The Twitter Files: Taibbi's Statement to Congress Unrolled
Plus some infuriating clips from testimony.
You can find all the Twitter Files unrolled here. Since this isn’t a numbered part of the Twitter Files, I won’t be adding it to the master post.
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
1. TWITTER FILES:
Statement to Congress
THE CENSORSHIP-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
9.01K Reposts · 18.7K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
2. “MONITOR ALL TWEETS COMING FROM TRUMP’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT/BIDEN’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT”
When #TwitterFiles reporters were given access to Twitter internal documents last year, we first focused on the company, which at times acted like a power above government.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.16K Reposts · 4.13K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
3. But Twitter was more like a partner to government.
With other tech firms it held a regular “industry meeting” with FBI and DHS, and developed a formal system for receiving thousands of content reports from every corner of government: HHS, Treasury, NSA, even local police:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.08K Reposts · 3.96K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
4. Emails from the FBI, DHS and other agencies often came with spreadsheets of hundreds or thousands of account names for review. Often, these would be deleted soon after.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.16K Reposts · 4.13K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
5. Many were obvious “misinformation,” like accounts urging people to vote the day after an election.
But other official "disinfo" reports had shakier reasoning. The highlighted Twitter analysis here disagrees with the FBI about accounts deemed a “proxy of Russian actors":
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
701 Reposts · 3.19K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
6. Then we saw "disinfo" lists where evidence was even less clear. This list of 378 “Iranian State Linked Accounts” includes an Iraq vet once arrested for blogging about the war, a former Chicago Sun-Times reporter and Truthout, a site that publishes Noam Chomsky.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
700 Reposts · 3.16K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
7. In some cases, state reports didn’t even assert misinformation. Here, a list of YouTube videos is flagged for “anti-Ukraine narratives”:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.12K Reposts · 4.06K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
8. But the bulk of censorship requests didn’t come from government directly.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
468 Reposts · 2.64K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
9. Asked if Twitter’s marketing department could say the company detects “misinfo” with help of “outside experts,” a Twitter executive replied:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
708 Reposts · 2.98K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
10. We came to think of this grouping – state agencies like DHS, FBI, or the Global Engagement Center (GEC), along with “NGOs that aren’t academic” and an unexpectedly aggressive partner, commercial news media – as the Censorship-Industrial Complex.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
729 Reposts · 3.29K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
11. Who’s in the Censorship-Industrial Complex? Twitter in 2020 helpfully compiled a list for a working group set up in 2020.
The National Endowment for Democracy, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, and Hamilton 68’s creator, the Alliance for Securing Democracy, are key:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.07K Reposts · 3.6K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
12. Twitter execs weren’t sure about Clemson’s Media Forensics Lab (“too chummy with HPSCI”), and weren’t keen on the Rand Corporation (“too close to USDOD”), but others were deemed just right.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
568 Reposts · 2.65K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
13. NGOs ideally serve as a check on corporations and the government. Not long ago, most of these institutions viewed themselves that way. Now, intel officials, “researchers,” and executives at firms like Twitter are effectively one team - or Signal group, as it were:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
598 Reposts · 2.67K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
14. The Woodstock of the Censorship-Industrial Complex came when the Aspen Institute - which receives millions a year from both the State Department and USAID - held a star-studded confab in Aspen in August 2021 to release its final report on “Information Disorder.”
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
654 Reposts · 2.65K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
15. The report was co-authored by Katie Couric and Chris Krebs, the founder of the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Yoel Roth of Twitter and Nathaniel Gleicher of Facebook were technical advisors. Prince Harry joined Couric as a Commissioner.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
887 Reposts · 2.9K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
16. Their taxpayer-backed conclusions: the state should have total access to data to make searching speech easier, speech offenders should be put in a “holding area," and government should probably restrict disinformation, “even if it means losing some freedom.”
