June 22, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Twitter suspended National File on Monday after the conservative news website posted about the death of a teenager who recently received a COVID-19 vaccine.
National File had reported on a viral Twitter thread by Tami Burages, the aunt of a 13-year-old Michigan boy, Jacob Clynick. Burages said that her nephew died just days after getting a second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and that an initial autopsy revealed unexpected heart issues.
“A week ago today my brother’s 13-year-old son had his 2nd covid shot,” she tweeted on Sunday, posting a picture of her nephew’s vaccination card. “Less than 3 days later he died.” Burages said that his “initial autopsy results (done Friday) were that his heart was enlarged and there was some fluid surrounding it.” “He had no known health problems,” she added. “Was on no medications.”
“If Jacob had not received the 2nd shot, we believe he would be alive today,” Burages, who describes herself as “pro-vaccine,” continued. She tagged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), saying that the agency “needs to investigate this.” Burages has since deleted the thread, which quickly gained tens of thousands of likes and retweets.
Hundreds of cases of potentially life-threatening heart disorders after COVID-19 vaccination have been reported in young males, the CDC announced earlier this month. The agency was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting about the reports last week, but postponed it due to Juneteenth. Israeli authorities already have said that the heart issues, which appear to occur disproportionately in men, are likely linked to the vaccines.
Three hours after National File tweeted about their article on Burages’ posts, Twitter locked the website out of its account for 12 hours. The Big Tech platform said that National File’s tweet “violated Twitter Rules” for “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
“Twitter’s censorship here is as repugnant as it is ridiculous,” National File editor-in-chief Tom Pappert said shortly after the ban. “National File does not publish medical misinformation. We published a report containing direct quotes from a woman who — using Twitter — expressed concern about the death of her 13-year-old nephew, Jacob Clynick, which occurred after he received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
Pappert noted that National File’s account was locked even though Burages’ tweets were not deleted. “It appears Twitter is attempting to censor news outlets for the crime of reporting on the concerns of a recently bereaved family member,” he said.
Twitter restored National File’s account later on Monday, claiming the account was suspended “in error,” National File said. Nevertheless, when National File reporter Jack Hadfield celebrated the reversal on Twitter, he likewise was banned from the social media platform for 12 hours, allegedly for violating COVID-19 guidelines.
“How on Earth can Twitter reverse the suspension of a news outlet, and then lock out that same reporter from his personal account, for using almost identical language in their tweets? If this is yet another ‘error’ on Twitter’s part, it is certainly concerning that these ‘errors’ only ever seem to go in one direction,” Hadfield, whose account also has since been restored, said on Tuesday.
Twitter has banned numerous, often conservative, users, including the House Oversight Committee and congressional personnel, only to claim to have done so “in error.”