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OPINION
Elon Musk, Twitter’s CEO has stated that there will soon be new product features on the platform.
The second part of Musk’s “Twitter Files” was released on Thursday night and exposed the social media platform’s practices of secretly “blacklisting”Some tweets. Many users replied by questioning if their accounts had been closed down since Bari Weiss gave only a few examples, such as Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk.
“Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal,”Musk Tweeted
Musk stated that Twitter will be a part of his plans. “start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts”In the immediate future, we will be adding “These are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log in for years.”
These are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log in for years
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
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Musk answered a question by conservative writer Ian Miles Cheong. He asked whether Musk believed that he was able to answer the question. “any political candidates — either in the US or elsewhere — [were] subject to shadowbanning while they were running for office or seeking re-election.”
“Yes,”Musk stated.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Musk’s “Twitter Files” was released on Thursday night and exposes the social media platform’s practices of secretly “blacklisting”Some tweets, and some users.
“A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users,”Weiss created her thread on Thursday. This was her way of sharing information.
“Twitter once had a mission ‘to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.’ Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected,”Weiss wrote. She pointed to Stanford University’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a longstanding opponent of COVID groupthink during the pandemic expressing opposition to lockdowns.
“Twitter secretly placed him on a ‘Trends Blacklist,’ which prevented his tweets from trending,” Weiss reported.
Weiss noted that Fox News host Dan Bongino had been placed on a “Search Blacklist” and had Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk on “Do Not Amplify.”
“A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users,”She wrote.
1. The new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
3. Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharyaHe argued that Covid lockdowns would cause harm to children. Twitter put him on secretly “Trends Blacklist,”His tweets were not trending, which is what prevented them from becoming popular. pic.twitter.com/qTW22Zh691
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
5. Twitter created the account for conservative activist Charlie Kirk@charliekirk11() “Do Not Amplify.” pic.twitter.com/dOyQIVdsW2
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
7. How many people know this? “shadow banning,”Call the executives and employees of Twitter “Visibility Filtering”Or “VF.”Multiple sources at the highest levels confirmed it.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
9. “VF” refers to Twitter’s control over user visibility. It used VF to block searches of individual users; to limit the scope of a particular tweet’s discoverability; to block select users’ posts from ever appearing on the “trending”Page; or from hashtag search inclusion.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
11. “We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do,”One Twitter engineer spoke to us. We were also informed by two additional Twitter employees.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
“The group that decided whether to limit the reach of certain users was the Strategic Response Team – Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET. It often handled up to 200 cases a day.”
“But there existed a level beyond official ticketing, beyond the rank-and-file moderators following the company’s policy on paper. That is the Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support, known as SIP-PES.”
13. But there existed a level beyond official ticketing, beyond the rank-and-file moderators following the company’s policy on paper. This is called the “Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support,”Also known as “SIP-PES.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
“This secret group included Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust (Vijaya Gadde), the Global Head of Trust & Safety (Yoel Roth), subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others. This is where the biggest, most politically sensitive decisions got made. Think high follower account, controversial, another Twitter employee told us. For these there would be no ticket or anything. One of the accounts that rose to this level of scrutiny was @libsoftiktok —an account that was on the “Trends Blacklist” and was designated as Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES,” she wrote.
16. One account that was subject to such scrutiny was @libsoftiktok—an account that was on the “Trends Blacklist”It was also designated as “Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES.” pic.twitter.com/Vjo6YxYbxT
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
Musk revealed on Tuesday that Twitter’s former Deputy General Counsel James Baker was “exited” from the company after revelations about his alleged role in the platform’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Over the weekend, journalist Matt Taibbi published internal communications from Twitter’s top brass in October 2020 about how to combat the New York Post’s publication of materials about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
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“In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today,”Musk responded to Taibbi by tweeting a response. He shared the story of Jonathan Turley, a renowned legal scholar.
In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022
Twitter’s internal communications at the time show that Baker was involved in discussions about whether the laptop falls under Twitter’s “hacked materials” policy.
“I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked,”Baker sent one email chain. “At this stage, however, it’s reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted.”
28. Jim Baker, former Deputy General Counsel seems to have advised staying on the sidelines because “caution is warranted”: pic.twitter.com/tg4D0gLWI6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022
Here’s more on Baker’s background, as noted by Fox Business:
Before joining Twitter, Baker also worked as general counsel at the FBI, where he was a key figure in the bureau’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Baker was presented by Attorney Michael Sussmann in 2016. “purported data and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communicates channel”The Trump Organization is associated with Alfa Bank in Russia. Sussmann is accused of telling Baker he wasn’t doing any work “for any client”Later, the Hillary Clinton campaign was billed for the work. Sussmann was later acquitted of one count, making a false statement about the FBI.
Baker was also personally involved in the FISA warrant application to surveil Carter Page, who was working as an aide to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. It heavily relied upon discredited information. “Trump dossier.”Baker later acknowledged that his participation in Page FISA was unorthodox.
Musk made headlines recently when he revealed that he won’t “ever again”Musk is not allowed to sign autographs when he’s under threat of his life. Musk spoke out about the matter during an online session. “Twitter Files”And he made the worrying admission that he was worried about his safety.
“Frankly the risk of something bad happening or literally even being shot is quite significant. I’m definitely not going to be doing any open-air car parades, let me put it that way,”Musk stated. “It’s not that hard to kill me if somebody wanted to, so hopefully they don’t.”
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