https://nitter.net/mtaibbi #UPDATE: Elon Musk/Matt Taibbi will release more files on Saturday Post from Elon Musk at 8:36 PM *"Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is"* Dec 3, 2022 · 1:36 AM UTC · Twitter for iPhone Boom!! BIDEN INTERFERED IN ELECTION: Requests for removal would come into Twitter : “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.” Reviewing some actions now.........people were suspended based on requests from the BIDEN team, DNC and others. In #9 post, Taibbi shows the DNC to suspend actor James Wood's account (which happened). Contributions from Twitter employees to democrats https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/twitter/summary?id=D000067113 New York Post Story About Hunter Biden Laptop: *Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be “unsafe.” 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.”* Internal inquiry about censoring the report from NYPost: *Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy: web.archive.org/web/20190717…* *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.* *“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”:* *By this point “everyone knew this was fucked,” 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?”* HOLY SHIT! James Baker, former GC for James Comey, now at Twatter: *To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”:* *NetChoice lets Twitter know a “blood bath” awaits in upcoming Hill hearings, with members saying it's a "tipping point," complaining tech has “grown so big that they can’t even regulate themselves, so government may need to intervene.”* *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. To wit:* Taibbi also says there was no evidence in the files he reviewed that law enforcement told Twatter that the Hunter laptop was hacked. https://nitter.net/mtaibbi/status/1598852182572298241#m *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:* *Khanna tries to reroute the conversation to the First Amendment, mention of which is generally hard to find in the files* *Within a day, head of Public Policy Lauren Culbertson receives a ghastly letter/report from Carl Szabo of the research firm NetChoice, which had already polled 12 members of congress – 9 Rs and 3 Democrats, from “the House Judiciary Committee to Rep. Judy Chu’s office.”* *Within a day, head of Public Policy Lauren Culbertson receives a ghastly letter/report from Carl Szabo of the research firm NetChoice, which had already polled 12 members of congress – 9 Rs and 3 Democrats, from “the House Judiciary Committee to Rep. Judy Chu’s office.* *Szabo reports to Twitter that some Hill figures are characterizing the laptop story as “tech’s Access Hollywood moment”* *"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"*