Twitter Files

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Journalist Matt Taibbi, who published the first installment of the documents

The Twitter Files are a set of internal Twitter, Inc. documents shared at the behest of the company's owner Elon Musk with select independent journalists, including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss, in December 2022. Taibbi tweeted that the Twitter files showed "no evidence... of any government involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop story," thus failing to support prominent conservative conspiracy theories that the FBI pressured social media companies to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop stories. Taibbi did not assert any Democrats had asked Twitter to suppress the story.[1][2]

The release thereby discredited Musk and Republicans, who without evidence alleged the FBI pressured social media companies to suppress information.[2] The documents detailed the deliberation process Twitter took regarding the restriction of a New York Post article on the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

The journalists coordinated the release of the documents with Twitter management, and Taibbi published his analysis of the documents on the Twitter platform itself.[3][4]

Background

See also: Hunter Biden laptop controversy

On October 14, 2020, three weeks before the 2020 United States presidential election, the New York Post published articles using emails from a laptop which the Post alleged to show corruption by then-US presidential candidate candidate Joe Biden with regard to his son Hunter Biden's tenure as a director at Burisma Holdings Limited.[5][6] Then-President Donald Trump made several false claims about Joe Biden's involvement.[7][8][9] In March 2022, an in-depth New York Times investigation authenticated the relevant emails, but did not find that Joe Biden had committed any improprieties.[10]

Later on October 14, Twitter decided to restrict the sharing of the Post's story under its "hacked materials" policy, and locked accounts that shared it, including those of the newspaper and then White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. The moves drew widespread criticism from Trump supporters, who used the controversy to further their claims that tech companies censor their viewpoints.[11][12]

On October 19, 2020, 51 former senior intelligence officials released an open letter stating that the release of the alleged emails "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation", though they refrained from saying the emails were not genuine.[13] In August 2022, Mark Zuckerberg stated that a prior FBI warning about an impending Russian disinformation "dump" prompted Facebook to suppress the New York Post story.[14][15][16] Former Twitter executive Yoel Roth had testified that Twitter received similar warnings.[17] In response, conservatives alleged that the FBI had pressured Twitter to suppress the story; however, Taibbi claimed to have not seen evidence of this while reviewing the files.[1][2]

Publication

On November 28, 2022, Musk promised that "The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself."[18] The internal Twitter documents were given by Musk to independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.[19][20][21] [22] Taibbi noted that "in exchange for the opportunity to cover a unique and explosive story, I had to agree to certain conditions" that he did not disclose.[23][24]

On December 6, James A. Baker, deputy general counsel at Twitter, was fired by Elon Musk for allegedly vetting information before it was passed on to Taibbi and Weiss, and providing an explanation that Musk found "unconvincing". Baker had previously been general counsel for the FBI,[25][26][27] and, in 2020, had supported suppressing the New York Post story.[28]

Content

On December 2, Taibbi published a Twitter thread revealing internal Twitter emails, interspersed with his own reporting.[29][3] Elon Musk retweeted Taibbi's thread.[30] Some of these documents described Twitter's internal deliberations regarding the decision to censor the reporting of the New York Post regarding the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop,[3][4][23][31] while others contained information on how Twitter treated tweets that were flagged for removal at the request of the 2020 Biden campaign team and the Trump White House.[32]

Taibbi's thread revealed an internal debate on whether Twitter should prevent the New York Post story from being shared. Twitter leadership decided to suppress the story, arguing that it fell under the company's prohibition on hacked materials.[33] According to Taibbi, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was unaware of the decision when it was made;[34] days later, he reversed the story's suppression, calling it a "mistake",[33][35] and Twitter updated its hacked materials policy to state that news stories about hacked materials would be permitted, but with a contextual warning.[36][23] Taibbi also said Twitter had blocked tweets by former Trump administration officials promoting the New York Post story, but did not assert that Democrats had requested action on the story. He asserted Democrats had more contacts with Twitter than did Republicans, but provided no internal documents to establish that.[2] Taibbi also shared communications between Rep. Ro Khanna and then-Twitter head of legal Vijaya Gadde, in which Khanna criticized Twitter's decision to censor the Post story.[1]

The Biden campaign asked Twitter to review five tweets, which were later deleted. Taibbi did not disclose the content of the Biden campaign requests, presenting only their URLs; the content of four deleted tweets were later found by others from internet archives.[37] Those four tweets contained nude photos and videos of Hunter Biden, which violate Twitter policy and California law as revenge porn. The nature of a fifth deleted tweet is unknown.[26][38][39]

Musk tweeted during the Taibbi presentation that Twitter had acted "under orders from the government" in violation of the First Amendment, though his interpretation of the First Amendment was disputed.[40] Taibbi's reporting undermined a key narrative promoted by Musk and Republicans that the FBI pressured social media companies to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop stories.[38] Taibbi tweeted, "Although several sources recalled hearing about a “general” warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there’s no evidence - that I've seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story."[38][32] [41] Trump was president at the time in question and had appointed the sitting FBI director.

