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Musk Releases ‘Hunter Biden’ Files

On Friday afternoon, Twitter CEO Elon Musk released a bombshell report from journalist Matt Taibbi, revealing that Twitter, under its former leadership, had been working in conjunction with the team of then-Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden, removing tweets and information that Biden wanted deleted, particularly information connected to his own son, Hunter Biden.

Musk’s decision to release the information came because it was “necessary to restore public trust” in the platform, particularly after it censored the New York Post’s bombshell story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

Musk began by tweeting Taibbi’s multi-tweet thread on Twitter, referred to as “The Twitter Files,” writing: “Here we go!!”

Taibbi began by explaining that while the company was founded with hopes for speech “without barriers,” they were “slowly forced to add … tools for controlling speech [that] were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters.”

“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,” Taibbi said. “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.’”

“Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party,” Taibbi continued. “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: 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.”

With the background explained, Taibbi began discussing The New York Post’s article, “BIDEN SECRET EMAILS” published on October 14, 2020, a report about the laptop belonging to Biden’s son.

“Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be ‘unsafe,’” Taibbi continued. “They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography.”

“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,’” Taibbi continued. “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.”

“Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s ‘hacked materials’ policy,” he continued. “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…”

“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,” he continued. “‘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.’”

“You 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’,” Taibbi continued. “By this point ‘everyone knew this was f***ed,’ said one former employee, but the response was essentially to err on the side of… continuing to err.”

“Former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman asks, ‘Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?’” Taibbi continued. “To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because ‘caution is warranted.’”

“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,” Taibbi continued. “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.”

“Gadde replies quickly, immediately diving into the weeds of Twitter policy, unaware Khanna is more worried about the Bill of Rights,” Taibbi continued. “Khanna tries to reroute the conversation to the First Amendment, mention of which is generally hard to find in the files.”

“Szabo reports to Twitter that some Hill figures are characterizing the laptop story as ‘tech’s Access Hollywood moment’,” the thread 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.’”

“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 ‘unf***ed’ (as one ex-employee put it) even after Dorsey jumped in,” Taibbi continued. “There are multiple instances in the files of Dorsey intervening to question suspensions and other moderation actions, for accounts across the political spectrum.”

“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,” the thread continued. “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.”
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sunsporter1649 · 70-79, M
@BohemianBabe "Cable news pundits who were among the 51 former intelligence operatives who famously signed a 2020 public letter claiming Hunter Biden's infamous laptop was "Russian disinformation" have declined to admit they were wrong since a pair of liberal newspapers confirmed the computer’s authenticity.

Former CIA chief of staff-turned MSNBC pundit Jeremy Bash, CIA director-turned MSNBC pundit John Brennan and ex-director of national intelligence-turned-CNN pundit James Clapper are among the retired intelligence operatives who insisted the laptop revealing Hunter Biden’s shady overseas business dealings, along with a cache of damning emails and photos, was the result of a "Russian disinformation" campaign designed to help keep then-President Trump in office.

Many of the officials are likely doubling down or standing put because they personally believe they "did their part" for the "bigger purpose" – which could be to defeat former President Trump or other personal reasons… [That] is what everybody should know about the apparatus. It’s not about the truth. It’s about power."
@sunsporter1649 Do you think you'll ever be over Hunter Biden's laptop?
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe The story isn't about the laptop boo, it's about the coverup. Try to keep up.
@SumKindaMunster The coverup about the...... ???
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe
https://reason.com/2022/12/02/twitter-files-elon-musk-matt-taibbi-hunter-biden-laptop-censorship/

mostly confirm what the public already assumed: A (still unidentified) employee or process flagged the story as "unsafe" and suppressed its spread, and then Twitter moderators devised a retroactive justification—violation of a "hacked materials" policy—for having taken such an extraordinary step. Then-CEO Jack Dorsey was largely absent from these conversations; Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's former head of trust and safety played "a key role." None of this material is groundbreaking; it's already well-known.

The most interesting revelation in Taibbi's thread is that Twitter's top executives were warned, over and over again, that this decision was going to create a backlash like nothing they had ever seen before. Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.), a progressive lawmaker, repeatedly emailed a Twitter communications staffer to complain that the firm was violating "1st Amendment principles." (He raised some very valid points in his communications with the company, though strictly speaking the First Amendment does not apply in this situation.)

High ranking members of our government used their power and influence to remove damaging tweets and other information on demand.

You cool with that?
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster
High ranking members of our government used their power and influence to remove damaging tweets and other information on demand.
Was this proven in a court, or?
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar You know the answer to that Elessar. Is that the standard of proof needed here? Time stamped meta data that NOBODY is disputing isn't enough evidence?

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,” Taibbi said. “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.’”

“Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party,” Taibbi continued. “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: 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.”
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster You're speaking of high ranking members of the government using their power and influence to remove tweets. That's not something that, if true, you'd see from the frontend.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar I don't understand what you mean by:
That's not something that, if true, you'd see from the frontend.

Can you clarify?
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster Sure, what I'm saying is that something like this wouldn't by nature be visible to any user of the platform (the frontend is essentially the user interface, with timestamps and what not). At most it would be visible on logs or private conversations, assuming they've been dumb to chat about it.

And Musk, a strongly politicized person who recently acquired the platform, is not a credible source himself, because by controlling the platform he could forge any evidence in the database and log files. He's also made wild claims easily proven false by anyone in possession of a web-browser and capable of pressing F12, so you know, I tend not to trust liars

Therefore, only a court could prove this statement. And as far as I know, no one brought this to a court.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar It sounds like you are assuming he doesn't have this evidence, but you don't know that.

Again, time stamped meta data is credible evidence and since he has control of the company I would expect him able to produce it.

is not a credible source himself, because by controlling the platform he could forge any evidence in the database and log files

It would show signs of manipulation so it would be easy to determine if the data was modified or not. If not, it's credible.

Regardless, nobody is disputing this. That should tell you all you need to know about its credibility.

This story is explaining to me both the large kerfluffle when Musk took over, as well as the propaganda campaign to discredit him and now Twitter.

They knew this was coming out and damaged Musk and Twitters reputation in an attempt to discredit the revelations.

...seems like it mighta worked...🤔
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster Time stamped meta data is not credible if you have the tools/control to alter that metadata, simple as that. To use an analogy, I also can take five minutes of my time to produce a SQL database or log file which says that you, Munster, on 2022-12-03 12:00 GMT publicly admitted that ketchup on pizza is the best topping ever, yet I can't reasonably use it as evidence in a court to accuse you of crimes against food 😋 or at most I can bring it there and it'll be refuted for this reason (silly example just for the sake of having a parallel). If, however, you post about it on SW (which I have no control on), I may use a permalink or a WebArchive snapshot of the comment in which you say it (and even there, the court will reserve its right to check I didn't have an influence on the platform).

If Musk wants to make this accusation formally (and, you know, not just spin the umpteenth never-proven-true conspiracy theory that'll become popular in rightwing circles but then will be dismissed as "nobody reasonable would've believed me for real" when brought to an actual court) he'll have to bring far more evidence than databases or log files he could've easily fabricated.

And an investigation for something like this would take at best *years*, and analyses of other sources that Musk couldn't have tampered, such as logs from ISPs, logs in the devices used by the government persons he's accusing, encrypted and digitally signed/timestamped backups (with a signature that isn't self-signed by Twitter Inc., otherwise, again it would be tamperable).

It's technically impossible that something like this could be proven (or disproven) in the time it has passed between the date of acquisition and today. Digital forensics isn't exactly my field but I know it's neither easy nor quick. Backend development however is, and I wouldn't trust anyone's logs as evidence if they themselves have write access to those logs.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar
Time stamped meta data is not credible if you have the tools/control to alter that metadata, simple as that.

It would still show signs of manipulation Elessar. It would be evident you altered it.

If Musk wants to make this accusation formally (and, you know, not just spin the umpteenth never-proven-true conspiracy theory

It's not being disputed, so it isn't a conspiracy theory.

It's technically impossible that something like this could be proven in the time it has passed between the date of acquisition and today.

It won't need to be. Everybody already assumed this was happening, Musk is just confirming it.

What it does do, again, is undermine the credibility of the Democrats and other beneficiaries of the Twitter application, who were given preferential treatment on the platform and had control over its content.

While I do agree, little will come of this I find such things compelling, because they confirm what I already knew so I do appreciate the revelations. It's nice to be validated instead of being constantly shamed and attacked for going against mainstream narratives.
@SumKindaMunster
High ranking members of our government used their power and influence to remove damaging tweets and other information on demand.

That's not what happened, but I know you don't care.

What were the "damaging tweets" about? Let me give you a hint.

Musk’s decision to release the information came because it was “necessary to restore public trust” in the platform, particularly after it censored the New York Post’s bombshell story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

With the background explained, Taibbi began discussing The New York Post’s article, “BIDEN SECRET EMAILS” published on October 14, 2020, a report about the laptop belonging to Biden’s son.

“Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s ‘hacked materials’ policy,” he continued. “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…”

Y'all are fetishisticly obsessed with this laptop to the point where it's literally psychotic.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe It's not the laptop Boo.

It's the cover up. I said that already and you ignored it.
@SumKindaMunster The cover up about what? 🤨
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe Oh stop it. I already covered that and you know it.

I'm glad you are on this thread replying because it really underlines what a fraud you are.

