Monday, Elon Musk announced that he will shortly release “The Twitter Files.” These files would pertain to the platform’s repression of free expression.
Musk’s original teaser tweet said, “The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened …”
The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Musk subsequently emphasized that the data will disclose “what really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression by Twitter.”
As promised, he shared the data via a series of tweets by American journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday.
Early on at Twitter, according to Taibbi, the company gradually incorporated capabilities to prevent spam and “financial fraudsters.”
Within a short period of time, these technologies were weaponized to control discourse that Twitter workers and executives subjectively saw as damaging and/or false.
This filtering eventually developed to the point that Twitter received “requests from linked actors” to suppress particular comments. According to an internal email provided by Taibbi, one of these actors was “the Biden team.”
7. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
“Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party,” Taibbi tweeted alongside an image of an internal email. The email appears to show Twitter staff reacting to a request from the Democratic National Committee to restrict actor James Woods.
9. Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party: pic.twitter.com/4uzkHnQ65E
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
Although both Republicans and Democrats (including the Trump administration and the Biden campaign) utilized this method of requests, conservatives were disproportionately targeted.
This is because the Twitter crew was largely leftist, according to Taibbi. Because of this, liberal players had greater access to request-making channels than their counterparts on the right.
This excessive censoring was corroborated by “the Twitter files” and “multiple current and former high-level executives,” as described by Taibbi in his article.
Twitter staff went above and beyond typical practice when it comes to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.
Links were deleted and warnings were displayed, reportedly because the article included “hacked materials.” Former White House press secretary Kaleigh McEnany was shut off of her account for spreading the news.
According to Taibbi, Twitter censors also blocked the story from being forwarded through direct messaging, a technique typically reserved for grave circumstances such as preventing the spread of child pornography.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
What followed was some internal confusion at Twitter: Internal communications shared by Taibbi revealed that there was “tension” between the public policy and communications teams. CONTINUE READING…