In a lengthy Twitter thread, Taibbi begins:
“What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter,” the journalist said.
“The ‘Twitter Files’ tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer,” he said as he then unleashed a torrent of information.
"As time progressed, however, the company was slowly forced to add those barriers. Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters," Taibbi continued, adding:
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.
By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.”
8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.” pic.twitter.com/mnv0YZI4af
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
"Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party," he said, providing another screengrab that included banning a tweet by 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
"Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However," he continued, "This system wasn't balanced. It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right."
"The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives," the journalist noted further, adding that the real censorship began in earnest after the New York Post published the first stories revealing Biden family corruption in October 2020. Those reports revealed that Hunter Biden 1) was involved in corrupt deals in many foreign countries, including Ukraine and China; and 2) a portion of what he earned went to Joe Biden, meaning that Hunter's gigs came as a result of foreigners attempting to 'buy access' to the then-vice president of the United States.
"Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be 'unsafe.' They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography," Taibbi wrote.
"White House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account for tweeting about the story, prompting a furious letter from Trump campaign staffer Mike Hahn, who seethed: “At least pretend to care for the next 20 days.”
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
Worse, there were political activist 'freelancers' working within Twitter to arbitrarily make decisions to cancel stories and users.
"The decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role," Taibbi said.
Elon Musk buying Twitter was the best thing to happen to that platform since it was launched.
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