The Shadowbanning of Nicolas Smit


Nicolas Smit, according to his Linkedin profile has a background in geology and mining technology, and self-describes as an engineer and advocate in a Campaign for P100 Respirators in Ontario and abroad, and states a goal of “raising international awareness to the importance of elastomeric respirators and overlooked solutions that can help protect public health, the supply chain, national security and the economy during pandemics, wildfire emergencies & industrial accidents.”

This is from a DM group chat on twitter when it was discovered among participants that Nicolas Smit was not showing up in Twitter searches. Names of some participants have been removed, and these screenshots are being shared publicly by Chloe Humbert with the permission of Nicolas Smit and other participants. The purpose is to document this outside of Twitter.


Screenshot of direct message conversation. text reads #OSHAhearing bit.ly/OSHAhearing Nicolas Smit @PPEtohe Jan 19, 2023 Replying to @PPEtoheros @nb_covid_info and 31 others — Here’s evidence @COVIDOversight knew about the widespread negligence in July. I was asked by their top investigators how they should investigate & they confirm I gave them info that helped -Show more- QUOTE — NYT Science @NYTScience “It’s frustrating and frightening because a mask like this can make the difference between life and death, but no one knows about them.” nytimes.com A Clunky Mask May Be the Answer to Airborne Disease and N95 Waste 11:54 AM 2022–07–09 — Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 3:46 PM
Screenshot of direct message conversation. text reads #OSHAhearing bit.ly/OSHAhearing Nicolas Smit @PPEtohe Jan 19, 2023 Replying to @PPEtoheros @nb_covid_info and 31 others — Here’s evidence @COVIDOversight knew about the widespread negligence in July. I was asked by their top investigators how they should investigate & they confirm I gave them info that helped -Show more- QUOTE — NYT Science @NYTScience “It’s frustrating and frightening because a mask like this can make the difference between life and death, but no one knows about them.” nytimes.com A Clunky Mask May Be the Answer to Airborne Disease and N95 Waste 11:54 AM 2022–07–09 — Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 3:46 PM

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Sooo something weird is going on here… when I search @PPEtoheros I don’t get results in the People tab — Image is the Twitter 404 rubber chicken, text reads No results for @ppetoheros Try searching for something else, or check your Search settings to see if they’re protecting you from potentially sensitive content.
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Sooo something weird is going on here… when I search @PPEtoheros I don’t get results in the People tab — Image is the Twitter 404 rubber chicken, text reads No results for @ppetoheros Try searching for something else, or check your Search settings to see if they’re protecting you from potentially sensitive content.

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Redacted person says: I asked @watermelonpunch and it’s being weird for her too. Anyone else? Jan 19, 2023, 4:46 PM Wondering if Twitter is suppressing Nicolas’s account Jan 19, 2023, 4:58 PM. Nicholas Smit says Wow it sure is, posted a video of doing a search. Jan 19, 2023, 4:59 PM Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Is your Twitter account shadowbanned? @PPEtoheros exists. Search suggestion ban.
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Redacted person says: I asked @watermelonpunch and it’s being weird for her too. Anyone else? Jan 19, 2023, 4:46 PM Wondering if Twitter is suppressing Nicolas’s account Jan 19, 2023, 4:58 PM. Nicholas Smit says Wow it sure is, posted a video of doing a search. Jan 19, 2023, 4:59 PM Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Is your Twitter account shadowbanned? @PPEtoheros exists. Search suggestion ban.

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Search suggestion ban. Search Suggestion Ban This type of ban causes an account to not populate search suggestions and people search results when it is searched for while being logged out. Twitter seems to take tie strength or a similar metric into account. While an account may be suggested to users you are strongly tied to, it may not be shown to others. Search ban. No ghost ban. No reply deboosting detected. @PPEtoheros exists.Search suggestion ban. Search ban
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Search suggestion ban. Search Suggestion Ban This type of ban causes an account to not populate search suggestions and people search results when it is searched for while being logged out. Twitter seems to take tie strength or a similar metric into account. While an account may be suggested to users you are strongly tied to, it may not be shown to others. Search ban. No ghost ban. No reply deboosting detected. @PPEtoheros exists.Search suggestion ban. Search ban

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Search ban. Search Ban This type of ban causes your tweets to be hidden from the search results entirely, no matter whether the quality filter is turned on or off. This behavior includes hashtags as well. This type of ban seems to be temporally limited for active accounts. Technical information about the result No ghost ban.No reply deboosting detected. Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 5:13 PM Redacted conversation participant says: What do we do? This is wrong! Jan 19, 2023, 5:17 PM Nicolas Smit says Sound the alarm to people like @TaylorLorenz Jan 19, 2023, 5:18 PM
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Screenshot of shadowban checking service. Text reads Search ban. Search Ban This type of ban causes your tweets to be hidden from the search results entirely, no matter whether the quality filter is turned on or off. This behavior includes hashtags as well. This type of ban seems to be temporally limited for active accounts. Technical information about the result No ghost ban.No reply deboosting detected. Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 5:13 PM Redacted conversation participant says: What do we do? This is wrong! Jan 19, 2023, 5:17 PM Nicolas Smit says Sound the alarm to people like @TaylorLorenz Jan 19, 2023, 5:18 PM

