Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
Followers
1,934,023
Following
4,132
Media
1,901
Statuses
29,294
Author of INSANE CLOWN PRESIDENT, I CAN’T BREATHE, SPANKING THE DONKEY, and SMELLS LIKE DEAD ELEPHANTS
New Jersey, USA
Joined May 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Corinthians
• 150819 Tweets
CONSTANZA AL 9009
• 128137 Tweets
Emmanuel
• 112283 Tweets
Lite
• 96022 Tweets
Kyrie
• 90607 Tweets
ENGLOT CLUBFRIDAY THE SERIES
• 74993 Tweets
Díaz
• 73958 Tweets
#DebateINE
• 64677 Tweets
Luka
• 63285 Tweets
Harden
• 63188 Tweets
Clippers
• 60114 Tweets
Bucks
• 55430 Tweets
DeSantis
• 51577 Tweets
STILL MISSING YOU LIN KATH
• 48311 Tweets
昭和の日
• 48185 Tweets
Mavs
• 42280 Tweets
Pacers
• 35426 Tweets
#ラヴィット
• 32903 Tweets
Xóchitl Gálvez
• 29238 Tweets
#DebatePresidencial2024
• 23903 Tweets
ATAQUE FURIOSO
• 23725 Tweets
Foundation Day
• 22075 Tweets
Pereira
• 19795 Tweets
Maynez
• 19069 Tweets
Maurício
• 18700 Tweets
Millonarios
• 18428 Tweets
Giannis
• 14050 Tweets
Emelec
• 12310 Tweets
1. THREAD: The Twitter Files
THE REMOVAL OF DONALD TRUMP
Part One: October 2020-January 6th
9K
55K
162K
Instead of chasing child sex predators or terrorists, the FBI has agents — lots of them — analyzing and mass-flagging social media posts. Not as part of any criminal investigation, but as a permanent, end-in-itself surveillance operation. People should not be okay with this.
9K
43K
155K
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.”
7K
35K
143K
1. THREAD: The Twitter Files, Part Six
TWITTER, THE FBI SUBSIDIARY
6K
44K
122K
19. 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.”
2K
20K
108K
11. 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.
3K
22K
108K
Looking forward to going through all the tweets complaining about “PR for the richest man on earth,” and seeing how many of them have run stories for anonymous sources at the FBI, CIA, the Pentagon, White House, etc.
7K
19K
107K
18. 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.
2K
21K
106K
9. Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party:
3K
20K
104K
2. What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter.
1K
14K
101K
3. 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.
686
13K
96K
17. On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop:
2K
22K
96K
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.
3K
14K
92K
16. The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story
2K
16K
84K
23. 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.
2K
15K
83K
4. Twitter in its conception was a brilliant tool for enabling instant mass communication, making a true real-time global conversation possible for the first time.
371
10K
83K
It's been a whirlwind 96 hours for me, too. There is much more to come, including answers to questions about issues like shadow-banning, boosting, follower counts, the fate of various individual accounts, and more. These issues are not limited to the political right.
3K
11K
81K
6. 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.
727
10K
80K
12. 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.
1K
11K
79K
10.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:
3K
12K
79K
5. In an early conception, Twitter more than lived up to its mission statement, giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”
442
10K
78K
24. “They just freelanced it,” is how one former employee characterized the decision. “Hacking was the excuse, but within a few hours, pretty much everyone realized that wasn’t going to hold. But no one had the guts to reverse it.”
1K
13K
77K
Good night, everyone. Thanks to all those who picked up the phone in the last few days.
5K
4K
75K
1. TWITTER FILES:
Statement to Congress
THE CENSORSHIP-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
3K
30K
75K
can see the confusion in the following lengthy exchange, which ends up including Gadde and former Trust and safety chief Yoel Roth. Comms official Trenton Kennedy writes, “I'm struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe”:
1K
13K
73K
36.Twitter files continued:
"THE FIRST AMENDMENT ISN’T ABSOLUTE”
Szabo’s letter contains chilling passages relaying Democratic lawmakers’ attitudes. They want “more” moderation, and as for the Bill of Rights, it's "not absolute"
6K
20K
73K
Twitter Files Thread: The Spies Who Loved Twitter:
3K
19K
71K
26. By this point “everyone knew this was fucked,” said one former employee, but the response was essentially to err on the side of… continuing to err.
