BRKG Master Twitter thread. Elon Musk now owns Twitter, post 144. Heads roll for real
- Thread starter jward
- Start date
luluwhtbrd
Veteran Member
jward
passin' thru
American Firebrand
@AmFirebrand
2h
Tucker: "The bottom line is: The last election was shaped by Democratic officials, without your knowledge, censoring attacks on their candidate. Is that rigging an election? We'll let you decide. But there's no precedent for that in American history."
View: https://twitter.com/AmFirebrand/status/1598856121778700294?s=20&t=CEVeFWhMC9MqwE1uMfLk3Q
@AmFirebrand
2h
Tucker: "The bottom line is: The last election was shaped by Democratic officials, without your knowledge, censoring attacks on their candidate. Is that rigging an election? We'll let you decide. But there's no precedent for that in American history."
View: https://twitter.com/AmFirebrand/status/1598856121778700294?s=20&t=CEVeFWhMC9MqwE1uMfLk3Q
jward
passin' thru
Musk's Hunter Biden Twitter Reveal Comes in Barrage of Matt Taibbi Tweets
Kaitlin Lewis
Twitter CEO Elon Musk turned to journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday to reveal the decision- making behind the platform's suppression of a 2020 article from the New York Post regarding Hunter Biden's laptop.
In October 2020, Twitter blocked users from sharing a report from the Post that alleged Joe Biden, then running for the White House against former President Donald Trump, had used his former position as vice president to benefit the business interests of his son, Hunter Biden. However, ongoing investigations by House Republicans have yet to prove that President Biden was involved in any potential missteps by his son.
President Joe Biden, left, talks to his son, Hunter Biden, while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 25, 2022. On Friday, Twitter revealed an internal review of its platform's decision to block a New York Post article in 2020 regarding Joe Biden's alleged role in his son's business interests. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Twitter received a slew of backlash for its censorship at the time, most notably from Trump's administration. The social media giant had claimed, however, that the Post article breached its Hacked Content Policy, and changed its approach to such content shortly after the decision.
In a 41-tweet thread posted by Taibbi on Twitter Friday, screenshots of past email exchanges among company employees showed that there was some confusion in the call to block the article from being distributed. In some conversations, past employees questioned if the article was really in violation of the company's policies.
Internal Twitter Tensions
According to Taibbi's thread, the decision to block the article was made under the direction of Vijaya Gadde, former head of Legal, Public Policy & Trust and Safety at Twitter. But in one screenshot, former U.S. policy Communication Manager Trenton Kennedy writes that he is "struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe."The decision was reportedly based on what several of Taibbi's sources called a "general warning from federal law enforcement" about the possibility of the Post article stemming from foreign interference. The story was originally dismissed by several Democrats in 2020 as a "Russian disinformation operation," but as Newsweek previously reported, there has been no evidence to prove these claims.
"The problem with the 'hacked materials' ruling, several sources said, was that this normally required an official/law enforcement finding of a hack," Taibbi concluded toward the end of his report. "But such a finding never appears throughout what one executive describes as a 'whirlwind' 24-hour, company-wide mess."
Taibbi's thread also showed screenshots of Biden's campaign team requesting that the company "review" specific tweets in 2020. The report says that such requests from outside sources, whether celebrities or political organizations, became "routine" as Twitter attempted to combat issues like misinformation on its site. Taibbi also noted that both Republicans and Democrats "had access to these tools."
Musk Promises 'Episode 2' on Saturday
Taibbi's barrage of tweets started nearly three hours after Musk first announced that the information was forthcoming, and took about two hours for him to complete. The CEO had also promised to host a live Q&A regarding the report, but has since pushed it back to Saturday.According to Taibbi's thread as well, Friday's report was "the first installment in a series," hinting at future examples of how Twitter decided to censor content on its platform.
Musk has repeatedly stated that he acquired the social media giant in order to protect free speech, and has reinstated several accounts that were suspended under Twitter's content rules. According to a tweet late last month, Musk vowed to "establish an even playing field" on Twitter, saying that "far left San Francisco/Berkeley views have been propagated to the world" on the platform.
On Friday, Musk responded to several users' reactions to the "Twitter Files" report, writing that if Twitter's decision to block the Post article "isn't a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment, what is?"
