Thanks!
Thanks!
here we go!
This first installment covers the period before the election through January 6th. Tomorrow, will detail the chaos inside Twitter on January 7th. On Sunday, will reveal the secret internal communications from the key date of January 8th
Even Twitter’s employees understood in the moment it was a landmark moment in the annals of speech. One internal email said: 'Is this the first sitting head of state to ever be suspended?"
As soon as they finished banning Trump, Twitter execs started processing new power. They prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses – perhaps even Joe Biden. The “new administration,” says one exec, “will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary. But what the emails said is that they said in the future they would take action to limit the use of govt accounts and not suspend them.
Twitter executives removed Trump in part over what one executive called the “context surrounding”: actions by Trump and supporters “over the course of the election and frankly last 4+ years.
The bulk of the internal debate leading to Trump’s ban took place in those three January days. However, the intellectual framework was laid in the months preceding the Capitol riots.
Aha! They were planning on suspending Trump all along!!!
Twitter had a vast array of tools for manipulating visibility, most all of which were thrown at Trump (and others) pre-J6.
As the election approached, senior executives – perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed – increasingly struggled with rules, and began to speak of “vios” as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.
After J6, internal Slacks (chats) show Twitter executives getting a kick out of intensified relationships with federal agencies. Here’s Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth, lamenting a lack of “generic enough” calendar descriptions to concealing his “very interesting” meeting partners.
On October 8th, 2020, executives opened a channel called “us2020_xfn_enforcement.” Through J6, this would be home for discussions about election-related removals, especially ones that involved “high-profile” accounts (often called “VITs” or “Very Important Tweeters”)
There was at least some tension between Safety Operations – a larger department whose staffers used a more rules-based process for addressing issues like porn, scams, and threats – and a smaller, more powerful cadre of senior policy execs like Roth and Gadde
After J6, Twitter execs were using seat of the pants judgement -- especially around Trump https://nitter.net/pic/orig/media%2FFjku1umXgAEBzml.jpg
During this time, executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content. This is the early stage of reviewing those communications.
Twitter execs debates the justification they would use to censor Trump. They even considered using done "in partnership with outside experts". So were those experts the DNC and FBI?
Holy Shit! The FBI was using Politifact to say election tweets weren't valid and asking Twitter to remove them!
Examining the entire election enforcement Slack, we didn’t see one reference to moderation requests from the Trump campaign, the Trump White House, or Republicans generally. We looked. They may exist: we were told they do. However, they were absent here
Bingo! The outside experts were the FBI/DOJ/DHS
This post about the Hunter Biden laptop situation shows that Roth not only met weekly with the FBI and DHS, but with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
Roth’s report to FBI/DHS/DNI is almost farcical in its self-flagellating tone: “We blocked the NYP story, then unblocked it (but said the opposite)… comms is angry, reporters think we’re idiots… in short, FML” (fuck my life)
Some of Roth’s later Slacks indicate his weekly confabs with federal law enforcement involved separate meetings. Here, he ghosts the FBI and DHS, respectively, to go first to an “Aspen Institute thing,” then take a call with Apple (coordinating censorship with Apple??)
In another example, Twitter employees prepare to slap a “mail-in voting is safe” warning label on a Trump tweet about a postal screwup in Ohio, before realizing “the events took place,” which meant the tweet was “factually accurate”
BIG! Twitter was limiting sharing, responses and likes on Trumps Tweets BEFORE THE ELECTION
On Dec 10th, they implemented a deamplification tool on Trump's Tweets
“VERY WELL DONE ON SPEED” Trump was being “visibility filtered” as late as a week before the election. Here, senior execs didn’t appear to have a particular violation, but still worked fast to make sure a fairly anodyne Trump tweet couldn’t be “replied to, shared, or liked”
. A seemingly innocuous follow-up involved a tweet from actor , whose ubiquitous presence in argued-over Twitter data sets is already a #TwitterFiles in-joke. It then became personal -- Twitter vowed to Hit Him Hard in the future
Meanwhile pro-Biden tweets that question the election got a pass and no censorship
BIG : DHS tells Yoel Roth that the Smartmatic/Vote counting issues are Conspiracy Theories
Twitter placed bots all over Trump's tweets to track his posts and censor them starting before the election....
Yoel Roth would Bounce Trump's account -- put it in a 12 hour time out
here we go!