2K
13K
71K
32.Khanna tries to reroute the conversation to the First Amendment, mention of which is generally hard to find in the files:
2K
12K
71K
An amazing subplot of the Twitter/Hunter Biden laptop affair was how much was done without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, and how long it took for the situation to get "unfucked" (as one ex-employee put it) even after Dorsey jumped in.
4K
12K
71K
Congressman, I’m an American citizen, I love my country, and accusing me of repeating “Kremlin talking points” when I report something you find inconvenient is beyond reprehensible. You and your sleazy red-baiting pals in congress should be ashamed.
5K
14K
71K
1.THREAD: Twitter Files
#14
THE RUSSIAGATE LIES
One: The Fake Tale of Russian Bots and the
#ReleaseTheMemo
Hashtag
2K
28K
70K
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...
1K
10K
69K
Okay, there was more throat-clearing about the process, but screw it, let's jump forward
1K
7K
68K
21. Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy:
2K
11K
68K
20.This led public policy executive Caroline Strom to send out a polite WTF query. Several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams, who had little/less control over moderation, and the safety/trust teams:
817
10K
68K
29. A fundamental problem with tech companies and content moderation: many people in charge of speech know/care little about speech, and have to be told the basics by outsiders. To wit:
905
10K
67K
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In
2K
24K
64K
27. Former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman asks, “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?”
1K
10K
64K
30. In one humorous exchange on day 1, Democratic congressman Ro Khanna reaches out to Gadde to gently suggest she hop on the phone to talk about the “backlash re speech.” Khanna was the only Democratic official I could find in the files who expressed concern.
983
10K
63K
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”:
2K
10K
61K
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
TWITTER AND "OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES"
2K
23K
60K
Gadde replies quickly, immediately diving into the weeds of Twitter policy, unaware Khanna is more worried about the Bill of Rights:
1K
10K
60K
33.Within a day, head of Public Policy Lauren Culbertson receives a ghastly letter/report from Carl Szabo of the research firm NetChoice, which had already polled 12 members of congress – 9 Rs and 3 Democrats, from “the House Judiciary Committee to Rep. Judy Chu’s office.”
1K
9K
57K
3. We’ll show you what hasn’t been revealed: the erosion of standards within the company in months before J6, decisions by high-ranking executives to violate their own policies, and more, against the backdrop of ongoing, documented interaction with federal agencies.
607
9K
55K
@bariweiss
Reporters resumed searches through Twitter Files material – a lot of it – today. The next installment of “The Twitter Files” will appear
@bariweiss
. Stay tuned.
2K
8K
53K
@bariweiss
The news that Baker was reviewing the “Twitter files” surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to “exit” Baker Tuesday.
2K
9K
53K
Being on that committee you should know:
- How much has been spent, and how many DHS/DOJ employees have been assigned, to monitoring and flagging social media?
- Why is the FBI asking for "location information" about ordinary Americans and media outlets like
@RSBNetwork
?
2K
10K
53K
4. This first installment covers the period before the election through January 6th. Tomorrow,
@Shellenbergermd
will detail the chaos inside Twitter on January 7th. On Sunday,
@BariWeiss
will reveal the secret internal communications from the key date of January 8th.
579
9K
52K
2. The world knows much of the story of what happened between riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and the removal of President Donald Trump from Twitter on January 8th...
667
8K
50K
We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.
2K
11K
50K
Six Degrees from James Baker: A Familiar Figure Reemerges With the Release of the Twitter Files – JONATHAN TURLEY
1K
12K
48K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
5. Whatever your opinion on the decision to remove Trump that day, the internal communications at Twitter between January 6th-January 8th have clear historical import. Even Twitter’s employees understood in the moment it was a landmark moment in the annals of speech.
