26 Comments
User's avatar
Rick Evans's avatar

If this happened to one of my children there is no rock in the universe under which those responsible could hide to escape my wrath.

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

I wholly agree with you, brother.

Expand full comment
Barry Pike's avatar

I'm a Dad to a 13 year old Girl. I feel the same as you do. However these people that attack others accounts or people in general who speak out against any Narrative are never get caught, as rarely they are known. Simply, we don't know who they are. It infuriates me. I say this often "The truth is a crime these days" Unfortunately!

Expand full comment
The Plucky Welshman's avatar

Use a separate phone, keep the number secret, have more than 1 sim in it, swap networks regularly and don't take it into the court building. If they have the phone number they have everything, the software is called 'Pegasus.' It's been known about for years. This smacks of government level interference, probably for 'community good.' I've just started watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6L82zI1_D0

Plus the internet is full of threads like this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/it/comments/1b312j4/what_can_hackers_do_with_just_your_phone_number/

Expand full comment
Dave Kingsworthy's avatar

Charlie, thank you and God bless you for the work you do and the challenges you endure. I've enjoyed hearing from lots of conservative UK voices (Habib, NCF, Lotus Eaters, Murray etc) -- but I think yours is the clearest and best-supported of all!

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

Thank you so much, Dave. I don’t think I have ever received so dignifying a compliment. It makes it all worth while.

Expand full comment
Trinketeer's avatar

Dear Charlie, it’s so nice to keep hearing your voice and to see your stubborn refusal to be bullied or removed. Awesome! Everything, even the good places, still seem to have a deep down side over which us mere mortals have no control. I find it so frustrating and aggravating when I need to deal with anything establishment or business 'team' related. We, their customers, are treated with arrogance, disrespect and we are dismissed without much thought that we pay through the nose for everything. This attitude of superiority and entitlement is still spreading fast in every direction with seemingly no end in sight. Wishing you all the best there is and as always looking forward to what you have to say. 👋💕

Expand full comment
Maverick Mushroom's avatar

Hello Charlie, I'm no expert in cybersecurity, but it does seem like you may have been a victim of a state-sponsored attack.

A few things to consider:

SMS-based 2FA is considered the least secure; hardware-based 2FA like YubiKey the most secure:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a29789903/what-is-sms/

https://avoidthehack.com/best-mfa-2fa

Your phone may have been infected with spyware such as Pegasus or Predator. For further reading, this book is an eye-opener: Pegasus: The Secret Technology that Threatens the End of Privacy and Democracy by Laurent Richard & Sandrine Rigaud

You may be able to confirm this by having your phone analysed by one of these organisations:

https://citizenlab.ca/

https://securitylab.amnesty.org/

https://www.eff.org/

There are some steps you can take to defend yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZZbh67c6qc

I hope this helps. Good luck and keep up the good fight!

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

Thank you!

Expand full comment
MaX Falstein's avatar

Hi Charlie,

Great to see you back on Substack.

Your backup X account has been restricted, shadowbanned and DMs disabled.

I have legal questions, technical information and help for you to get your X back.

Hopefully, would make for an excellent follow-up article.

Expand full comment
Martin Smith's avatar

Hey new sub here, 'This account doesn’t exist' on your temporary X link, did you take it down or did 'they'?

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

Twitter have banned me! After only three days. They will no longer let me create ANY account from my IP address now.

Expand full comment
SAFF's avatar

1.Use 2 cheap Dumb phones ( voice & text only) Use 1 to register for on-line accounts for OTPs and use the second as a referral recovery number. Don't use the phones for anything other than that purpose or when you need to add credit. When not using the phone turn it off and put it in a Faraday-bag to limit tracking/hacking.

2. Set up parallel accounts (e.g. Twitter paired with a more secure platform like Mastodon - there are many others). Copy all your posts to both accounts so you can reinstate one with the other after hacks and therefore have an instantaneous switch to keep your correspondents in the loop, ( linked to in every post). Twice the work, but you also get twice the coverage with 100% more security & control as well.

Expand full comment
Gosh !'s avatar

I know it’s a pain , and you can’t really archive every X post , but if you have anything of value any gems “ https://archive.ph/ “ is still one of the few archive sites which hasn’t be compromised ..

https://archive.ph/IHCDY

ps keep the good fight 😉

Expand full comment
Ontological Thinking's avatar

What total bullshit. Message Elon directly - this should not stand and feels like an algorithmic ban, not human-directed.

Expand full comment
Lord Ha Ha's avatar

The 'Jolly Heretic' is anything but jolly.

https://youtu.be/yU1JEeGD-5U

Expand full comment
Rachel's avatar

Welcome back, Charlie. You're doing great work. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Don Grant's avatar

No posts on your new X account, is that correct?

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

No! I've got about 50!

Expand full comment
Don Grant's avatar

I can't see them, I'll try again later in case it's a glitch at this end.

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

You're not the only one! Lots of people are getting a blank page - they're after me again already! 😵‍💫

Expand full comment
Paul Brewer's avatar

Hi Charlie

Would you write or syndicate an article for Reform Central on the topics on which you’ve been uncovering uncomfortable information?

We would obviously give you a reciprocal link to your Substack or webpages to help restore your following in some measure

https://reformcentral.com

Deputyeditor@reformcentral.com

Expand full comment
Charlie Bentley-Astor's avatar

Hello Paul, could you be more specific as to what you mean by 'topics...uncomfortable information?' (DMs are open)

Expand full comment
Paul Brewer's avatar

Or was it Triggernometry (pr both)

Expand full comment
Paul Brewer's avatar

Exposing the cover up

I can understand your defensive stance given what’s happened

We are really looking for a wide range of topics but the cover up surrounding AR family/ where are they / the trial and everything you uncovered was interesting and had a political slant even before your cancellation (by omission or intent- we don’t know)

I watched your interview with Andrew Gold

Expand full comment