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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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Elessar · 31-35, M
Twitter CEO Elon Musk released a bombshell report
Ah sure, if Musk said it it must be true 🤣
graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar You mean like how the Russia Hoax, reported endlessly for years, winner of Pulitzer prizes, was all a bunch of nonsense?
"50 experts say Hunter laptop is Russian disinformation!" Democrats sure are terrified of the laptop story coming out. Looks like they have something to be afraid of.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite You mean the Mueller report that has never seen the light of the sun, if not heavily censored by Barr? And that led to the arrest of multiple individuals linked to Trump, including campaign strategists, lawyers, and adviser? The report that ultimately concluded "we can't indict him because we've been obstructed from collecting evidence"? That one "hoax"?

Let's see what the DOJ has on him, as soon as the Mar a' Lago documents case proceeds 🥴
graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar Spare me. DoJ and FBI work for the Democrat Party: "FBI raids Trump house, confiscating Time magazine copies and dinner menus" Meanwhile, Hunter is busy attending lobster dinners with the elite, nothing to fear from the feds. And, six months after the Roe v Wade leak, no one has been charged, arrested, anything. A Republican does that and they're in chains in 2 hours. Democrats? Laws don't apply. Either FBI/DoJ is totally incompetent or it works for the Democrat Party.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite FBI director is appointed by Trump, lol, spare me the "everyone who's against me is conspiring against me 😭😭" bs, you're 60+ for f*ck sake and you act as if you were 12
graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar And? Trump made several bad appointments - Wray is one of them. Jeff Sessions was appointed AG by Trump and immediately hid under his desk in fear of the Democrat Mob. Wray is an absolute disgrace. Meanwhile, still crickets chirping on the Roe v Wade leak. We know damn well what's going on - Democrats are not prosecuted.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite If Trump was clean, why censor most of the report and obstruct the investigations? Remember that you wanted Clinton prosecuted for what turned out to be a nothingburger
graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar Deal with reality: The Russia Hoax was the big nothingburger. Sorry. $30 million taxpayer money spent, dozens of Trump-hating investigators on the job, and they get zip, zero, nada. Deal with it. 🤣. Remember Robert Mueller's pitiful testimony on the "report?" He never even read the thing. We were all left feeling sorry for him. Meanwhile, our topnotch FBI/DoJ has made zero arrests, zero, count'em zero, in the most egregious leak in the 200+ year existence of the Supreme Court. Either a: total, complete incompetence or b: the perpetrator doesn't fit the preferred narrative, so no one will be charged.
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite As I said that report led to several convictions. Ongoing investigations have the potential of sealing his fate. It'll be a bliss seeing y'all here whining, screaming and crying when it'll happen. Remember:

graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar Democrooks and the Deep State have been determined to destroy Trump since Day 1, since he is such a big threat to them. Too bad you side with these scammers. Trump and the rest of us underestimated the cornered-rat fury of The Swamp. Meanwhile, the most-egregious leak in Supreme Court history has led to zero arrests, because the perpetrator is politically protected, obviously.

https://www.businessinsider.com/nancy-pelosi-stock-trades-congress-investments-2022-7
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite Yeah, yeah, "I could kill someone on 5th avenue and I wouldn't lose a single voter". He never said something so true, here you are in fact. 🥴
graphite · 61-69, M
@Elessar 🤭
Elessar · 31-35, M
@graphite q.e.d.