X locks journalist Max Blumenthal out of his account for over 24 hours amidst viral Ryan Routh reporting
“There is an attempt to suppress history and facts on this character...”
Journalist Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of independent news outlet The Grayzone, was locked out of his X account early this week, just as he was in the process of breaking a viral news story about the latest alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
“He is now blocked from logging in on all devices with this shady explanation,” his wife and fellow journalist Anya Parampil said on Monday evening, sharing a screenshot of a notice that Blumenthal had received from X:
“It started [Sunday] night,” Blumenthal said during Monday’s Grayzone livestream. “I was locked out on my laptop. Then today [Monday] I was locked out on all of my other devices.”
His access was ultimately restored on Tuesday, after more than 24 hours.
Investigating Routh
In the hours leading up to the “lockout,” Blumenthal had been actively investigating and reporting on alleged “would-be Trump shooter” Ryan Routh, his political views, and his connections to Ukraine.
On Sunday, Blumenthal published an article on the subject on the Grayzone’s website:
He also questioned Elon Musk about why X suspended Routh’s account not long after the news broke of his alleged assassination attempt and subsequent arrest.
Later that night (technically Monday morning EST), Blumenthal posted a thread on X about Routh’s book, “Unwinnable War,’ which ended up going viral. [The full thread is viewable here and also archived here.]
Shortly thereafter, Blumenthal was apparently involuntarily logged out of his X account on his laptop, and could not log back in.
At 9:28am on Monday morning, he posted a photo of Routh posing with World Central Kitchen’s José Andrés in Kiev — presumably from another device.
At 11:12am, he said that Andres had blocked him, and suggested someone else should follow up with the celebrity chef.
Not too long after that, his access to his X account was revoked on all of his other devices.
“His account is still there but he can’t log in and it’s been wiped from his devices,” Parampil said on X that evening. “Not sure if this starts with [Elon Musk] or if it’s a mass log in attempt deployed by other actors in order to lock him out.”
“He can usually jump between his and The Grayzone’s X accounts,” she added. “Now when he opens X it automatically goes to The Grayzone and his personal account does not appear as an accessible option.”
After his account was restored Tuesday afternoon, Blumenthal said that the ordeal was “especially frustrating while reporting on a news event,” adding that he was “still trying to get to the bottom of the issue.”
“This shouldn’t have happened when logging in from the same IP.”
Noting that he hasn’t violated any of the platforms rules — nor been accused of such — Blumenthal theorizes that this was a coordinated attack to stymie his reporting on this subject, and the spread thereof.
“It’s deeply damaging to them, and they don’t really have an answer for it,” he said on Monday. “There is an attempt to suppress history and facts on this character.”
He surmises that there may have been an attempt to “mass login” to his account in order to trigger a lockout – “a clear flaw in Twitter/X’s security”:
A number of commentators — including Misty Winston, Sabby Sabs, and Steve Poikonen — noted that Blumenthal’s situation was reminiscent of what happened to radio host/political analyst Garland Nixon last year.
Here’s a video of Nixon explaining his situation at the time:
(We aren’t sure offhand if his access was ever restored, as he has not posted on X at all since then.)
A pattern of censorship
Whatever the ultimate cause of Blumenthal's “lockout” turns out to be (assuming X ever even gives an explanation, let alone provides evidence to prove it), this is far from the first time that The Grayzone and its journalists have had their ability to reach their audience stifled by Big Tech.
Last month, for example, the organization’s on the ground reporting from the DNC in Chicago was pulled by YouTube, and their channel was banned for a week:
Back in February, Grayzone journalist
was banned from X for several months, with Elon Musk and the company’s moderation (“safety”) team ignoring requests for an explanation. His account wasn’t restored until May.
In April, while still banned from X, Klarenberg was classified as a “dangerous individual” by Facebook, and users were prevented from sharing some of his investigative reporting on the platform.
Last November, X suppressed posts by Grayzone contributor Jeremy Loffredo as he was doing on the ground reporting from the West Bank that was critical of the Israeli military, government, and settler movement.
Prior to that, YouTube had demonetized an entire 94-minute livestream by the Grayzone because they played a clip of actor turned political commentator Russell Brand discussing his own demonetization.
This article was originally published at decensored.news. For more reporting like this, please follow Decensored News on your favorite social, bookmark the website, and subscribe here on Substack:
Garland Nixon’s account on X has never been restored and he has never received a coherent explanation for why his account was locked.
And yet he will no doubt continue paying for his blue tick and supporting financially the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist"...who is anything but obviously.