A polite request to Elon Musk - please uncensor @LucyHunterB
**Update: my account is back to normal at last, just leaving this here for now as back-up, until I'm sure all trouble with it is ended**
I joined Twitter, as it was, in October 2014 and have used it to talk to lots of people about lots of things, but mainly aspects of policy and law-making in Scotland.
At the moment you'll see me talking a lot about the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) 2021 Act, that comes into force on 1 April. Or more probably - you won't. Because for about two months now, my account has been caught in some sort of repeat censorship loop, that means my posts keep showing as unavailable or just don't show at all, to lots of people.
I only know this because my notifications are now mainly made up of people asking what's gone wrong with my account and tagging X support and Elon Musk. I've never been told I've posted anything unacceptable under the rules. I have had one mysterious message that my account had been "flagged" for unusual behaviour (but not told what that was). I cannot see a reporting mechanism for this particular problem.
Because so many people can’t see my replies, reading my notifications right now is something like being a ghost at my own social media funeral.
Elon Musk has expressed his concern about the effects of new hate crime legislation in Scotland - but I now can't use X in a functional way to discuss it, argue about it, share information about it or respond to new developments. I have serious reservations about the way the law is changing here - see here War on words: is Scotland ready for its new hate crime law? | The Spectator - but the Scottish Government is not restricting my freedom of expression right now. Only X is.
As I’d like to be able to talk normally to people on X once more, please help me in asking Elon Musk to take the advice of the suffragettes - "Deeds not words" – and do whatever needs to be done to set my account free. And to check what’s happening to other women who think sex is real, can’t be changed and there are times when this really matters.
Thanks to Morten Morland for use of image
Lucy Hunter Blackburn Contact the author of the petition