Saturday, October 31, 2026Every claim sourced. Every source linked.
The record of what the American press got wrong, and who it helped
The Twitter Files
Confirmed

Babylon Bee locked out over 'Man of the Year' joke

Twitter locked the satire site the Babylon Bee out of its account for naming transgender health official Rachel Levine its 'Man of the Year.' The Bee refused to delete the tweet and stayed locked out for months. Elon Musk restored the account on November 18, 2022.

Mar 20, 2022
Screenshot of the source
Screenshot of the source page. Tap to open it.
Whose side it served: Democrats

The lockout silenced a conservative satire outlet mocking a Biden administration official.

What the record shows

Twitter said the tweet violated its hateful conduct policy, which barred misgendering, and required deletion to restore access. CEO Seth Dillon answered 'We're not deleting anything.' The account stayed locked until Musk reinstated it on November 18, 2022, the same day he announced 'freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.' Former trust and safety head Yoel Roth later defended the action, saying the written rules banned misgendering regardless of satire.

In their words

“We're not deleting anything.”— Seth Dillon, Babylon Bee CEO · source
“Twitter's written policies prohibit misgendering — full stop.”— Yoel Roth, former Twitter head of trust and safety · source
The other side

Twitter applied a written policy that banned misgendering on all accounts, and Roth said the company chose to enforce its rules as written. The Bee was asked to delete one tweet, not banned outright.

Sources

Get the daily file.