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.04K Reposts · 3.32K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
17. Note Aspen recommended the power to mandate data disclosure be given to the FTC, which this committee just caught in a clear abuse of office, demanding information from Twitter about communications with (and identities of) #TwitterFiles reporters.
judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subs…
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
704 Reposts · 2.65K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
18. Naturally Twitter’s main concern regarding the Aspen report was making sure Facebook got hit harder by any resulting regulatory changes:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
499 Reposts · 2.4K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
19. The same agencies (FBI, DHS/CISA, GEC) invite the same “experts” (Thomas Rid, Alex Stamos), funded by the same foundations (Newmark, Omidyar, Knight) trailed by the same reporters (Margaret Sullivan, Molly McKew, Brandy Zadrozny) seemingly to every conference, every panel.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
890 Reposts · 3.22K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
20. The #TwitterFiles show the principals of this incestuous self-appointed truth squad moving from law enforcement/intelligence to the private sector and back, claiming a special right to do what they say is bad practice for everyone else: be fact-checked only by themselves.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
983 Reposts · 3.55K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
21.While Twitter sometimes pushed back on technical analyses from NGOs about who is and isn't a “bot,” on subject matter questions like vaccines or elections they instantly defer to sites like Politifact, funded by the same names that fund the NGOs: Koch, Newmark, Knight.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
633 Reposts · 2.58K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
22. #TwitterFiles repeatedly show media acting as proxy for NGOs, with Twitter bracing for bad headlines if they don't nix accounts. Here, the Financial Times gives Twitter until end of day to provide a “steer” on whether RFK, Jr. and other vax offenders will be zapped.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
1.01K Reposts · 3.03K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
23. Well, you say, so what? Why shouldn’t civil society organizations and reporters work together to boycott “misinformation”? Isn’t that not just an exercise of free speech, but a particularly enlightened form of it?
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
433 Reposts · 2.2K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
24. The difference is, these campaigns are taxpayer-funded. Though the state is supposed to stay out domestic propaganda, the Aspen Institute, Graphika, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, New America, and other “anti-disinformation” labs are receiving huge public awards.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
862 Reposts · 2.98K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
25. Some NGOs, like the GEC-funded Global Disinformation Index or the DOD-funded Newsguard, not only seek content moderation but apply subjective “risk” or “reliability” scores to media outlets, which can result in reduction in revenue. Do we want government in this role?
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
580 Reposts · 2.51K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
26. Perhaps the ultimate example of the absolute fusion of state, corporate, and civil society organizations is the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), whose “Election Integrity Partnership” is among the most voluminous “flaggers” in the #TwitterFiles:
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
881 Reposts · 2.95K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
27. After public uproar “paused” the Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” of the DHS in early 2020, Stanford created the EIP to “fill the gaps” legally, as director Alex Stamos explains here (h/t Foundation for Freedom Online).
youtube.com
StamosEIP
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
587 Reposts · 2.42K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
28. EIP research manager Renee DiResta boasted that while filling “gaps," the EIP succeeded in getting “tech partners” Google, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter to take action on “35% of the URLS flagged” under “remove, reduce, or inform” policies.
youtube.com
DiRestaEIP
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
570 Reposts · 2.28K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
29. According to the EIP’s own data, it succeeded in getting nearly 22 million tweets labeled in the runup to the 2020 vote.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
632 Reposts · 2.38K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
30. It’s crucial to reiterate: EIP was partnered with state entities like CISA and GEC while seeking elimination of millions of tweets. In the #TwitterFiles, Twitter execs did not distinguish between organizations, using phrases like “According to CIS[A], escalated via EIP.”
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
567 Reposts · 2.34K Likes
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi
31. After the 2020 election, when EIP was renamed the Virality Project, the Stanford lab was on-boarded to Twitter’s JIRA ticketing system, absorbing this government proxy into Twitter infrastructure – with a capability of taking in an incredible 50 million tweets a day.
2:00 PM · Mar 9, 2023
742 Reposts · 2.82K Likes
Clips From Testimony
If I come across more clips worth sharing, I’ll be sure to add them to this post.
Townhall.com@townhallcom
Rep. Jim Jordan took his five minutes and it's must-watch:
"The truth is, we want to focus on protecting the First Amendment..."
4:26 PM · Mar 9, 2023
79 Reposts · 180 Likes
Townhall.com@townhallcom
Chairman Jordan: “I’m responding to your ridiculous statements you made in your opening statement.”
Ranking Member Plaskett: “Okay, well let’s get on with it.”
Jordan: “Oh, NOW we want to get on with it…”
The Twitter Files hearing got off to a HEATED start this morning.
3:57 PM · Mar 9, 2023
45 Reposts · 136 Likes
Tom Elliott@tomselliott
Rep. @StaceyPlaskett asks @mtaibbi to reveal his #TwitterFiles sources, then insists she's not asking for his sources
4:37 PM · Mar 9, 2023
22 Reposts · 60 Likes
Tom Elliott@tomselliott
Rep. @StaceyPlaskett mocks reporting into the @FTC illegally demanding @elonmusk’s private communications: “On Tuesday, the majority released an 18 page report claiming to show that the FTC is quote ‘harassing’ Twitter. Oh my poor, Twitter.”
