Suspended on Twitter again: Help me find out why this time.

twitter_jail_icon Update 06/12/2015- My main account has been fully restored. A HUGE thank you to everyone who shared this page and asked questions on my behalf. It means a lot. Reason has prevailed!

It appears SkyNet, or whatever algorithm Twitter uses to assess their abuse reports has seen fit to suspend my @Gspellchecker account yet again.  This isn’t the first time.  Given the number of times this has happened though, it’s fair to say it could be my last.  Termination surely looms.

Whenever this happens – I initiate Twitters’ appeal process and wait.  Twitter eventually emails me back (sometimes up to 30 days later) to inform me I’ve been reported for ‘Targeted Abuse And Harassment’.  I respond to say I’ve never sent a single abusive tweet, nor harassed or encouraged the harassment of others.  I also request examples of this ‘Targeted Abuse and Harassment’. Twitter then ignores my request for examples, re-activates my account, warns me it could be permanent next time and the cycle begins again.

Is anyone bored yet?  I am.

Funny thing though; as documented on this blog before, Mo Ansar has accused me of ‘targeting’ him with a ‘campaign of hate & harassment’ via a number of tweets.  You’ll notice these accusations map on to the reasons provided for my suspension by Twitter. I’ve also asked Ansar to provide me with examples of this and to confirm whether he has in fact reported me for these ‘offences’.  I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear Mo has failed to provide examples or confirm he has reported me.

Another funny thing; each suspension occurs the very same day I reply to a Mo Ansar tweet challenging some absurd claim he has made.  This may be simple correlation and completely unrelated of course.  I’m not a naturally paranoid man – but given Mo Ansar has been known to report someone to the police for challenging him on Twitter, or even go so far as contact someone’s place of employment to demand that they’re fired, I’d say it’s a real possibility.

Now, the idea of self-victimisation makes me feel nauseous, but I can’t help but think that it is I who has a case for being harassed, targeted and ‘bullied’ at this point.  I have emailed Twitter to ask them to investigate.  I intend to follow this through until they can provide me with examples of ‘abuse and harassment’ and look into whether Ansar is the one making these false reports.  Who wants to help?

If you are also annoyed with a fellow infidel constantly having their Twitter privileges removed for no good reason and share my suspicions, there is a process you can follow to demand an investigation. Twitter does allow you to file reports on the behalf of others.  This may be a good opportunity to ask Twitter to investigate the reports and users potentially involved (e.g, @MoAnsar).  Politely of course.

Please follow this link and the instructions: https://support.twitter.com/forms/abusiveuser. (UPDATE – 03/01/2015 –  Twitter may require you to provide a link to a tweet when reporting someone.  Here is Mo Ansar accusing me of a ‘campaign of hate and harassment’ –https://twitter.com/MoAnsar/status/521955583625539585) – UPDATE – 04/01/15 – Tweet deleted, please see footnote (1)

I’d wager contacting someone’s employer constitutes harassment also.  There’s also the unexplained mystery of Ansar’s Twitter followers suddenly increasing by several thousand in a single instant.  Twitter may want to look into that too.  Not to mention Ansar repeatedly posting this private conversation he had recorded on to Twitter.  I’d imagine this also violates Twitters’ policy on sharing private information.  You may be required to reply to a follow-up email, so check your emails.  I feel requesting Twitter to investigate could reveal the following things of interest:

  1. Someone is making false reports to silence criticism, and worse still, these reports aren’t being reviewed, but automatically causing the suspension of accounts without even confirming whether they are guilty of any wrongdoing.
  2. Civil questioning, or disagreement on Twitter is a violation of their terms and services.

You can follow my back-up account: @Gspellcheck. Even if my account is reinstated, I will not dilute, or disengage from criticism of religious/bad ideas simply due to the fear of having a Twitter account suspended.  I demand answers.  I hope others will too.

  1. It appears Ansar, has deleted this tweet after it has been linked on this blog.  He may be able delete it off his timeline, but I doubt he can delete the conversation from Twitters’ servers.  Please feel free to still provide them with this link when reporting and I’m sure they will be able to locate the relevant exchange.  The tweet in question relates to a conversation where Ansar falsely accuses me of ‘targeting’ and a ‘campaign of hate and harassment’.  You can find screenshots of the full conversation here. Is deleting it to be taken as an admission of knowingly making false allegations? And if so, did he make false reports to Twitter also?  As usual, no answer from Mo Ansar

23 comments

  • The second I read your tweet to Mo today I had a little wonder if you would get suspended again! Guess you did 🙁

    It’s crazy to think that a system that should be working to stop genuine abuse is, in fact itself, being abused.

  • Not seeing how to do this without adding a specific tweet as an example… Update info?

