🚨 Jason Arday was a fraud. His death does not change that fact. It is deeply unfortunate that he lost his life. But those now rushing to portray him solely as a victim are the other side of the exact same coin as those who once glorified, legitimized and platformed him without proper scrutiny. The Board of Electors that appointed him Professor of Sociology of Education at @Cambridge_Uni in 2023 — chaired by Baroness Sally Morgan of Huyton, with members including Professors Anoop Nayak, Louise Archer, Jo-Anne Dillabough, Tim Harper, Michalinos Zembylas, Karen Coats, Martin Mills and Paul Ramchandani — failed in basic due diligence. Faculty head Hilary Cremin publicly declared him “the best in the world.” Pro-Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Vira called him “an exceptional scholar.” BBC (@BBCNews) journalists, including Laurence Cawley, amplified and romanticized his story. ⚠️ The same institutional and media machinery has repeatedly platformed and rewarded other fraudulent actors: Elisabeth M. Bik was awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor philosophiae honoris causa) by the Philosophisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät of the University of Bern (@unibern) at Dies Academicus 2025. The award was conferred under Dean Prof. Dr. Jean-Louis Reymond, with the involvement of Rector Prof. Dr. Virginia Richter and Prof. Dr. Katie Peichel. She has also been celebrated by @Nature, awarded the Maddox Prize by @senseaboutsci, and given the Einstein Foundation Individual Award — all despite documented patterns of fraudulent conduct, including: 🧵 • Stalking, smearing, and destroying the careers of researchers she targets, while 100% censoring critiques of her own flawed work and her inner-circle mob • Undeniable conflicts of interest, including colluding with a fraudulent financial advisor with zero academic or scientific credentials, Kevin Patrick, and a Russian national, Alexander Magazinov — a notorious online harasser and criminal who has been allegedly involved in blackmail, extortion, or coordinated scams — to pressure journals and institutions to purchase the so-called PubPeer Journal and Institution Dashboards • Conspiring with another fraudulent actor and key perpetrator of the PubPeer “PubSmear” Network Mob, David Bimler, to run harassment, smearing, and defamation operations in China via multiple fraudulent WeChat accounts Theo Baker was selected and curated as an inside operator whose fraudulent reporting was used to force out former @Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. An independent Stanford investigation found no evidence that Tessier-Lavigne himself committed research fraud or misconduct — data issues were attributed to others in his lab, and the most serious fraud allegations were deemed mistaken. Baker was nonetheless celebrated as the youngest-ever George Polk Award winner and received extensive amplification from The New York Times, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News, and a major book deal with Penguin Press (@penguinpress), further boosted by the high-profile networks of his parents, Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) and Susan Glasser (@sbg1). They build the pedestal. They ignore the red flags. And when evidence of serious problems emerges, the narrative often pivots to victimhood or institutional protection. Accountability is not cruelty. Refusing to examine how these fraudulent figures were elevated and protected is. The individuals, universities, media outlets and journalists who legitimized and amplified them must be held to account.