost the word about #obesity #bariatricsurgery and raise awareness of how surgery and medications work 5/

My messaging became dependent upon others retweeting so pertinent and timely information was the goal. I could not depend on a few quality tweets but needed to “paint the town” with more information. If my tweets had less impact then there would be more tweets 6/

Recently I had the chance to talk with a former employee of another bigger social media application who offered the information that #usersuppression or #shadowbanning does occur along with downplaying certain topics such as #weightloss and #obesity 7/

I have created this thread so that my colleagues who I have told who did not believe me or told me that it must be what I am tweeting… are wrong. @twitter was nefarious and suppressing accounts and topics

https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1601008766861815808

Many individuals have questioned @elonmusk for taking over #twitter, firing employees, reestablishing questionable players, and eliminating the #bluecheck mark of distinction but many of us progressive thinkers have also been suppressed without the ability to appeal. 9/

I have been a victim of all of these methods and have detected them, always trying to circumvent the action with a reaction. I do this normally in my practice of #surgery with medical insurance rejections as I fight for patient care so why not on #twitter and social media. 10/

Here is the #tweet by @elonmusk revealing what we have all observed since 2018 - #shadowbanning #VisibilityFiltering #blacklisting #downtrending #trendingblocks were all real practices by @twitter and it’s employees 11/- thanks to those who believed me!!!

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601042125130371072

You don’t see my tweets. My friends don’t see my tweets and during actual #twitterchats for #obsm @obsmchat my own colleagues whom I would be actively chatting with… would not see my tweets! @pattynece @Eggface @arghavan_salles @PaulDavidsonPhD - why? @elonmusk 12/

Through #VisibilityFiltering @twitter could limit some tweets and allow others to be posted. 13/

https://twitter.com/3LittleMonkeys/status/1601179349234827264