"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," Musk added.
He also told users to watch for "Episode 2 of The Twitter Files" sometime Saturday.
Newsweek has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Musk's Hunter Biden Twitter reveal comes in barrage of Matt Taibbi tweets
In a 41-tweet thread deemed the "Twitter Files," Taibbi provided context as to why the network banned the New York Post's story on Hunter Biden in 2020.
www.newsweek.com
mzkitty
I give up.
I’m talking about out in the world, not ppl reading TB.Well, people can go over and read it all on Warm Wisconsin's thread, since he has the patience for it:
BRKG - What really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression by Twitter will be published on Twitter
Elon Musk will be releasing the Twitter/FBI Hunter Bidens story in a few minutes To be found on his account this was posted about an hour ago View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1598804557722972160?s=46&t=zPypqBS2WcFR8LrZqPzuVQwww.timebomb2000.com
jward
passin' thru
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Replying to
@OzraeliAvi
I’ve seen a lot of concerning tweets about the recent Brazil election. If those tweets are accurate, it’s possible that Twitter personnel gave preference to left wing candidates.
4:41 AM · Dec 3, 2022
@elonmusk
Replying to
@OzraeliAvi
I’ve seen a lot of concerning tweets about the recent Brazil election. If those tweets are accurate, it’s possible that Twitter personnel gave preference to left wing candidates.
4:41 AM · Dec 3, 2022
mzkitty
I give up.
Elon Musk Claims SBF Spent More Than $1 billion On Dem Elections
Elon Musk disputes the claim that SBF contributed $40 million to Democratic politicians in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.He asserts that it is greater than $1 billion.
3 hours ago Updated 3 hours ago
Tesla founder,Elon Musk claims that SBF has contributed more than $1 billion to Democratic elections. He wonders why SBF is withholding the precise figures and, if the sum is accurate, where the remaining funds went.
More here:
Elon Musk Claims SBF Spent More Than $1 billion On Dem Elections
Elon Musk disputes the claim that SBF contributed $40 million to Democratic politicians in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.He asserts that it is greater than $1 billion.
coingape.com
jward
passin' thru
| Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi Author of GRIFTOPIA, THE DIVIDE, THE BUSINESS SECRETS OF DRUG DEALING, and HATE INC. http://taibbi.substack.com New Jersey, USAtaibbi.substack.com Joined May 2009 4,047 Following 1.2M Followers |
| 1. Thread: THE TWITTER FILES 2. What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter. 3. The “Twitter Files” tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer. 4. Twitter in its conception was a brilliant tool for enabling instant mass communication, making a true real-time global conversation possible for the first time. 5. In an early conception, Twitter more than lived up to its mission statement, giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” 6. As time progressed, however, the company was slowly forced to add those barriers. Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters. 7. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly. 8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.” 
9. Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party: 
10.Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However: 11. This system wasn't balanced. It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right. opensecrets.org/orgs/twitter/s… 
Twitter Profile: Summary Twitter organization profile. Contributions in the 2022 cycle: $185,267. Lobbying in 2022: $970,000. Outside Spending in the 2022 cycle: $0. Twitter Profile: Summary 12. The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives. Okay, there was more throat-clearing about the process, but screw it, let's jump forward 16. The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story 17. On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop: 
Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine in… Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad 18. 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. 19. 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.” 
20.This led public policy executive Caroline Strom to send out a polite WTF query. Several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams, who had little/less control over moderation, and the safety/trust teams: 
21. 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/2019071714… 
22. 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... 23. 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. 24. “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.” 25.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”: 
26. By this point “everyone knew this was ****ed,” said one former employee, but the response was essentially to err on the side of… continuing to err. 
27. Former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman asks, “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?” 
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”: 
29. 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: 30. 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: 
32.Khanna tries to reroute the conversation to the First Amendment, mention of which is generally hard to find in the files: 
33.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.” 
34.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.” 
