A prime example of how China’s fifth column on Twitter suspends China critics is the “irrevocable suspension” without any prior warning of one of our Twitter accounts, namely @247ChinaNews.
Out of the blue, this account was suspended in the summer of 2022 with the hint that we could appeal this decision.
After challenging the suspension we received from Twitter the response that our account has been permanently suspended due to multiple or repeat violations of twitter rules and that
further mails regarding the suspension will not be reviewed or answered by witter as the permanent suspense decision will not be reversed.
So most China critical X (formerly Twitter) closed accounts will be suspended forever.
Our account was only reopened because we hired a lawyer who contacted Twitter’s legal department by fax, thus making it possible to reopen correspondence with Twitter.
We proved then in emails to Twitter that the alleged violations that led to the immediate and irrevocable closure of the account were not even remotely present.
However, the account still was not activated.
Only when we told Twitter (see our mail at the end of this post) that we would now sue them and asked whether Twitter would agree to Dublin/Ireland as the place of jurisdiction, suddenly the account was unlocked on the same day.
The employee at Twitter, who obviously worked for China, had apparently now gotten cold feet and sent an email (you can se the mail at the end of the post) with the lame apology that supposedly a Twitter system had led to the unjustified blocking of our account.
However, our case is an absolute exception because, unfortunately, most of the accounts critical of China remain closed on Twitter.
With the hint “Replies to this email will not be reviewed” the Chinese column within Twitter has in most cases already won because from this moment on, the owner of the blocked account no longer has the opportunity to revive the suspension, even if as is very often the case, the suspension was carried out for absolutely no reason.
Following part of the correspondence with Twitter
Von: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>
Gesendet: Freitag, 29. Juli 2022 19:56
An: von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert <rmarkert@von-ulmann.com>
Betreff: About your Twitter account 0281309068 [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004w2Swt6X:ref ]
Hello,
We’re writing to let you know that your account has been permanently suspended due to multiple or repeat violations of our rules.
We don’t allow the following behaviors on Twitter:
- Creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping uses
- Evading a permanent suspension by creating or using another account
- Cross-posting Tweets or links across multiple accounts
- Aggressive following, particularly through automated means
Replies to this email will not be reviewed as this decision will not be reversed.
Thanks,
Von: von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert <rmarkert@von-ulmann.com>
Gesendet: Freitag, 29. Juli 2022 11:22
An: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>; von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert <rmarkert@von-ulmann.com>
Betreff: AW: We have an update for you 0281309068 [ref:00DA0000000K0A8.5004w00002Swt6X:ref]
Dear Sir or Madam,
In a first step, I asked a German lawyer yesterday to write to the legal department of Twitter and ask them to send me the complete content of my Twitter account, which you have suspended.
If my Twitter account is not activated in the concise term, the second step will be to instruct a lawyer to get the reasons from Twitter that led to the closure of my account.
I am 100% sure that none of the reasons mentioned by Twitter, which can basically lead to closure, are present in my account.
If Twitter neither reactivates my account nor gives the alleged reasons for the closure, I will hire a lawyer to first sue Twitter for naming the reasons.
You are welcome to contact your legal department, and I can imagine that the legal department is of the opinion that such a lawsuit (for naming the reasons for closure) has a high chance of success.
If the reasons were to be given, the lawyers would check whether Twitter’s explanation for suspending the account is valid.
Almost certainly, Twitter will not be able to provide valid reasons, in which case a second lawsuit will be filed to restore the account.
Your choice if we go this path or if you restore my account.
It seems that some Twitter employees are extremely China-friendly and close accounts that factually criticize China, while Twitter accounts of mainland Chinese who call for killing Taiwanese still exist.
With kind regards
Reinhard Markert
Fax of our lawyer
Please forward to the legal department
Subject: Twitter account @247ChinaNews
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the following to submit to you on behalf of my client Mr. Reinhard Markert.
Twitter suspended my client’s Twitter account https://twitter.com/247ChinaNews / @247ChinaNews.
I have to ask you to send all tweets that are saved in this account by August 5th, 2022.
You are welcome to send it to my clients directly at his e-mail rmarkert@von-ulmann.com make. Please confirm the receipt of this fax.
Kind regards
Hans-Jürgen Rohland
Lawyer
Von: von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert
Gesendet: Freitag, 5. August 2022 10:51
An: DPO Support <dpo@twitter.com>
Cc: von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert <rmarkert@von-ulmann.com>
Betreff: jurisdiction for lawsuit Case# 0282115924: Re: SAR
Venue for lawsuit against Twitter
Dear Sir or Madam,
I suspect that Twitter will not voluntarily unfreeze my account and, accordingly, litigation will have to ensue.
In order to avoid a dispute on the question of jurisdiction, I hereby inform you that in my opinion Ireland/Dublin is the competent jurisdiction.
Please check with the legal department if Twitter would accept this or would object to the lack of jurisdiction of Ireland/Dublin.
Yours sincerely
Reinhard Markert
Von: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>
Gesendet: Freitag, 5. August 2022 22:20
An: von Ulmann Company – Reinhard Markert <rmarkert@von-ulmann.com>
Betreff: We’ve unsuspended your account 0281309068 [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004w2Swt6X:ref ]
Hello,
We’re writing to let you know that we’ve unsuspended your account. We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on Twitter soon.
A little background: we have systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk, and yours was flagged as spam by mistake. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.
Thanks,