(Daily360.com) – Billionaire Elon Musk, who recently bought Twitter, has made some changes in his apparent quest to restore free speech to the platform. As such, the new CEO has cleared out the majority of the company’s staff, returned previously banned people to the social media site, and regularly added polls to help make big decisions.
In the interest of transparency, Musk and a few journalists have been releasing what they’ve dubbed the Twitter Files. The cache is a conglomeration of alleged internal communications between the company and various entities. On December 14, some experts on the constitution told Fox News Digital that the FBI might have violated the First Amendment.
Revelations?
Each installment of the Twitter files has highlighted a different matter. The sets addressed issues such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, the January 6 insurrection, and the banning of former President Donald Trump’s account. The latest allegedly shows the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security working closely with a Twitter attorney in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
One iteration of the Twitter files, released by Substack journalist Matt Taibbi, allegedly reveals one of the platform’s previous employees, Yoel Roth, meeting with the governmental agencies. According to the screenshots posted by the journalist, the FBI apparently flagged a couple of voter fraud tweets. In response, the social media giant reportedly added a label onto one of the tweets shared by a Republican politician.
The Taibbi tweets reportedly show a conversation between the policy director at Twitter, Nick Pickles, and someone from marketing about how the company partnered with DHS and the FBI to suss out misinformation.
18. Policy Director Nick Pickles is asked if they should say Twitter detects “misinfo” through “ML, human review, and **partnerships with outside experts?*” The employee asks, “I know that’s been a slippery process… not sure if you want our public explanation to hang on that.” pic.twitter.com/JEICGRTyz7
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 9, 2022
After the first Twitter Files installment, which centered around Hunter Biden’s laptop, Musk fired the company’s Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker. The CEO said the attorney pushed the Trump/Russia collusion story, and because he suspected Baker had suppressed information, Musk wanted it released to the public.
Responses
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently wrote in a blog post that, while he and others did what they believed to be right for the company at the time, it might have been the wrong direction with respect to the public. However, he wanted to clarify that he doesn’t feel there was any “hidden agenda” or “ill intent,” but admitted processes within the platform were not perfect.
As for a response from the Oval Office, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the allegations of “political censorship.” The secretary denied the White House had any involvement in censoring any information and pointed out that policy and content decisions within a private company are up to those within that organization alone.
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