35.Szabo reports to Twitter that some Hill figures are characterizing the laptop story as “tech’s Access Hollywood moment”: 
36.Twitter files continued: "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" 
An amazing subplot of the Twitter/Hunter Biden laptop affair was how much was done without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, and how long it took for the situation to get "un****ed" (as one ex-employee put it) even after Dorsey jumped in. While reviewing Gadde's emails, I saw a familiar name - my own. Dorsey sent her a copy of my Substack article blasting the incident 
There are multiple instances in the files of Dorsey intervening to question suspensions and other moderation actions, for accounts across the political spectrum The problem with the "hacked materials" ruling, several sources said, was that this normally required an official/law enforcement finding of a hack. But such a finding never appears throughout what one executive describes as a "whirlwind" 24-hour, company-wide mess. 
It's been a whirlwind 96 hours for me, too. There is much more to come, including answers to questions about issues like shadow-banning, boosting, follower counts, the fate of various individual accounts, and more. These issues are not limited to the political right. Good night, everyone. Thanks to all those who picked up the phone in the last few days. • • • |
jward
passin' thru
Left-wing journos attack reporter Matt Taibbi for exposing Musk’s Twitter files
By Mary Kay Linge
December 3, 2022 2:25pm Updated
Mainstream news reporters — in lockstep with Democratic strategists — rushed to social media to smear journalist Matt Taibbi as a “sad” “fraud” as he released his bombshell report on political censorship at Twitter.
“Matt Taibbi…what sad, disgraceful downfall,” Daily Beast columnist and New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali posted. “Selling your soul for the richest white nationalist on Earth.”
On Friday, billionaire Elon Musk — who vowed to give the social media giant a free-speech overhaul when he bought it last month — released to Taibbi a shocking collection of inside correspondence proving that Democrat insiders leaned on Twitter’s censors to suppress The Post’s coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
While Ali was hitting send, Dem pollster Matt McDermott tweeted a nearly identical put-down.
“Matt Taibbi always was, and still remains, a fraud,” McDermott wrote. “Doing PR for the richest person in the world should come as no surprise.”
The Democrat’s words appeared to have been cut-and-pasted from a tweet NBC’s Ben Collins had posted moments before.
“Imagine throwing it all away to do PR work for the richest person in the world,” Collins wrote. “Humiliating s–t.”
Dozens of journalists — including MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny, and the New Republic’s Jacob Silverman — and Democrat partisans piled on, drawing the scorn of investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald.
“The whole sleazy, in-group liberal gang from NBC, Daily Beast, etc — all the censorship advocates who think censorship advocacy is somehow compatible with journalism — are furious that the the acts of their Dem Party allies in getting the Biden story censored are being exposed,” Greenwald posted.
Meanwhile, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety who left the company when Musk completed his takeover, accused the site’s new owner of endangering the censors.
“Publicly posting the names and identities of front-line employees involved in content moderation puts them in harm’s way and is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do,” Roth posted Friday on Mastodon, the Twitter-like site where many Musk opponents have decamped.
nypost.com
By Mary Kay Linge
December 3, 2022 2:25pm Updated
Mainstream news reporters — in lockstep with Democratic strategists — rushed to social media to smear journalist Matt Taibbi as a “sad” “fraud” as he released his bombshell report on political censorship at Twitter.
“Matt Taibbi…what sad, disgraceful downfall,” Daily Beast columnist and New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali posted. “Selling your soul for the richest white nationalist on Earth.”
On Friday, billionaire Elon Musk — who vowed to give the social media giant a free-speech overhaul when he bought it last month — released to Taibbi a shocking collection of inside correspondence proving that Democrat insiders leaned on Twitter’s censors to suppress The Post’s coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
While Ali was hitting send, Dem pollster Matt McDermott tweeted a nearly identical put-down.
“Matt Taibbi always was, and still remains, a fraud,” McDermott wrote. “Doing PR for the richest person in the world should come as no surprise.”
The Democrat’s words appeared to have been cut-and-pasted from a tweet NBC’s Ben Collins had posted moments before.
“Imagine throwing it all away to do PR work for the richest person in the world,” Collins wrote. “Humiliating s–t.”
Dozens of journalists — including MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny, and the New Republic’s Jacob Silverman — and Democrat partisans piled on, drawing the scorn of investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald.
“The whole sleazy, in-group liberal gang from NBC, Daily Beast, etc — all the censorship advocates who think censorship advocacy is somehow compatible with journalism — are furious that the the acts of their Dem Party allies in getting the Biden story censored are being exposed,” Greenwald posted.