    • Hi,

      Update added: (UPDATE – 03/01/2015 – Twitter may require you to provide a link to a tweet when reporting someone. Here is Mo Ansar accusing me of a ‘campaign of hate and harassment’ -https://twitter.com/MoAnsar/status/521955583625539585)

  • Want to help but not sure how to go about it. When I click on that link its asking me to specify people and cite tweets. Mo Ansar seems very likely to have reported you from what he’s said in the past but not saying anything now. Is there some way to complain that you have been suspended unjustly without having to find specific tweets attacking you? Your timeline should be enough. You are simply not abusive or intimidating – just honestly critical.

  • Hey GS, I followed you on Twitter. I remember a few people claimed to have reported yoyr account last time. I dont think Mo Ansar was one of them.

    Just out of interest – what if its not Ansar? This is going to look like a witch hunt and you targeting him.

    I’m a fan of yours and I love the podcasts, I dont want to see you make a huge mistake here.

    • I think I make it clear in the blog post that it may not be Ansar. I’m simply asking for people to ask Twitter to investigate my suspension and whoever may be falsely reporting me – which could potentially be Ansar. And to draw attention to Ansar’s baseless claims aimed at me. Thanks for your comments and kind words.

    • Also, you are aware that my comments section logs IP addresses, and I can tell if the same person is posting multiple instances of criticism under different names, right? Just thought you should know.

  • Mo Ansar is getting loads of people suspended. Orrible weasel.

  • As someone who loves reading your debates on twitter I’m trying to help here but the report page you’ve linked won’t go through unless I link a direct tweet I’m complaining about…and I don’t really want to spend the next 2 hours trawling through his tweets 🙁

  • Not entirely sure how i can help on the reporting section of twitter ?
    but did find “disagreement with my opinion” on one of the option funny as an actual reason for complaint !!

    so are we complaining of our “Harassment” ??

    and then saying in description about the unfair blocking ? are we mentioning @MoAnsar ??

  • Twitter, what craziness is this? The site has thousands, literally thousands of paedophile accounts and many with extreme ILLEGAL child abuse images, yet do NOTHING. But the innocent (last time I looked) opinions by an person who, as an atheist, tweets perfectly innocent views, creating a natural, honest debate and base for reflection for some, is repeatedly suspended. I’ve therefore surmise that Twitter is run by religious paedophiles being that no other basic logic even comes close to making any sense.

  • Enough is enough. I reported him for abusing the abuse feature. It’s time his account goes away.

  • RationalistAtheist12

    If we get this wrong, you are going to hurt our cause and make Ansar the victim. I’m no fan of any of these godbotherers but I’ve just got some issues with this tactic

    1. Last time you wrote your blog, you assumed it was Ansar. As it turned out he didn’t report your account, someone else owned up to it (I think some of his co-religionists or supporters). Has there been a correction or retraction posted?

    2. This time we have no proof it was Ansar and you’ve assumed it was again. If other people are doing his dirty work how can we go after him?

    3. I’m guessing he could complain this blog could be used against you or us as its harassment if its not him or there’s no proof.

    4. If Twitter is suspending accounts unfairly then we have to challenge Twitter, not go after Muslims. We are adding to this islamaphobia narrative. Its nothing to do with atheists.

    This is beginning to smell like a witch hunt against Muslims and I want no part in it. We should be keep the memory of Hitch alive. Debate the issues with these people. They will lose on rational debate.

    My advice is we should reach out to him and have a meeting.

    Tim

    • Hi Tim,

      How did it turn out that it wasn’t Mo? If you claim someone else owned up to it – you’ve seen something I haven’t. Feel free to post it here.

      I’ve stated in the article that it’s possible that none of this is linked to Ansar – I’m simply urging an investigation from Twitter for what remains an unjust suspension. Also, this is a pattern of several people receiving suspensions for either engaging with, or tweeting about Ansar.

      You say Witch hunt against ‘Muslims’, as if this somehow involves ‘Muslims’ plural and has something to do with religion. It’s neither of those things. I think that’s a strange and misjudged accusation on your part.

      I also find the way you appear to be speaking for all atheists and assume I’m part of whatever ’cause’ you’ve decided for atheists, a little obnoxious.

  • Looks like Mo has deleted the tweet you referenced.

  • I’m getting a ‘sorry, that page doesn’t exist’ message for your link https://twitter.com/MoAnsar/status/521955583625539585

  • Pingback: Mo Ansar accuses me of ‘Hate and Harassment’. | Godless Spellchecker's Blog

  • Mo had me suspended for ‘disclosing personal information’ For once Twitter sent me the tweet. It was a picture with a caption of Mo claiming to be an educationalist.

  • Me too. I’m getting “The reported Tweet was not sent by the reported user. They must match.”

What do you think? Leave some comments!