Taibbi's Twitter thread largely confirmed what was already known and did not contain any significant new revelations.[42][38]

According to Taibbi, the Twitter Files number in the thousands.[3][22]

On December 4, Musk stated that a second "Twitter Files" release will again involve Taibbi, along with journalist Bari Weiss.[43][44] According to CNBC's December 7 publication, Musk said that the future "Twitter Files" releases would include how Twitter handled the 2020 presidential election, the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack and the Covid-19 pandemic.[45]

Reactions

Conservative commentators said that Taibbi's reporting demonstrated the existence of liberal bias at Twitter prior to the company's acquisition by Musk, while many technology journalists wrote that the reported evidence did not demonstrate much more than Twitter's policy team having a difficult time making a tough call, but resolving the matter swiftly.[22][28]

According to a Forbes article, Taibbi's posts contained "no bombshells", and showed "no government involvement in the laptop story," contradicting a conspiracy theory that claimed the FBI was involved.[42] Taibbi received criticism from MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan for the appearance of performing public relations for Musk; Taibbi responded by asking how many of his critics "have run stories for anonymous sources at the FBI, CIA, the Pentagon, [and] White House".[3] Taibbi was also criticized for his failure to redact email addresses from the published screenshots; Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of Trust and Safety, called it "fundamentally unacceptable"; Musk conceded that the email addresses should have been redacted.[3]

After the Taibbi presentation, former Trump White House official and conservative radio host Seb Gorka said, "so far, I’m deeply underwhelmed." He rejected assertions made by posters on Truth Social that the First Amendment had been violated. Miranda Devine, a conservative columnist with the New York Post who was among the first to write about the laptop, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the presentation wasn't the "smoking gun we’d hoped for," adding, "I feel that Elon Musk has held back some material," alluding to a meeting he had with Apple CEO Tim Cook days earlier, amid speculation Apple might remove the Twitter app from its App Store.[46]

Twitter's former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey urged Musk to release all the internal documents "without filter" at once, including all of Twitter's discussions around current and future actions on content moderation.[47][48]