Meanwhile, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety who left the company when Musk completed his takeover, accused the site’s new owner of endangering the censors.
“Publicly posting the names and identities of front-line employees involved in content moderation puts them in harm’s way and is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do,” Roth posted Friday on Mastodon, the Twitter-like site where many Musk opponents have decamped.
Left-wing journos attack reporter Matt Taibbi for exposing Musk’s Twitter files
“Matt Taibbi…what sad, disgraceful downfall,” Daily Beast columnist and New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali posted.
nypost.com
jward
passin' thru
Catch up on Twitter’s censorship of the Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story
- Happening now: Hunter Biden laptop bombshell: Elon Musk’s Twitter drops Post censorship details
- Our original report: Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad
- Editorial: Twitter is running a blackmail operation — cooperate or no traffic for you
- Dorsey backs down: Twitter CEO admits handling of blocked Post article was ‘unacceptable’
- How tweet it is: Twitter unlocks The Post’s account after two weeks
Lock-step news stories like this are internal propaganda.
The left is continuing to reinforce the programming by way of MSM.
There aren't many fence sitters remaining in this country.
The division is Thinkers vs. Morons (with no critical thinking skills)
The left is continuing to reinforce the programming by way of MSM.
There aren't many fence sitters remaining in this country.
The division is Thinkers vs. Morons (with no critical thinking skills)
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
FYI folks: this is a live interview with Musk going on right now.
Elon Musk Joins Us Again Live Live Coverage
#twitterfiles live coverage
interview of musk with:
Mario Nawfal
Kim Dotcom
TaraBull
Very good insight on how he is doing things and darn
Elon Musk Joins Us Again Live Live Coverage
#twitterfiles live coverage
interview of musk with:
Mario Nawfal
Kim Dotcom
TaraBull
Very good insight on how he is doing things and darn
jward
passin' thru
commie crap comin' from a Brown-stain eh.
Ronald Brownstein
@RonBrownstein
6m
Just as it took too long to recognize how great a threat Trump poses to US democracy, it is very possible the world is underestimating the extent to which Musk is not just erratic but is actively committed to empowering & amplifying extremist forces & undermining democratic norms
View: https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1599220493093306368?s=20&t=3wjC16-K38KjrUwHJqVxdg
Ronald Brownstein
@RonBrownstein
6m
Just as it took too long to recognize how great a threat Trump poses to US democracy, it is very possible the world is underestimating the extent to which Musk is not just erratic but is actively committed to empowering & amplifying extremist forces & undermining democratic norms
View: https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1599220493093306368?s=20&t=3wjC16-K38KjrUwHJqVxdg
Tristan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Last edited:
thompson
Certa Bonum Certamen
“A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi
There was a time when the disclosure of a back channel for politically motivated censorship would have generated widespread acclaim and called for awards. This is not that time. Just ask Matt Taibb…
jonathanturley.org
“A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi
Jonathan Turley
December 3, 2022
There was a time when the disclosure of a back channel for politically motivated censorship would have generated widespread acclaim and called for awards. This is not that time. Just ask Matt Taibbi.
No one is suggesting that the New York Post should receive a Pulitzer Prize for its long fight to prove the truth about the Hunter Biden laptop. Despite an alliance of most of the media and political establishment arrayed against it, the New York Post fought censorship and unrelenting attacks to bring this massive influence peddling operation to light. (Of course, the New York Times and Washington Post can keep Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on debunked Russian collusion claims created and pushed by the Clinton campaign).
In the case of journalist Matt Taibbi, his analysis of thousands of documents has met with the standard scorched earth campaign from liberal reporters and pundits.
As discussed in today’s Hill column, the document dump confirmed what had long been suspected: Biden and Democratic party officials succeeded in getting Twitter to block the New York Post story and suspend those who even tried to retweet or link to the story before the election.
I will not repeat the content of those emails on how Twitter “handled” demands from the Biden campaign and the DNC for censorship. Musk gave the material to Taibbi to synthesize the voluminous record. That is when the familiar media flash mob formed.
NBC Reporter Ben Collins attacked Taibbi on Twitter and said “Imagine throwing it all away to do PR work for the richest person in the world. Humiliating s***.”