* This first installment covers the period before the election through January 6th. Tomorrow, @Shellenbergermd will detail the chaos inside Twitter on January 7th. On Sunday, @BariWeiss will reveal the secret internal communications from the key date of January 8th
* Even Twitter’s employees understood in the moment it was a landmark moment in the annals of speech. One internal email said:
'Is this the first sitting head of state to ever be suspended?"
* As soon as they finished banning Trump, Twitter execs started processing new power. They prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses – perhaps even Joe Biden. The “new administration,” says one exec, “will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary. But what the emails said is that they said in the future they would take action to limit the use of govt accounts and not suspend them.
* Twitter executives removed Trump in part over what one executive called the “context surrounding”: actions by Trump and supporters “over the course of the election and frankly last 4+ years.
* The bulk of the internal debate leading to Trump’s ban took place in those three January days. However, the intellectual framework was laid in the months preceding the Capitol riots.
#Aha! They were planning on suspending Trump all along!!!
* Twitter had a vast array of tools for manipulating visibility, most all of which were thrown at Trump (and others) pre-J6.
* As the election approached, senior executives – perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed – increasingly struggled with rules, and began to speak of “vios” as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.
* After J6, internal Slacks (chats) show Twitter executives getting a kick out of intensified relationships with federal agencies. Here’s Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth, lamenting a lack of “generic enough” calendar descriptions to concealing his “very interesting” meeting partners.
* On October 8th, 2020, executives opened a channel called “us2020_xfn_enforcement.” Through J6, this would be home for discussions about election-related removals, especially ones that involved “high-profile” accounts (often called “VITs” or “Very Important Tweeters”)
* There was at least some tension between Safety Operations – a larger department whose staffers used a more rules-based process for addressing issues like porn, scams, and threats – and a smaller, more powerful cadre of senior policy execs like Roth and Gadde
* After J6, Twitter execs were using seat of the pants judgement -- especially around Trump
https://nitter.net/pic/orig/media%2FFjku1umXgAEBzml.jpg
* During this time, executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content. This is the early stage of reviewing those communications.
* Twitter execs debates the justification they would use to censor Trump. They even considered using done "in partnership with outside experts". So were those experts the DNC and FBI?
* Holy Shit! The FBI was using Politifact to say election tweets weren't valid and asking Twitter to remove them!
* Examining the entire election enforcement Slack, we didn’t see one reference to moderation requests from the Trump campaign, the Trump White House, or Republicans generally. We looked. They may exist: we were told they do. However, they were absent here
* Bingo! The outside experts were the FBI/DOJ/DHS
* This post about the Hunter Biden laptop situation shows that Roth not only met weekly with the FBI and DHS, but with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
* Roth’s report to FBI/DHS/DNI is almost farcical in its self-flagellating tone:
“We blocked the NYP story, then unblocked it (but said the opposite)… comms is angry, reporters think we’re idiots… in short, FML” (fuck my life)
* Some of Roth’s later Slacks indicate his weekly confabs with federal law enforcement involved separate meetings. Here, he ghosts the FBI and DHS, respectively, to go first to an “Aspen Institute thing,” then take a call with Apple (coordinating censorship with Apple??)
* In another example, Twitter employees prepare to slap a “mail-in voting is safe” warning label on a Trump tweet about a postal screwup in Ohio, before realizing “the events took place,” which meant the tweet was “factually accurate”
#BIG! Twitter was limiting sharing, responses and likes on Trumps Tweets BEFORE THE ELECTION
* On Dec 10th, they implemented a deamplification tool on Trump's Tweets
* “VERY WELL DONE ON SPEED” Trump was being “visibility filtered” as late as a week before the election. Here, senior execs didn’t appear to have a particular violation, but still worked fast to make sure a fairly anodyne Trump tweet couldn’t be “replied to, shared, or liked”
* . A seemingly innocuous follow-up involved a tweet from actor @realJamesWoods, whose ubiquitous presence in argued-over Twitter data sets is already a #TwitterFiles in-joke. It then became personal -- Twitter vowed to Hit Him Hard in the future
* Meanwhile pro-Biden tweets that question the election got a pass and no censorship
#BIG : DHS tells Yoel Roth that the Smartmatic/Vote counting issues are Conspiracy Theories
* Twitter placed bots all over Trump's tweets to track his posts and censor them starting before the election....
* Yoel Roth would Bounce Trump's account -- put it in a 12 hour time out
(post is archived)