(TibetanReview.net, Jan08’26) – An overseas Chinese democracy activist has sued the social media platform X after it failed to restore his account after repeated representations over the past nearly four years, reported independent.co.uk Jan 7. The platform, owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person who reportedly owes anywhere from 60 to 70% of his net worth to his businesses in China, “permanently suspended” his account “without warning, notice or explanation,” on Feb 15, 2023, US-based pro-democracy activist Wilson Lei Chen, also known as Chen Pokong, has alleged in his $2 million plus lawsuit.
Chen’s suit, filed at the Manhattan federal court on Jan 5, describes him as “a renowned author, columnist, political commentator, [and] dissident.” Chen is representing himself in the lawsuit.
Imprisoned in the early 1990s for “counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement,” after which he fled to the United States, Chen has alleged that X unilaterally shuttered his account based on disinformation circulated by Beijing.
The former student leader has said higher-ups at X took the false accusations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at face value, subsequently cutting him off from his 150,000 followers, giving “zero explanation”.
* * *
The 62-year-old Chen, a longtime critic of the CCP who helped the 1989 Tiananmen Square protestors spread their message to the south of the country, has said in his complaint that his X account – which he established in 2010 – was suddenly taken offline nearly three years ago and never reinstated.
Chen, who now lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, has said he “submitted several appeals,” which were “all denied immediately through identical automated responses”.
Chen has said he “is informed and believes that his wrongful suspension may have been influenced by: coordinated inauthentic reporting, foreign disinformation campaigns, [and] political pressure to silence dissenting voices,” all allegedly propagated by the CCP and its proxies.
In this connection, the report said that a 2023 CNN investigation had found that Chen was targeted for harassment online by the CCP and Chinese government security agents in what the Department of State called a multi-billion-dollar influence operation meant to shut down dissent and criticism of Beijing.
The years-long effort of China, known by various names including “Spamouflage,” “Dragonbridge,” sought to undermine dissidents abroad, damage American companies considered hostile to China and subvert internet commentary that might be disparaging of the CCP, the report noted.
The campaign targeted activists, democracy advocates and overseas Chinese commentators. Chen’s complaint has said the “plaintiff falls squarely into these targeted categories.”
* * *
Chen’s X account served as “a major platform for his pro-democracy commentary,” until Feb 15, 2023, when he found himself “permanently suspended… without warning, notice or explanation”.
X notified Chen that he had been kicked off the platform using what the complaint calls “a generic message: ‘Your account broke the X Rules.’” it “never identified any specific post, any rule or any misconduct.”
He duly appealed the move, but was swiftly denied via auto-generated messages from X.
Chen has said the content he posted on the site consisted solely of “democracy discussions, political commentary and YouTube titles – none violating X policies,” and that he “received zero explanation, contrary to X’s Terms requiring ‘notice,’ ‘explanation’ and ‘careful review.’”
“Transnational repression or foreign pressure likely contributed to the interference,” Chen has complained, going on to note that X’s “arbitrary, unexplained actions align with patterns described in the CNN investigation.”
He has spoken of having proof that the Chinese government has been watching him and interfering in his online activities for several years.
Chen has further accuses X of “mislead[ing] users about moderation, appeals and enforcement,” and slammed the platform for disrupting his ability, “without justification,” to communicate to his audience.
He has claimed that his suspension caused him “substantial economic damage,” beginning with the loss of his 150,000-strong following on the platform. This led to a deep loss of cross-platform exposure, leading to a major cut in his YouTube viewership and revenue, along with “reputational harm, as the suspension wrongly implies misconduct,” Chen has complained.
He has additionally complained of having suffered “emotional distress and health impacts” as a result of the “abrupt silencing of his professional voice,” and pegged his monetary damages in excess of $2 million.
A spokesperson for X has not responded Jan 6 to a request for comment. A request for comment sent to Peter Michael Shimamoto, the attorney representing X in the matter, went unanswered, the report added.
Chen is asking the court to order X to reinstate his account, the removal of all violation labels and compensatory and punitive damages.