You aren't interested in discussing the issues. You just want to act a fool, punch down, and attempt to bully and dominate.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster
It would still show signs of manipulation Elessar. It would be evident you altered it.
Not at all, it's either a text file or a database table on a file-system you control. You can control literally every aspect of it. This is my everyday job, trust me I know what I'm speaking of firsthand. Even the "last accessed" or "last modified" timestamps you see on your computer files can be changed arbitrarily if you want, and without leaving any traces if you're skilled enough.

Only way you can demonstrate non-tampering is if you have digitally signed and time-stamped backups, proving that the information you're bringing as evidence existed before your acquisition; signed with a key that you didn't generate internally but have acquired from a neutral third party (i.e. usually a certification authority).

If he had anything similar, why don't bring the signed payloads to court? Nobody could dispute that and you'd win the case nigh-instantaneously, short of having broken complex mathematical models that there's a few million USD prize for anyone who can demonstrate breakable, or short of the defendant being able to prove you've corrupted the CA that issued Twitter the digital certificate *before* you've acquired it.

It's not being disputed, so it isn't a conspiracy theory.
What are we doing here?

It won't need to be. Everybody already assumed this was happening, Musk is just confirming it.
Not really, that's not how justice works, in any post-middle-age justice system.

By the same principle we should've thrown Trump in jail already over the fact everyone presumes him to be a Russian asset.

Extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence, and everyone is innocent until proven guilty (burden of proof is on those who make the accusation, not on the defendant). So long as said evidence isn't brought to court and deemed probative, non-prejudicial, relevant, logical and especially provable, this accusation is presumed false.
@SumKindaMunster
Oh stop it. I already covered that and you know it.

Nope, you said something about damaging tweets, but you didn't say what the tweets were in relation to.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar
Not at all, it's either a text file or a database table on a file-system you control. You can control literally every aspect of it. This is my everyday job, trust me I know what I'm speaking of firsthand. Even the "last accessed" or "last modified" timestamps you see on your computer files can be changed arbitrarily if you want, and without leaving any traces if you're skilled enough.

There would be a record of you running the application on the device or server. Seeing you run an application or make a change that modified metadata would be recorded and that would be enough to know the data isn't credible.

Trust me, this is my everyday job so I know what I am talking about.

Not really, that's not how justice works, in any post-middle-age justice system.

We're not talking about justice here, there is no justice when TPTB can control and manipulate information being released to the public. I don't need this to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in a court of law, that is irrelevant and while I see it would be important to you, I don't find it necessary.
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe No. It's funny, Elessar isn't having any problems discussing this with me, but you keep trying to gaslight me🤪 otherwise.

It's like I said. You aren't serious or credible, despite your childish games and protestations.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@SumKindaMunster You can easily alter all of those records as well. Just boot a live GNU/Linux distribution from a CD/USB/ramdisk, mount the main HDD system partition, alter any log or registry file or file-system metadata as you'd like; the linux distro runs in RAM so every record you produce there will be gone the moment you reboot. Even 14 years old kids can do that after watching a few video tutorials on YT, reading some manpages or msdn docs.

there is no justice when TPTB can control and manipulate information being released to the public
Okay then this whole accusation is completely meaningless to the remaining ~75% (or more) of the population that doesn't believe in Q, the deep state, aliens or I don't know what else illegitimately controlling the government.
@SumKindaMunster Well you haven't told me what these tweets were about yet. I don't know, maybe they were right to delete the tweets. Twitter does have a TOS, after all. What were the tweets about?
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@Elessar
You can easily alter all of those records as well. Just boot a live GNU/Linux distribution from a CD/USB/ramdisk, mount the main HDD system partition, alter any log or registry file or file-system metadata as you'd like; the linux distro runs in RAM so every record you produce there will be gone the moment you reboot. Even 14 years old kids can do that after watching a few video tutorials on YT, reading some manpages or msdn docs.

There would still be records of the change. It isn't fully possible to cover your tracks, save wiping the data fully. There is always a record. Again, that would tell you all you need to know about its credibility.

Okay then this whole accusation is completely meaningless to the remaining ~75% (or more) of the population that doesn't believe in Q, the deep state, aliens or I don't know what else illegitimately controlling the government.

Stop it. You know that's not what I mean. It's not meaningless at all. As I said, it confirms the corruption that everyone suspected was going on. There is no need to tie this to other conspiracy theories in an attempt to discredit them. Is it because I used the term TPTB? I know that is a loaded phrase these days...
SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M
@BohemianBabe So I've been thinking about this, and I think I am done with you.

I've given you multiple opportunities to discuss things with me seriously and you continuously respond in a childish, disingenuous and insincere manner.

It's obvious to me you won't ever do that because you aren't interested in learning or discussing, you just want to punch down and dominate others so you can feel you are correct and everyone else is wrong.

It's unfortunate too, for we found some common ground on race issues, but you dismissed me when I probed you on it.

Best of luck to ya.