Matt Taibbi tweeted the new files last week in which he discussed what he referred to as the "Censorship-Industrial Complex." He described an "incestuous self-appointed truth squad" consisting of Twitter, government agencies, establishment media, and non-profit organizations, all of which share an ideological alignment in their efforts to censor information, according to The Post Millennial.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk called the new revelations "concerning" on the platform.
Concerning https://t.co/jz8tUgjHmL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2023
Taibbi highlighted an internal document from the Stanford Internet Observatory's Election Integrity Partnership, which he described as "the ultimate example of the absolute fusion of state, corporate, and civil society organizations." The document discussed how "true content" that could "promote vaccine hesitancy," such as stories about actual vaccine side effects, could be classified as "malinformation" instead of mis or disinformation.
The latest set of the Twitter Files was released on the same day as a congressional hearing focused on the same topic during which Taibbi and others who have also tweeted out their versions of the files testified. The files consist of a series of reports that reveal internal records at Twitter related to the company's censorship efforts, particularly regarding Covid-related content, and the collusion between Twitter and government agencies in achieving these goals, the outlet noted further.
During the hearing, Democratic lawmakers attempted to goad Taibbi and the others into committing a cardinal sin for journalists: Revealing who their source or sources were for the files.
Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia: "So then you consider @Elonmusk the direct source of all this?"@Mtaibbi: "No, you're trying to get me to say that he is the source" pic.twitter.com/VOgJT89Ypp
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 9, 2023
In Thursday's batch of the Twitter Files, Taibbi stated that previous installments "focused on the company, which at times acted like a power above government" or "more like a partner to government." Taibbi also shared a screenshot of FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan sending Twitter a list of accounts that the FBI believed violated their terms of service.
3. But Twitter was more like a partner to government.
With other tech firms it held a regular “industry meeting” with FBI and DHS, and developed a formal system for receiving thousands of content reports from every corner of government: HHS, Treasury, NSA, even local police: pic.twitter.com/DgI954lge7
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 9, 2023
Taibbi provided details in the latest batch of the Twitter Files, stating that many reports "didn't even assert misinformation" and that a list of YouTube videos were flagged for "anti-Ukraine narratives."
7. In some cases, state reports didn’t even assert misinformation. Here, a list of YouTube videos is flagged for “anti-Ukraine narratives”: pic.twitter.com/dAWYp8Ht5j
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 9, 2023
Twitter received numerous requests for censorship from non-governmental organizations, including non-profit organizations, Taibbi noted.
"The National Endowment for Democracy, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, and Hamilton 68’s creator, the Alliance for Securing Democracy," were all part of the so-called Censorship-Industrial Complex.
11. Who’s in the Censorship-Industrial Complex? Twitter in 2020 helpfully compiled a list for a working group set up in 2020.
The National Endowment for Democracy, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, and Hamilton 68’s creator, the Alliance for Securing Democracy, are key: pic.twitter.com/7lLlL2tcjN
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 9, 2023
Taibbi noted further that the Censorship-Industrial Complex had its "Woodstock" when "the Aspen Institute -- which receives millions a year from both the State Department and USAID -- held a star-studded confab in Aspen in August 2021 to release its final report on 'Information Disorder.'" The report had Katie Couric listed as a co-author and Prince Harry serving as a Commissioner, according to Taibbi.
"Their taxpayer-backed conclusions: the state should have total access to data to make searching speech easier, speech offenders should be put in a 'holding area,' and government should probably restrict disinformation, 'even if it means losing some freedom,'" Taibbi said.
So much for living in a 'constitutional republic.'
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