3:34 PM · Mar 9, 2023
59 Reposts · 133 Likes
Greg Price@greg_price11
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) refers to @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD as "so-called journalists."
3:31 PM · Mar 9, 2023
178 Reposts · 591 Likes
Greg Price@greg_price11
Taibbi fires back: "I'm not a so-called journalist. I've won the National Magazine Award, the I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and I've written 10 books."
3:40 PM · Mar 9, 2023
270 Reposts · 1.23K Likes
Greg Price@greg_price11
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) accuses @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD of trying to kill the people who work at Twitter that they reported on in the Twitter files.
3:38 PM · Mar 9, 2023
87 Reposts · 240 Likes
Tom Elliott@tomselliott
@StaceyPlaskett @FTC @elonmusk @mtaibbi @ShellenbergerMD @RepLynch Rep. Wasserman-Schultz (@DWStweets) gets annoyed w/ Taibbi after he refuses to say he's "profiting" off the #TwitterFiles
4:04 PM · Mar 9, 2023
36 Reposts · 105 Likes
Tom Elliott@tomselliott
@StaceyPlaskett @FTC @elonmusk @mtaibbi @ShellenbergerMD Democrat @RepLynch won't allow Taibbi to answer his question: "Reclaiming my time, that's how it works!"
3:57 PM · Mar 9, 2023
27 Reposts · 76 Likes
Greg Price@greg_price11
After Rep. Stacey Plaskett claimed they are not trying to get @mtaibbi to reveal his sources, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) once again tries to get him to reveal his sources.
4:50 PM · Mar 9, 2023
54 Reposts · 115 Likes
Greg Price@greg_price11
Rep. Daniel Goldman (who bought a congressional seat) says "you cannot find actual evidence of any direct government censorship of lawful speech."
Rep. @Jim_Jordan then pulls out an email from the White House to Twitter asking them to censor a tweet from @RobertKennedyJr.
5:36 PM · Mar 9, 2023
123 Reposts · 276 Likes
Townhall.com@townhallcom
.@mtaibbi on the anti-disinformation complex:
"They believe that ordinary people can't handle difficult truths. And so they think that they need minders to separate out things that are controversial or difficult for them."
5:27 PM · Mar 9, 2023
84 Reposts · 225 Likes
Townhall.com@townhallcom
.@ShellenbergerMD on Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya and other doctors and scientists being blacklisted/censored for Covid "disinformation":
"This is East Germany, Stasi kind of behavior."
5:44 PM · Mar 9, 2023
15 Reposts · 35 Likes
Townhall.com@townhallcom
.@RepMattGaetz:
"How did it feel when you found out that you were being expressly targeted by a government document based on your reporting?"
5:31 PM · Mar 9, 2023
24 Reposts · 53 Likes
“The report was co-authored by Katie Couric and Chris Krebs, the founder of the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Yoel Roth of Twitter and Nathaniel Gleicher of Facebook were technical advisors. Prince Harry joined Couric as a Commissioner.”
I spit my coffee out this morning when I got to that tweet.
Thanks, Brad!
I have to confess I'm kinda in shock here: the Democrats have really gone full Joe McCarthy and there is no "have you no shame, sir?" moment on the horizon, as shame is a regressive patriarchal imposition that didn't survive into this century.
(I'm also angry bc as a Gen-Xer I had to sit through maybe 1000 hrs of preachy shows about the evils of the Red Scare, when it turns out no one is immune to wanting to smother and persecute their enemies if they work themselves up into a mania and think they can get away with it.)
My feeling is that Democrats/liberals know they have seized the means of cultural production, know that they own the media minus Fox and Big Tech minus Elon, know they own academia and the demons of DEI, know they can rely on endless billions from their NGO wing and those great saviors of democracy like Soros, Chan-Zuckerbeg and the Jobs widow et al., so they've become like an army that believes it possess overwhelming force: there will be no retreat, no negotiations, no prisoners shall be taken, and no quarter given. They are going to destroy Trump. the Republicans and all political opponents, no matter what else has to get destroyed in the process.
"Dissent delenda est" is written all over their faces.