Elon says it's * Twitter's contact with the FBI was so constant and pervasive, it was if it was a subsidiary of the company * Between Jan 2020 and Nov 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and Yoel Roth * Some of the emails were for Twitter User info related to active investigations #WARRANTLESS SEARCHES * But a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts * The FBI’s social media-focused task force, known as FTIF, created in the wake of the 2016 election, swelled to 80 agents and corresponded with Twitter to identify alleged foreign influence and election tampering of all kinds * Federal intelligence and law enforcement reach into Twitter included the Department of Homeland Security, which partnered with security contractors and think tanks to pressure Twitter to moderate content * The #TwitterFiles show something new: agencies like the FBI and DHS regularly sending social media content to Twitter through multiple entry points, pre-flagged for moderation * What stands out is the sheer quantity of reports from the government. Some are aggregated from public hotlines #FBI Agent ELVIS CHAN at the center of Censoring with a total of 80 Agents Monitoring Twitter! * Unanswered question: do agencies like FBI and DHS do in-house flagging work themselves, or farm it out? “You have to prove to me that inside the fucking government you can do any kind of massive data or AI search,” says one former intelligence officer. * Basically Twitter acted on everything the FBI requested, looking for justification to suspend accounts, even on posts where the user was joking. * “Anyone who cannot discern obvious satire from reality has no place making decisions for others or working for the feds,” said @ClaireFosterPHD, when told about the flagging. * In internal email from November 5, 2022, the FBI’s National Election Command Post, which compiles and sends on complaints, sent the SF field office a long list of accounts that “may warrant additional action” #Liberals Receive Gentler Treatment (e.g. Billy Baldwin wasn't suspended) * Most accounts that were suspended were satirical or joking and received a generic statement about the suspension #Docs Show Former FBI JAMES BAKER Was AWARE of Process and Weekly Meeting w/FBI, DHS, et al #FBI Did Not Deter Twitter from Sharing Classified Intel with Other Industry Partners (Facebook, Google, et al?) * One internal memo discusses flagging tweet involving election irregularities such as election machines accessing the internet * COZY: In this March, 2021 email, an FBI liaison thanks a senior Twitter exec for the chance to speak to “you and the team,” then delivers a packet of “product (DHS Bulletins) #2016 Russian Interference Narrative was Used to Expand Surveillance, Much Like 9-11 Was Used * FBI in one case sent over so many “possible violative content” reports, Twitter personnel congratulated each other in Slack for the “monumental undertaking” of reviewing them: #There were mulitple entry points for FBI into Twitter, including a portal known as TELEPORTER #State governements also used the same methods to flag content, along with DHS -- As Well as DHS Contractors and NGOs! S S S S S S *