New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali also attacked Taibbi:
So Taibbi’s reported downfall as a writer is due to his role in disclosing a massive censorship system operated at the direction or behest of one political party and one political family. He is “disgraceful” because he is suggesting that the media and social media companies should not have censored a story on a multimillion dollar influence peddling scheme run by the Biden family.
Taibbi is not alone in such disgrace, according to Ali. He has also attacked former New York Times writer Bari Weiss, including for her statement that she was tired of the pandemic as being somehow racist. (“It reflects America’s cruelty, right?…we have also had cruelty, White supremacy, misogyny. America says go ahead and die, but just don’t die on my lawn.”)
Of course, Ali may be right on what it takes today to be accepted as a journalist. Taibbi is now persona non grata as opposed to Ali, who is routinely invited to write for publications like the New York Times and the Daily Beast despite a litany of controversies.
In one column, Ali suggested white Republican voters would prefer to burn down their own homes then rent to a minority member and compared them to the Al Qaeda terrorists on Flight 93 . He then wrote off most of them as “lost. It’s going to be a long, ugly, violent death rattle of a death cult.”
In today’s world, the New York Times bans Sen. Tom Cotton for his view on the use of the military to quell violent protests, but publishes Ali who told people not to “waste your time reaching out to Trump voters as I did.”
“Reaching out” apparently means calling them virulent racists storming an airplane cockpit. That is the model of real journalism and commentary, not some journalist detailing a politically driven censorship system on social media.
Most critics like MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan attacked Musk or Taibbi while omitting any discussion of the details in these documents. Hasan simply declared that the full transparency ordered by Musk is just one of those “nakedly and cynically right-wing narratives . . . But sure, the laptop! The laptop! The laptop!”
There is a simple reason for this evasion and enmity. The media is too invested in the suppression of this story to now acknowledge that this was a scandal involving both massive influence peddling and massive censorship to cover it up.
I previously wrote a column on the one year anniversary of the Hunter Biden laptop story that marveled at the success of the Biden family in making the scandal vanish before the 2020 election. It was analogized to Houdini making his 10,000-pound elephant Jennie disappear in his act. The Biden trick, however, occurred live before an audience of millions.
The key to the trick was involving the media in the original illusion. Both Twitter and these reporters became invested in the trick. It is like calling audience members to the stage to assist in the performance. Reporters have to insist that there was nothing to see or they have to admit to being part of the original deception. The Bidens were able to make this elephant of a scandal disappear because Twitter and the media wanted it to disappear.
Musk has now pulled away the cover and revealed the elephant. Rather than acknowledge the beast, the media is turning on those who made it visible. The Bidens forced many liberal reporters and pundits to excuse the raw corruption of influence peddling. They are now getting the same figures to dismiss censorship. The alternative is simply too bear, let alone explain. After all, if it is still on the stage, it was there all along . . . and that can only be a “nakedly and cynically right-wing narrative.”
mzkitty
I give up.
“A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi
There was a time when the disclosure of a back channel for politically motivated censorship would have generated widespread acclaim and called for awards. This is not that time. Just ask Matt Taibb…
“A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi
Jonathan Turley
December 3, 2022
There was a time when the disclosure of a back channel for politically motivated censorship would have generated widespread acclaim and called for awards. This is not that time. Just ask Matt Taibbi.
No one is suggesting that the New York Post should receive a Pulitzer Prize for its long fight to prove the truth about the Hunter Biden laptop. Despite an alliance of most of the media and political establishment arrayed against it, the New York Post fought censorship and unrelenting attacks to bring this massive influence peddling operation to light. (Of course, the New York Times and Washington Post can keep Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on debunked Russian collusion claims created and pushed by the Clinton campaign).
In the case of journalist Matt Taibbi, his analysis of thousands of documents has met with the standard scorched earth campaign from liberal reporters and pundits.
As discussed in today’s Hill column, the document dump confirmed what had long been suspected: Biden and Democratic party officials succeeded in getting Twitter to block the New York Post story and suspend those who even tried to retweet or link to the story before the election.
I will not repeat the content of those emails on how Twitter “handled” demands from the Biden campaign and the DNC for censorship. Musk gave the material to Taibbi to synthesize the voluminous record. That is when the familiar media flash mob formed.
