COVID-19 vaccine skeptic Alex Berenson was 'permanently' banned from Twitter, until Twitter reinstated him

• Alex Berenson has been "permanently suspended" from Twitter, a spokesperson told NBC News.
• Berenson called his suspension from Twitter "censorship" as he defended himself and relocated to Substack.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to more accurately reflect the types of messages Berenson was sharing and to note that Twitter later reinstated Berenson's account.

Twitter "permanently suspended" former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation guidelines. In his final tweet, Berenson slammed vaccine COVID-19 mandates as "insanity."

"It doesn't stop infection. Or transmission. Don't think of it as a vaccine. Think of it - at best - as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS. And we want to mandate it? Insanity," Berenson tweeted.

A Twitter spokesperson told NBC News that Berenson's account was "permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules."

"This was the tweet that did it. Entirely accurate," Berenson wrote, referencing his final tweet. "I can't wait to hear what a jury will make of this."

Berenson gained popularity among conservatives as a source for his skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"For the past few weeks on Twitter, Berenson has mischaracterized just about every detail regarding the vaccines to make the dubious case that most people would be better off avoiding them. As his conspiratorial nonsense accelerates toward the pandemic's finish line, he has proved himself the Secretariat of being wrong," Politico's Derek Thompson wrote in April 2021.

He posted about his suspension on Substack. In a statement, he said Twitter's actions qualified as censorship.

"We have reached a dangerous moment. Social media companies that have audiences which dwarf any other are now actively censoring reporters at the behest of governments," Berenson told Insider. "I will continue to fight to get out the truth and am considering all legal options."

Soon after the suspension, the Daily Beast said Berenson tweeted from a different account named @GenRescue.

"Censorship is dumb," a tweet from the account read.

While the account currently has no identifying information at time of publication, the Daily Beast reported the account previously had "definitely not Alex Berenson" as its bio, which included a link to Berenson's Substack.

Despite its initial indication, on July 6, 2022, Twitter reinstated Berenson's account.

In a statement to Insider, a Twitter spokesperson said: "The parties have come to a mutually acceptable resolution. Twitter has reinstated Mr. Berenson. Upon further review, Twitter acknowledges Mr. Berenson's Tweets should not have led to his suspension at that time."