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 5:45 PM: The creepiest part is if people wouldn’t have let me know it was happening, I would’ve never found out because Twitter made it so if I searched, everything would show up as normal .m — Nicolas Smit @PPEtoheros tweet Jan 19, 2023 dot @TwitterSupport @elonmusk why did Twitter shadowban me an hour after I leaked a clip from my interview with @COVIDOversight committee last July? Did someone ask for me to be censore… Show more Screenshot No results for @ppetoheros posted in direct message by Nicolas Smit Jan 19. 2023. 6:28 PM
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 5:45 PM: The creepiest part is if people wouldn’t have let me know it was happening, I would’ve never found out because Twitter made it so if I searched, everything would show up as normal .m — Nicolas Smit @PPEtoheros tweet Jan 19, 2023 dot @TwitterSupport @elonmusk why did Twitter shadowban me an hour after I leaked a clip from my interview with @COVIDOversight committee last July? Did someone ask for me to be censore… Show more Screenshot No results for @ppetoheros posted in direct message by Nicolas Smit Jan 19. 2023. 6:28 PM

Screenshot of direct message conversation. Direct message from REDACTED — I’m sorry, I actually noticed it last night or maybe the night before. I thought Twitter was just being weird and crappy. I tried it again today and that’s when I said something to you. Twitter has been weird in other ways too, like randomly unfollowing me from REDACTED. Jan 19, 2023, 6:38 PM Tweet by Nicolas Smit @PPEtoheros Jan 15, 2023 Replying to @PPEtoheros @RougeMatisse and 27 others Last spring as the mask industry was collapsing, info kept being shared at fed task forces that hospitals were back to experiencing N95 shortages. The WH bragged about taking $ away from the… Show more Screenshots included are from ASPR Unclassified for Public Use, the title headers fo the charts and text is Supply Chain Situational Awareness — Medical supplies. Hospital-Reported Status — Percent of hospitals unable to maintain 3 days supply. Supply chain conditions, emerging issues, & recent / ongoing actions.
Screenshot of direct message conversation. Direct message from REDACTED — I’m sorry, I actually noticed it last night or maybe the night before. I thought Twitter was just being weird and crappy. I tried it again today and that’s when I said something to you. Twitter has been weird in other ways too, like randomly unfollowing me from REDACTED. Jan 19, 2023, 6:38 PM Tweet by Nicolas Smit @PPEtoheros Jan 15, 2023 Replying to @PPEtoheros @RougeMatisse and 27 others Last spring as the mask industry was collapsing, info kept being shared at fed task forces that hospitals were back to experiencing N95 shortages. The WH bragged about taking $ away from the… Show more Screenshots included are from ASPR Unclassified for Public Use, the title headers fo the charts and text is Supply Chain Situational Awareness — Medical supplies. Hospital-Reported Status — Percent of hospitals unable to maintain 3 days supply. Supply chain conditions, emerging issues, & recent / ongoing actions.

Screenshot of direct message conversation. #OSHAhearing bit.ly/OSHAhearing Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 6:47 PM I’m not surprised it happened. After leaking these pictures and the info from a federal government task force I was on that a lot of hospitals quietly we back to experiencing n95 shortages, I was expecting censorship to prevent more leaks and people seeing the original one. Link twitter.com/PPEtoheros/sta… Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 6:49 PM I tagged a lot of high level politicians and their staff to ensure the post would be seen on Twitter and LinkedIn. Tweet by Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan Jan 19, 2023 Covid deaths are not being overcounted — if anything, they’re being *undercounted*. In today’s deep dive on the … Show more Screenshot included from CDC Deaths New Deaths (Weekly Total) Total Deaths 3,907 Death Trends 1,095,149
Screenshot of direct message conversation. #OSHAhearing bit.ly/OSHAhearing Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 6:47 PM I’m not surprised it happened. After leaking these pictures and the info from a federal government task force I was on that a lot of hospitals quietly we back to experiencing n95 shortages, I was expecting censorship to prevent more leaks and people seeing the original one. Link twitter.com/PPEtoheros/sta… Nicolas Smit Jan 19, 2023, 6:49 PM I tagged a lot of high level politicians and their staff to ensure the post would be seen on Twitter and LinkedIn. Tweet by Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan Jan 19, 2023 Covid deaths are not being overcounted — if anything, they’re being *undercounted*. In today’s deep dive on the … Show more Screenshot included from CDC Deaths New Deaths (Weekly Total) Total Deaths 3,907 Death Trends 1,095,149