NBC Reporter Ben Collins attacked Taibbi on Twitter and said “Imagine throwing it all away to do PR work for the richest person in the world. Humiliating s***.”
New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali also attacked Taibbi:
So Taibbi’s reported downfall as a writer is due to his role in disclosing a massive censorship system operated at the direction or behest of one political party and one political family. He is “disgraceful” because he is suggesting that the media and social media companies should not have censored a story on a multimillion dollar influence peddling scheme run by the Biden family.
Taibbi is not alone in such disgrace, according to Ali. He has also attacked former New York Times writer Bari Weiss, including for her statement that she was tired of the pandemic as being somehow racist. (“It reflects America’s cruelty, right?…we have also had cruelty, White supremacy, misogyny. America says go ahead and die, but just don’t die on my lawn.”)
Of course, Ali may be right on what it takes today to be accepted as a journalist. Taibbi is now persona non grata as opposed to Ali, who is routinely invited to write for publications like the New York Times and the Daily Beast despite a litany of controversies.
In one column, Ali suggested white Republican voters would prefer to burn down their own homes then rent to a minority member and compared them to the Al Qaeda terrorists on Flight 93 . He then wrote off most of them as “lost. It’s going to be a long, ugly, violent death rattle of a death cult.”
In today’s world, the New York Times bans Sen. Tom Cotton for his view on the use of the military to quell violent protests, but publishes Ali who told people not to “waste your time reaching out to Trump voters as I did.”
“Reaching out” apparently means calling them virulent racists storming an airplane cockpit. That is the model of real journalism and commentary, not some journalist detailing a politically driven censorship system on social media.
Most critics like MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan attacked Musk or Taibbi while omitting any discussion of the details in these documents. Hasan simply declared that the full transparency ordered by Musk is just one of those “nakedly and cynically right-wing narratives . . . But sure, the laptop! The laptop! The laptop!”
There is a simple reason for this evasion and enmity. The media is too invested in the suppression of this story to now acknowledge that this was a scandal involving both massive influence peddling and massive censorship to cover it up.
I previously wrote a column on the one year anniversary of the Hunter Biden laptop story that marveled at the success of the Biden family in making the scandal vanish before the 2020 election. It was analogized to Houdini making his 10,000-pound elephant Jennie disappear in his act. The Biden trick, however, occurred live before an audience of millions.
The key to the trick was involving the media in the original illusion. Both Twitter and these reporters became invested in the trick. It is like calling audience members to the stage to assist in the performance. Reporters have to insist that there was nothing to see or they have to admit to being part of the original deception. The Bidens were able to make this elephant of a scandal disappear because Twitter and the media wanted it to disappear.
Musk has now pulled away the cover and revealed the elephant. Rather than acknowledge the beast, the media is turning on those who made it visible. The Bidens forced many liberal reporters and pundits to excuse the raw corruption of influence peddling. They are now getting the same figures to dismiss censorship. The alternative is simply too bear, let alone explain. After all, if it is still on the stage, it was there all along . . . and that can only be a “nakedly and cynically right-wing narrative.”
Well, as Shakespeare said... all the world's stage. And guess what? We don't like what we see on that stage.
We're not vanishing elephants. Everybody knows.
jward
passin' thru
Elon Musk claims risk of his assassination is ‘quite significant’
News.com.au
4–5 minutes
Elon Musk has claimed the risk of his assassination is “quite significant.”
In a wide-ranging, two-hour Q&A audio chat on Twitter Spaces, the social media platform’s CEO told listeners he “definitely” would not “be doing any open-air car parades, let me put it that way.”
“Frankly the risk of something bad happening to me, or even literally being shot, is quite significant,” he said.
“It’s not that hard to kill somebody if you wanted to, so hopefully they don’t, and fate smiles upon the situation with me and it does not happen … There’s definitely some risk there.”
Twitter CEO Elon Musk believes there’s a chance he could be assassinated.AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
The Tesla CEO and world’s richest man – a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” – added that “at the end of the day, we just want to have a future where we’re not oppressed”.
“[Where] our speech is not suppressed, and we can say what we want to say without fear of reprisals,” he declared.
“As long as you’re not really causing harm to somebody else, then you should be allowed to say what you want.”
