The revelations keep coming.
They are revelations that -- counter to their public claims -- Twitter staff engaged in precisely the kinds of unwarranted, unscrupulous, censorship activity that conservatives, libertarians, and anti-war activists for years have said was evident and prevalent.
The latest news comes from both the most recent tranche of Twitter internals and previous releases, and it indicates that the left-leaning Twitter censorship cabal not only twisted their own rules in order to permanently ban then-sitting President of the United States Donald Trump, but also that the corporation shadow-banned political candidates, and that its staff took their action against Trump after Michelle Obama and other hardcore leftists applied pressure.
Like many attentive reporters, Breitbart’s Lucas Nolan has been burning the midnight oil trying to keep up with the flood of Twitter revelations. He writes:
“The fourth part of the ‘Twitter Files’ series was published Saturday night by journalist Michael Shellenberger, outlining how Twitter executives twisted the platform’s rules with the intention of blacklisting former President Donald Trump on January 7, 2020. In a recently published thread, journalist Michael Shellenberger outlined the fourth release of the ‘Twitter Files’ series, detailing the internal workings at Twitter and conversations between executives ahead of the banning of former President Donald Trump.”
From there, the Twitter Big-Two of censorship oversaw a change in policy that facilitated their unwarranted ban of Trump:
“During this time, then-CEO Jack Dorsey was on vacation and appeared to delegate much of the decision-making to other top executives including Global Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth and Head of Legal, Policy, & Trust Vijaya Gadde, the platform’s censorship queen…”
Adds Nolan:
“On January 7, Dorsey emailed employees saying that the platform must remain consistent in its policies, including allowing users to return to the platform following temporary bans. Roth reassured an employee that ‘people who care about this… aren’t happy with where we are.’”
But Dorsey, Roth, and Gadde led the Twitter staff down a different path – one that appears to have run contrary to Dorsey’s original position about “consistency.”
Medical doctor Michaell Shellenberger, who covers the latest Twitter Files at his Substack (some of his material is subscription-only), has offered overviews and links on his Twitter feed, and he notes:
“Around 11:30 am PT, Roth DMs his colleagues with news that he is excited to share. ‘GUESS WHAT,’ he writes. ‘Jack just approved repeat offender for civic integrity.’ The new approach would create a system where five violations (‘strikes’) would result in permanent suspension.”
Shellenberger also observes that public figures such as Michelle Obama and the hard-left smear-machine of the Anti-Defamation Leage (ADL) also were among some of the high-profile forces to call for Twitter to permanently ban Trump.
But that’s not all the damning information to come from the Twitter Files.
Related: Twitter Doc Dump Reveals Stunning Leftist Tilt - Now Additional Lefty 'Journalist' Spin | MRCTV
Tom Ozimek, of The Epoch Times, reports that Matt Taibbi’s second bundle of Twitter documents (offered in great detail at his Substack) reveals internal Slack communications among Twitter staff that indicate serious bias, shadow-banning of political candidates, and a terrifying backdoor access utilized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to have particular tweets removed.
Writes Ozimek:
“The FBI sent reports to Twitter executives flagging particular tweets, which were then discussed internally, resulting in action taken to censor some tweets or have warning labels slapped on others.
Twitter executives set up a dedicated chat group in October 2020 to discuss election-related removals, the files show.”
Writes Taibbi:
“FBI/DHS/DNI coordination. We entered this project conscious of reports that federal law enforcement agencies might be in contact with platforms like Twitter about content moderation. After not seeing it in the first batch, the Slack entries in ‘Part 3’ contain multiple, clear displays of cooperation between Twitter and federal law enforcement and/or intelligence…”
A firm grasp of the multiple-lane, Twitter/FBI/DHS/DNI, efforts to suppress reach, to silence, and to ban people from the platform reveals a shocking form of modern fascism unparalleled in 21st Century America. Notes Ozimek:
“Before Trump was banned, Twitter also created a new tool to censor the then-sitting president after the election when he was vocal with his claims of election fraud. Internally, executives referred to the tool as ‘L3 deamplication.’
The new tool was announced on Dec. 10, 2020, when “Trump was in the middle of firing off 25 tweets saying things like, ‘A coup is taking place in front of our eyes,'” Taibbi wrote.”
This also requires us to recall journalist Bari Weiss’ own Twitter tranche reports, something that Ozimek does, as well:
“On Thursday, The Free Press editor Bari Weiss, another reporter handpicked by Musk as a conduit for releasing the files, published her report on the extent of Twitter’s tools for censorship, revealing the social media company’s secret blacklists. Her report noted that executives refer to “shadow banning” as ‘visibility filtering.’”
This is very important.
Adds Ozimek, of Epoch Times:
“The FBI sent reports to Twitter executives flagging particular tweets, which were then discussed internally, resulting in action taken to censor some tweets or have warning labels slapped on others.
Twitter executives set up a dedicated chat group in October 2020 to discuss election-related removals, the files show.
Neither the Trump campaign, the Trump White House, nor ‘Republicans generally’ sent moderation requests to Twitter, Taibbi noted.
‘We looked. They may exist: we were told they do. However, they were absent here,’ he wrote.”
This information is seen with even greater clarity by recalling that Taibbi previously reported on the close ideological ties and massive political donations preference Twitter employees had with and for Democrats, a matter which I discuss, here.
Adds Ozimek:
“The framework for justifying banning Trump was built in the months before January 2021, when federal agencies were meeting with Twitter executives more often, according to Taibbi.
At one point, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, noted in a Slack message regarding Twitter’s censorship of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story that he had ‘weekly sync’ meetings regarding election security with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and office of the Director of National Intelligence.”
Reading much of this information prompted conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong on December 8 to tweet to Elon Musk and Bari Weiss, wondering whether this kind of censorship also applied to other politicians running for office. First, he asked:
“So here’s a question for @elonmusk and @bariweiss: were any political candidates — either in the US or elsewhere — subject to shadowbanning while they were running for office or seeking re-election?”
Then, he added:
“Furthermore, there is the question of whether any of Twitter’s acts of covert (shadowbanning) suppression was done at the behest of political agents, campaigns, activists, or the government at any level—especially federal. @elonmusk”
To which Musk replied:
“Yes.”
There is much more, particularly when it comes to messages from non-politicians whom the leftist cabal at Twitter worked to shadow-ban.
I separately will cover that ongoing story.
Related: Stunning: Clinton Pal, James Baker Screened Twitter Email Release | MRCTV
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