Journalist Matt Taibbi, who has been releasing so-called ‘Twitter Files’ about the social media company’s operations via internal documents, revealed Friday that Twitter maintained constant and pervasive contact with federal officials about moderating content on the platform.
“Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary,” Taibbi said. “The #TwitterFiles show something new: agencies like the FBI and DHS [Department of Homeland Security] regularly sending social media content to Twitter through multiple entry points, pre-flagged for moderation.”
There were over 150 emails exchanged between former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth and the FBI from January 2020 to November 2022, Taibbi said.
The contact included a high number of requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on purported election misinformation, according to Taibbi.
The FBI’s requests for action also included calls for moderation of joke tweets from low-follower accounts; in fact, one account tweeted mostly satire but Twitter employees still looked to suspended the page for “civic misinformation.”
As recently as November 22, one email showed the FBI San Francisco office flagging four accounts that “may potentially constitute violations” of Twitter’s rules.
The Friday dump also detailed that the tech giant not only held monthly meetings with the FBI and DHS, but also with officials from the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“Instead of chasing child sex predators or terrorists, the FBI has agents — lots of them — analyzing and mass-flagging social media posts,” Taibbi wrote in a post following the latest release. “Not as part of any criminal investigation, but as a permanent, end-in-itself surveillance operation. People should not be okay with this.”
It’s unclear when the next ‘Twitter Files’ release is expected but Taibbi did indicate that “researchers are moving into a variety of new areas now.”
Taibbi has been releasing the ‘Twitter Files’ in coordination with new Twitter chief Elon Musk and other journalists. The disclosures have so far revealed information about suppression of reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story and efforts to remove former US President Donald Trump from the platform following the January 6 Capitol riot.
surprise , surprise ? nothing new there. If you don’t agree with the ” herd”, you are accused of ” hate speach”, faschist, antivax, ” russian agent “( a new scolding word) by the ” main stream media”.
Not only the bogey men such as china and russia watch their citizen. Europe also has introduced censure or worst, forbidden news outlets that disagree with the official ” truth”.
I don’t trust Musk but it’s good to see the FBIs fetish for all things Democrat and perverted laid bare for all to see
What must the SIS in NZ have done to throw mud on local journalists and platforms to suppress free speech and magnify the government’s agenda through its $1 media agency
Never trust Alphabet Agencies! PERIOD!
& get OFF of monitored ‘Social(ist) Media, run and overseen by Zio-Communists!