Independent journalist Matt Taibbi released the latest round of Twitter Files Tuesday, and among other things, the documents showed a mounting concern amongst Twitter higher-ups who were “struggling” with how they were increasingly being bypassed by “public and private agencies,” which in some cases were going directly to the media with their suspicions about accounts that were allegedly spreading “Russian disinformation” related to the Wuhan coronavirus.
Of particular concern to Twitter were actions taken by the State Department’s “Global Engagement Center,” which took their case straight to the media rather than going through Twitter first:
The GEC’s “report” got the attention of numerous “news” organizations, including AFP and Politico, both of which ran with the story:
Ironically, the documents tweeted by Taibbi also indicated that the increasingly cozy relationship between agencies in the federal government and Twitter made some on the Twitter side uncomfortable in part because they were starting to be flooded by requests from multiple departments and were having problems keeping up with it all:
Not surprisingly, Twitter was also receiving requests from powerful figures in Congress to ban the accounts of their critics. Then-Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff’s office requested writer Paul Sperry’s account be banned ostensibly on “QAnon conspiracy” grounds. In reality – and as the NY Post also observed, Schiff likely targeted him primarily because Sperry’s reporting at RealClearInvestigations shined an unflattering spotlight on Schiff’s “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella:
Interestingly enough, just a few weeks ago, Schiff attacked Twitter CEO Elon Musk over his brief suspension of several journalists, which Musk did on the grounds that they were allegedly trying to do end-runs around Twitter’s policy on revealing personal information about a user without their permission:
In response to Taibbi’s Twitter thread – which of course, was made possible by Musk turning over the documents to Taibbi, Musk tagged Schiff in a tweet and included an important question:
Just after the Christmas holiday and in reply to a reporter’s suggestion that Musk’s “reputation is in danger” thanks to the time he’s spending on Twitter, Musk promised there would be much more to come in terms of exposing the bad actors under the old Twitter regime, in the media, and within the federal government.
As always, stay tuned.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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