774
9K
48K
So
@HillaryClinton
, a former Senator, supports blocking the oversight powers of congress based on what we’ve shown in the
#TwitterFiles
were fantasies about Russian collusion. She needs to answer questions about the role her campaign played in manufacturing a public panic.
7K
13K
48K
The people determined to reduce the Twitter Files into a partisan pissing match are doing so precisely because the real targets of these stories aren't parties, but the FBI, DHS, DOD, and other massive state entities who've been improperly meddling in domestic speech.
2K
12K
47K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
10. As the election approached, senior executives – perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed – increasingly struggled with rules, and began to speak of “vios” as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.
801
8K
47K
34.NetChoice lets Twitter know a “blood bath” awaits in upcoming Hill hearings, with members saying it's a "tipping point," complaining tech has “grown so big that they can’t even regulate themselves, so government may need to intervene.”
840
8K
47K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
@JohnBasham
27. Examining the entire election enforcement Slack, we didn’t see one reference to moderation requests from the Trump campaign, the Trump White House, or Republicans generally. We looked. They may exist: we were told they do. However, they were absent here.
1K
10K
47K
3. Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary.
400
9K
46K
4. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth.
638
10K
46K
35.Szabo reports to Twitter that some Hill figures are characterizing the laptop story as “tech’s Access Hollywood moment”:
901
8K
46K
Congresswoman, how does badgering a non-MAGA, non-Republican journalist to give up a source constitute fighting “Extreme MAGA Republican lies”?
Can you please identify something
@ShellenbergerMD
or I said that is extreme, a lie, or a conspiracy theory?
To hide their inability to legislate, Republicans have launched a dangerous political circus that’s sole purpose is to inject extremist politics into our justice system.
I will continue to fight Extreme MAGA Republican lies, misinformation, and outright conspiracy theories.
13K
322
1K
4K
9K
46K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
11. After J6, internal Slacks show Twitter executives getting a kick out of intensified relationships with federal agencies. Here’s Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth, lamenting a lack of “generic enough” calendar descriptions to concealing his “very interesting” meeting partners.
1K
10K
46K
6. But a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts.
620
9K
45K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
6. As soon as they finished banning Trump, Twitter execs started processing new power. They prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses – perhaps even Joe Biden. The “new administration,” says one exec, “will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary.”
1K
9K
45K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
20. This post about the Hunter Biden laptop situation shows that Roth not only met weekly with the FBI and DHS, but with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI):
1K
12K
45K
2. The
#TwitterFiles
are revealing more every day about how the government collects, analyzes, and flags your social media content.
383
7K
44K
There are multiple instances in the files of Dorsey intervening to question suspensions and other moderation actions, for accounts across the political spectrum
3K
6K
44K
1.TWITTER FILES: Supplemental
More Adam Schiff Ban Requests,
and "Deamplification"
1K
15K
43K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
16. The latter group were a high-speed Supreme Court of moderation, issuing content rulings on the fly, often in minutes and based on guesses, gut calls, even Google searches, even in cases involving the President.
827
9K
43K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
8. The bulk of the internal debate leading to Trump’s ban took place in those three January days. However, the intellectual framework was laid in the months preceding the Capitol riots.
513
7K
42K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
7. Twitter executives removed Trump in part over what one executive called the “context surrounding”: actions by Trump and supporters “over the course of the election and frankly last 4+ years.” In the end, they looked at a broad picture. But that approach can cut both ways.
1K
8K
41K
1.THREAD: The Twitter Files
Twitter and the FBI “Belly Button”
1K
16K
41K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
9. Before J6, Twitter was a unique mix of automated, rules-based enforcement, and more subjective moderation by senior executives. As
@BariWeiss
reported, the firm had a vast array of tools for manipulating visibility, most all of which were thrown at Trump (and others) pre-J6.
399
7K
41K
The problem with the "hacked materials" ruling, several sources said, was that this normally required an official/law enforcement finding of a hack. But such a finding never appears throughout what one executive describes as a "whirlwind" 24-hour, company-wide mess.