References

  1. ^ a b c Lima, Christiano. "Ro Khanna had no clue he'd star in Musk's 'Twitter Files'". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Fung, Brian (December 4, 2022). "Released Twitter emails show how employees debated how to handle 2020 New York Post Hunter Biden story". CNN.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Grynbaum, Michael M. (December 4, 2022). "Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi, and a Very Modern Media Maelstrom". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b ""End of story": Elon Musk responds to Trump's "Twitter Files" reaction". Axios. December 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "N.Y. Post Says It Obtained Hunter Biden Emails on Ukraine". Bloomberg. October 14, 2020. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  6. ^ Chait, Jonathan (October 14, 2020). "Rudy Found Hunter Biden Emails That Totally Weren't Stolen by Russia". Intelligencer. New York. Archived from the original on October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Padden, Brian (October 28, 2020). "Trump Campaign Focuses on Hunter Biden Emails as "October Surprise"". Voice Of America. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  8. ^ Alba, Davey (October 29, 2019). "Debunking 4 Viral Rumors About the Bidens and Ukraine". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  9. ^ Kessler, Glenn (September 27, 2019). "A quick guide to Trump's false claims about Ukraine and the Bidens". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  10. ^ Benner, Katie; Vogel, Kenneth P.; Schmidt, Michael S. (March 16, 2022). "Hunter Biden Paid Tax Bill, but Broad Federal Investigation Continues". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  11. ^ Ingram, David (December 5, 2022). "Elon Musk promotes release of the internal Twitter documents rehashing platform's block of Hunter Biden story". NBC News.
  12. ^ Cox, Kate (October 14, 2020). "Twitter, Facebook face blowback after stopping circulation of NY Post story". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  13. ^ Bertrand, Natasha (October 19, 2020). "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say". Politico. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Molloy, David (August 26, 2022). "Zuckerberg admits mistakes on Biden laptop story". BBC News. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Thomas, Jake (August 25, 2022). "Mark Zuckerberg's explanation of Hunter Biden censorship enrages MAGA world". Newsweek. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Gans, Jared (August 26, 2022). "Zuckerberg tells Rogan Facebook suppressed Hunter Biden laptop story after FBI warning". The Hill. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  17. ^ York, Byron (December 6, 2022). "Twitter, the FBI, and the First Amendment". Washington Examiner. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  18. ^ @elonmusk (November 28, 2022). "tweet by Elon Muck account" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Brown, Natalie (December 4, 2022). "Elon Musk says risk of his assassination is 'quite significant'". New Zealand Herald.
  20. ^ "Elon Musk speaks out on 'Twitter Files' release detailing platform's inner workings". KSLNewsRadio. December 5, 2022.
  21. ^ "Elon Musk Admits He's "Hardly Read Any" of the Twitter Files". December 3, 2022.
  22. ^ a b c Fischer, Sara (December 6, 2022). "The alternative-media industrial complex". Axios.
  23. ^ a b c Zakrzewski, Cat; Faiz Siddiqui (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk's 'Twitter Files' ignite divisions, but haven't changed minds". The Washington Post.
  24. ^ Taibbi, Matt (December 2, 2022). "Note to Readers". TK News by Matt Taibbi.
  25. ^ Tong, Sebastian (December 6, 2022). "Musk Says Deputy General Counsel 'Exited' From Twitter". Bloomberg Law.
  26. ^ a b Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk's 'Twitter Files' drop revealed some of the tweets the Biden campaign asked the social app to remove were nude photos of Hunter Biden spread without his consent". Business Insider.
  27. ^ Bachman, Brett (December 6, 2022). "Elon Musk Fires Twitter's General Counsel Over Hunter Biden Laptop Saga". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  28. ^ a b "Musk says Twitter lawyer fired amid Hunter Biden laptop dispute". Al Jazeera. December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  29. ^ Walsh, Susan (December 2, 2022). "Elon Musk promotes release of internal Twitter documents rehashing platform's block of Hunter Biden story". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  30. ^ Pandey, Nikhil (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk Retweets "Twitter Files", Reveals Details On "Hunter Biden Story" Censor". NDTV.
  31. ^ Lanum, Nikolas (December 7, 2022). "NPR quiet on Twitter Files after calling Hunter Biden laptop story a waste of time". Fox News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  32. ^ a b Garrison, Joey; Schulz, Bailey; Guynn, Jessica (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk's 'Twitter files': Emails reveal internal struggle on handling of Hunter Biden laptop". USA Today.
  33. ^ a b Ray, Siladitya. "Twitter Files: Founder Jack Dorsey Urges Musk To Release 'Everything Without Filter'". Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  34. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk's promised Twitter exposé on the Hunter Biden story is a flop that doxxed multiple people". The Verge. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  35. ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (December 5, 2022). "Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi, and a Very Modern Media Maelstrom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  36. ^ Sonnemaker, Tyler. "Twitter will now add warning labels to tweets containing hacked material instead of banning them entirely, after its blocking of contested New York Post Biden story provoked uproar". Business Insider. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  37. ^ Kang, Jay Caspian (December 6, 2022). "What Elon Musk doesn't know about free speech". The New Yorker.
  38. ^ a b c d Fung, Brian (December 4, 2022). "Released Twitter emails show how employees debated how to handle 2020 New York Post Hunter Biden story". CNN.
  39. ^ Shah, Areeba (December 5, 2022). "Elon Musk's hyped "Twitter Files" show Biden campaign asked to remove Hunter Biden nude photos". Salon.
  40. ^ French, David (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson Don't Understand the First Amendment". The Atlantic.
  41. ^ Matt Taibbi [@mtaibbi] (December 3, 2022). "22. Although several sources recalled hearing about a "general" warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there's no evidence - that I've seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story. In fact, that might have been the problem..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  42. ^ a b Bushard, Brian. "Musk's 'Twitter Files': Internal Hunter Biden Debate Revealed With Much Hype But No Bombshells". Forbes. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  43. ^ Maruf, Ramishah (December 4, 2022). "Elon Musk speaks out on 'Twitter Files' release detailing platform's inner workings | CNN Business". CNN Business. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  44. ^ Harper, Lambert (December 3, 2022). "Elon Musk Says He's 'Hardly Read Any' of the Twitter Files, Has Given Bari Weiss Access to Work on Rollout". MSN. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  45. ^ Feiner, Lora Kolodny,Lauren (December 7, 2022). "Democratic lawmakers ask Musk for info on possible Chinese manipulation of Twitter". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  46. ^ Petrizzo, Zachary (December 3, 2022). "'Deeply Underwhelmed': Right-Wingers on Musk's Overhyped 'Twitter Files'". The Daily Beast.
  47. ^ Pandolfo, Chris (December 7, 2022). "Twitter Files: Jack Dorsey urges Elon Musk after James Baker ouster, 'Just release everything without filter'". FOXBusiness. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  48. ^ Ray, Siladitya (December 7, 2022). "Twitter Files: Founder Jack Dorsey Urges Musk To Release 'Everything Without Filter'". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022.
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