Former U of T tenured professor threatens CPO after losing court battle mandating social media training
Dr. Jordan Peterson slammed for degrading social media posts, including ones insulting a plus-size model on a 2022 magazine cover.
On January 17, Dr. Jordan Peterson, a former tenured U of T Professor, posted a tweet threatening the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) after attempting to challenge an order to undergo social media training.
On January 16, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Dr. Peterson’s appeal of the decision to go through remedial training for his “demeaning” commentary on social media. The three-judge panel did not provide reasons for dismissing the appeal, which is not uncommon for the appeal court.
“The war has barely started,” he tweeted in a post that has gained nearly 500,000 views as of February 2. “So watch out. Seriously. You’ve been warned.”
Dr. Peterson was also ordered to pay C$5,000 in costs to CPO after being a licensee for 24 years.
Last year, Dr. Peterson was ordered by the Ontario Divisional Court to attend mandatory social media training after several complaints were launched against him regarding his recent posts. CPO launched an investigation into these statements before ordering mandatory media training.
In May 2022, Dr. Peterson tweeted, “Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that,” in response to Sports Illustrated’s cover of a plus-sized model—one post of many that triggered public complaints against the Canadian psychologist and author.
After several similar tweets, Dr. Peterson’s formerly-Twitter page was temporarily suspended before his account was reinstated by Elon Musk after purchasing the social media platform, now known as X, in 2022.
Dr. Peterson has not only publicly threatened CPO on X after his appeal to undergo social media training was denied, but has also demanded that “the entire current crop of minions at the College of Psychologists to publicly apologize and then resign” in another post.
Dr. Peterson, who is no stranger to controversy, continues to post daily on X responding to numerous breaking news articles and posts. In a recent post on January 31, he tweeted, “Albertans for sanity!” in response to an article reporting Alberta’s decision to ban puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children under the age of 16.
Dr. Peterson’s posts have not only resulted in the court’s decision to have him undergo further media training but have also sparked an avalanche of tweets mocking the best-selling author.
On February 1, a post of Dr. Peterson’s surfaced through X in which he reposted an innocent wellness check by Sesame Street’s widely adored Elmo with the response, “Go f*** yourself for wanting to discriminate against white people.” The tweet has quickly been deemed fake, but X users still took it as an opportunity to ridicule him.
One X user retweeted the post with the comment, “Honey, wake up, Jordan Peterson is angry at muppets again.” Another user shared a brief clip of the muppet dancing in space with the caption, “Jordan Peterson’s biggest opp.”
Despite putting his practice on hold in 2017, Dr. Peterson risks the suspension of his medical license to practice in Ontario if he does not comply with directives to undergo training.
News Editor (Volume 48 & 50) — May is in her final year of undergraduate studies and is on her way to graduating with a double major in Criminology and Sociology. With more than 50 published articles, May has a wealth of experience writing for The Medium. May has also served as News Editor in Volume 48. She believes that news journalism is not just a privilege, but an important responsibility to report the unbiased truth.