This attitude has been clear since Musk’s takeover of Twitter last month.
He has reinstated previously suspended accounts including former President Donald Trump, and announced he would grant a “general amnesty” to everyone who had been booted off that had not broken the law or engaged in spam.
Musk also ended Twitter’s policy against Covid-19 misinformation, and dismantled the company’s trust and safety teams amid mass lay-offs.
Much of Musk’s conversation on Twitter Spaces, which took place on Saturday night local time, was devoted to the so-called ‘Twitter Files’, a selection of internal documents released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday.
Taibbi’s thread included files that showed Joe Biden’s team instructing Twitter employees to remove specific political content in October 2020, just weeks before he was elected US President.
Screenshots of emails revealed that Twitter employees deliberately suspended, banned or censored users who commented on the controversy surrounding the contents of Mr Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop.
“If Twitter is doing one team’s bidding before an election shutting down dissenting voices on a pivotal election, that is the definition of election interference,” Musk, who has been highly critical of the platform’s prior management, said.
“Frankly, Twitter was acting like an arm of the Democratic National Committee, it was absurd.”
Musk said he had given Taibbi, as well as journalist Bari Weiss, “unfettered access” to old internal documents – teasing more would be released and dubbing them the Twitter Files ‘episode two’.
“This is not a North Korea tour guide situation, you get to go anywhere you want, whenever you want, however you want,” he said.
“I’m not controlling the narrative. It’s just obvious there’s been a lot of control of information, suppression of information, including things that affected elections, and that just all need to be … you just want to have the stuff out there.”
Musk acknowledged during the Twitter Spaces chat, however, that the Twitter Files release had included some missteps, including “a few cases where I think we should have excluded some email addresses”.
“Publicly posting the names and identities of frontline employees involved in content moderation puts them in harm’s way and is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do,” former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth, who was among the employees named in Taibbi’s tweets, said in a social media post.
“The idea here is to come clean on everything that has happened in the past in order to build public trust for the future,” Musk said of the errors.
Elon Musk claims risk of his assassination is ‘quite significant’
jward
passin' thru
The Washington Times
@WashTimes
6m
Official
Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
trib.al
View: https://twitter.com/WashTimes/status/1599540310195011585?s=20&t=niQl2R_jrIGH97lZpEuG-w
@WashTimes
6m
Official
Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
After teasing his followers with a promise to disclose “what really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression,” Elon Musk linked to a lengthy Twitter thread by independent journalist Matt Taibbi showing the behind-the-scenes corporate deliberations.
trib.al
jward
passin' thru
Kari Lake War Room
@KariLakeWarRoom
2h
"REVEALED: Katie Hobbs' office contacted Twitter to censor posts"
View: https://twitter.com/KariLakeWarRoom/status/1599504125091545088?s=20&t=niQl2R_jrIGH97lZpEuG-w
The Washington Times
@WashTimes
17m
Official
Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
trib.al
View: https://twitter.com/WashTimes/status/1599540310195011585?s=20&t=niQl2R_jrIGH97lZpEuG-w
Chuck Callesto
@ChuckCallesto
5h
BREAKING REPORT: Musk says Twitter's censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story was the 'DEFINITION OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE' and that firm 'was ACTING AS AN ARM of the DNC'...
@KariLakeWarRoom
2h
"REVEALED: Katie Hobbs' office contacted Twitter to censor posts"
View: https://twitter.com/KariLakeWarRoom/status/1599504125091545088?s=20&t=niQl2R_jrIGH97lZpEuG-w
The Washington Times
@WashTimes
17m
Official
Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ reveal Biden camp leaned on the company to block Hunter Biden story
After teasing his followers with a promise to disclose “what really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression,” Elon Musk linked to a lengthy Twitter thread by independent journalist Matt Taibbi showing the behind-the-scenes corporate deliberations.
trib.al
Chuck Callesto
@ChuckCallesto
5h
BREAKING REPORT: Musk says Twitter's censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story was the 'DEFINITION OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE' and that firm 'was ACTING AS AN ARM of the DNC'...
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
Nope. Just nope.
I'm unwilling to take drugs that screw with brain chemistry/function. I certainly ain't gonna get an electronic implant.
