Elon Musk Releases ‘Twitter Files’ Detailing Censorship Of ‘Hunter Biden Story’

The #TwitterFiles is currently trending on Twitter after Elon Musk released the internal “Twitter Files” on Friday, which revealed that the company responded to a request “from the Biden team” during the 2020 election—just days after Twitter cracked down on Hunter Biden’s (son of US President Joe Biden) laptop story.

We’re double-checking some facts, so probably start live tweeting in about 40 mins

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022

Elon Musk tweeted a link to the account of independent journalist and author Matt Taibbi, who revealed the story behind the censorship of Hunter Biden’s laptop story in a Twitter thread.

Here we go!! 🍿🍿 https://t.co/eILK9f3bAm

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022

Hunter Biden – Twitter Controversy

In the final weeks of the presidential campaign in late 2020, Twitter decided to restrict access to a New York Post piece featuring unverified claims regarding Hunter Biden’s activities in Ukraine.

At the time, Twitter said the piece contained screenshots and photographs that violated the company’s “Hacked Materials Policy,” which prohibits users from posting images of hacked materials on the platform. Users were barred from sharing the article on Twitter.

This decision was taken at the top levels of the company but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a crucial role, according to Taibbi.

What are “Twitter Files”?

“Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters. 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,” Taibbi said.

Taibbi posted a screenshot of an internal email that contained links to tweets that were supposed to be deleted. “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”, he added.

9. Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party: pic.twitter.com/4uzkHnQ65E

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022

“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, this system wasn’t balanced and allegedly it was based on contacts. As 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,” the journalist elaborated.

Taibbi then tweeted about the social networking site’s strategies for suppressing the “Biden Secret Emails” story.

“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,” he said.

“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.” Taibbi disclosed.

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.”

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022

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