1K
8K
40K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
17. During this time, executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content. While we’re still at the start of reviewing the
#TwitterFiles
, we’re finding out more about these interactions every day.
599
7K
39K
7. The FBI’s social media-focused task force, known as FTIF, created in the wake of the 2016 election, swelled to 80 agents and corresponded with Twitter to identify alleged foreign influence and election tampering of all kinds.
667
7K
39K
8. Federal intelligence and law enforcement reach into Twitter included the Department of Homeland Security, which partnered with security contractors and think tanks to pressure Twitter to moderate content.
280
7K
38K
How is this not a huge story?
BREAKING: Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that Facebook algorithmically censored the Hunter Biden laptop story for 7 days based on a general request from the FBI to restrict election misinformation.
8K
38K
101K
3K
9K
38K
Keith, talk about hackery and quoting out of context — I was responding to being labeled a “threat” and a “so-called journalist” by a politician. I’m also an actual reporter, not a shouter of other peoples’ copy at a teleprompter.
I wish
@mtaibbi
told me that when he insisted he was a journalist and we put him on tv 🤦🏼♂️
2K
93
802
2K
4K
38K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
12. These initial reports are based on searches for docs linked to prominent executives, whose names are already public. They include Roth, former trust and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, and recently plank-walked Deputy General Counsel (and former top FBI lawyer) Jim Baker.
294
6K
38K
10. The
#TwitterFiles
show something new: agencies like the FBI and DHS regularly sending social media content to Twitter through multiple entry points, pre-flagged for moderation.
225
8K
38K
Over the weekend, while we both dealt with obstacles to new searches, it was
@BariWeiss
who discovered that the person in charge of releasing the files was someone named Jim. When she called to ask “Jim’s” last name, the answer came back: “Jim Baker.”
912
7K
37K
For those who continue to insist exposing the lie of Russiagate is a “right-wing” trope, here’s Jacobin reporting on the recent NYU study that of coure was largely ignored:
2K
10K
37K
“HELLO TWITTER CONTACTS”: The master-canine quality of the FBI’s relationship to Twitter comes through in this November 2022 email, in which “FBI San Francisco is notifying you” it wants action on four accounts:
914
8K
37K
@bariweiss
Baker is a controversial figure. He has been something of a Zelig of FBI controversies dating back to 2016, from the Steele Dossier to the Alfa-Server mess. He resigned in 2018 after an investigation into leaks to the press.
509
6K
36K
The latest
#TwitterFiles
expose as a total lie a major Russiagate story — that the
#ReleaseTheMemo
hashtag was fueled by Russian bots:
1.THREAD: Twitter Files
#14
THE RUSSIAGATE LIES
One: The Fake Tale of Russian Bots and the
#ReleaseTheMemo
Hashtag
2K
28K
70K
1K
10K
36K
5. Some are mundane, like San Francisco agent Elvis Chan wishing Roth a Happy New Year along with a reminder to attend “our quarterly call next week.” Others are requests for information into Twitter users related to active investigations.
206
5K
36K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
@JohnBasham
The FBI's second report concerned this tweet by
@JohnBasham
:
321
8K
36K
No other way to say it now: my former colleagues in mainstream media are spineless, corrupt, amoral fuckwits.
@thackerpd
@davidzweig
@mtaibbi
@CommonSense
@bariweiss
@CJR
@BretWeinstein
@ErikWemple
This is illegal. Unbelievable that mainstream press gives it a pass.
117
297
4K
2K
6K
36K
@ShellenbergerMD
@bariweiss
19. Pickles quickly asks if they could “just say “partnerships.” After a pause, he says, “e.g. not sure we’d describe the FBI/DHS as experts.”
671
7K
35K
Here's you in 2018 saying the idea the FBI needed the Steele report at all to seek FISA authority is "literally laughable."
Here's the Inspector General saying the Steele Dossier played a "central and essential role" in the FBI decision to seek a FISA order.
Can keep going...
2K
7K
35K