I'm an engineer, not a Luddite by any means. Technology can be wonderful, but it's usually a compromise or double-edged. This technology might be useful for the disabled, but the potential for missapplication is dangerous.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I would not touch anything that has possible ties to the deep state. EVEN IF Musk is pioneering an uncorrupted version. If any of the woo stuff I have read on the dark fleet implementation of this, there is no way in hell I will go anywhere near it.
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
I'm not even factoring in the DS, for this. Even if it just means that your brain can control something, it's dangerous.
Electrons flow both directions. If your synapses can fire circuits, who is to say that it cannot work the other way?
If self-driving/self-parking cars can be hacked in minutes, as demonstrated many times, what does this portend?
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
What the cartoon ghost in the shell. ghost hacks. rewritting your ghost or soul and memories to support something you would otherwise fight. Imagine government back hacks to brain wash the implanted instantly? lock step control of narrative and discussion. The veritible end of freedom of speech.
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
My friend, they've already cornered that market with no help from Musk. And the only electrons cycled were on network television.
vector7
Dot Collector
If you don't understand what is happening to America, watch this. It's called "ideological subversion."
"As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him..." Is this not exactly where we are, America?
RT 2min
View: https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1599456786196574210?s=20&t=xo825QVOyii3WAmuMZX2DQ
"As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who is demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him..." Is this not exactly where we are, America?
RT 2min
View: https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1599456786196574210?s=20&t=xo825QVOyii3WAmuMZX2DQ
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
And I am so glad of not having satellite or cable tv for 20 years now...
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
We have never gone without cable TV.
Having cable (or other) TV is no excuse for believing the bullshit the media spews. Americans have completely lost the concept of discernment. As a whole.
You and most others here wouldn't fall for the crap shown on tv.
The other side of discernment is that while many won't believe anything on the news media, they will buy into every whackadoodle story they see from someone on the internet. They will scoff at the nutjobs like Marshal Applewhite(?) and then foam at the mouth over insane, convoluted conspiracy theories that are no more realistic or practical. Just because someone put it in print on the 'net. The internet is not always factual.
Part of the responsibility of "free speech" is being informed and responsible for real, reasoned evaluation of free speech from others.
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Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Actually it is a lack of critical thinking. The ability to think independently or lack there in. The other aspect is that schools are teaching bigotry and racism as well which creates a cognitive dissonance which is what causes that foaming at the mouth behavior you describe.
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
They haven't taught how to think in a very long time.
They only teach what to think.
That leads to the polarization too.
Accept or reject.
So, whackadoodle left or whackadoodle right is the result.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I suspect that it is more they hurt people that use logic to decide and reward folks that let other folks decide things for them...
tnphil
Don't screw with an engineer
I wish that were true. It's not.
For the last two years, there have been YouTube channels posting many times daily that Trump is controlling "white hats", tribunals ongoing or "any day now". Folks going to Gitmo. Trump is back in the WH "any day now". Yeah, I wish it was true. But, wish in one hand and shit in the other, see what you get. Cryptic crap from some mysterious "Q" that can be interpreted in so many ways. If there were some person in the know, and he was a patriot, he would make it plain and not obfuscate if he wanted the American people to understand. If he does not, then he's either a plant or too stupid to communicate. It's a damn psyop that deserves no attention, unless/until he proves himself. If he's unwilling to stick his neck out for truth and having the conviction to openly speak it, he's not speaking the truth.
Not one shred of evidence. And not one shred of confirmation.
Quite the opposite. Biden and company are running unfettered.
jward
passin' thru
Senator Ron Johnson
@SenRonJohnson @elonmusk is doing an awful lot to reveal censorship in the complicit, corrupt media.
But there is an even larger story than what’s being revealed here about the corruption we’ve uncovered in our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
View: https://twitter.com/SenRonJohnson/status/1599531610147168256?s=20&t=ErDhzueBGoIgujlyaNJskQ
@SenRonJohnson @elonmusk is doing an awful lot to reveal censorship in the complicit, corrupt media.
But there is an even larger story than what’s being revealed here about the corruption we’ve uncovered in our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
View: https://twitter.com/SenRonJohnson/status/1599531610147168256?s=20&t=ErDhzueBGoIgujlyaNJskQ