{"id":1808189,"date":"2023-01-17T10:20:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1808189"},"modified":"2023-01-17T10:25:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:25:35","slug":"infographic-key-revelations-of-the-twitter-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/infographic-key-revelations-of-the-twitter-files\/","title":{"rendered":"INFOGRAPHIC: Key Revelations of the &#8220;Twitter Files&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finfographic-key-revelations-of-the-twitter-files%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1808189&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>Files show how the government forced the social media giant to censor a large number accounts<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Documents leaked by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-twitter\">Twitter<\/a>\u2019s new owner, tech billionaire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-elon-musk\">Elon Musk<\/a>The social media company is intertwined in a government\/private partnership. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-censorship\">censorship<\/a> apparatus.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter took down or removed content about various topics, including irregularities during the 2020 elections and mail-in voting issues. There were also aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The documents show that the company was subject to government pressure to remove such content from the platform and its purveyors, but most of the time it cooperated with the requests for censorship.<\/p>\n<p><strong>INFOGRAPHIC Click on the image to enlarge<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a class=\"infographic-viewer\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.epoch.cloud\/infographics\/Infographic_Twitter_Files_TheEpochTimes_v2_2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/EET_Infographic_Twitterfiles_Jan2023_v2.2_small-600x316-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"316\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/EET_Infographic_Twitterfiles_Jan2023_v2.2_small-600x316-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"316\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Click on the infographic to enlarge<\/figure>\n<p>Musk took control of Twitter in October and made the company public. Musk fired approximately half the staff, and much of the senior management. He promised to change the direction of Twitter. The \u201c#TwitterFiles\u201d Releases are part of his promise to focus on transparency in the company.<\/p>\n<p>He allowed several independent journalists to submit search queries that were then used by Twitter staff to search through the company\u2019s internal documents, sometimes under the condition that the resulting stories would be first published on the platform itself.<\/p>\n<p>The journalists responsible for the releases were journalists Matt Taibbi (a former Rolling Stone contributing editor) and Bari Weiss (a former editor at The New York Times as well as The Wall Street Journal). Both are liberals disillusioned by the more extreme currents in progressivism and Neoliberalism.<\/p>\n<p>The releases were also done by Lee Fang, David Zweig, ex-New York Times reporter Alex Berenson and Michael Shellenberger, independent journalists.<\/p>\n<p>Only a small portion of the documents that were reviewed by journalists has been released. They\u2019ve also redacted the names of employees involved, other than some high-level executives.<\/p>\n<p>The documents clearly show that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-fbi\">FBI<\/a> The United States has been under significant scrutiny by federal, state and local authorities. They have also tried to suppress legal speech online. That is what many conservative and traditionally liberal commentators consider a violation to the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4986854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4986854\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1242798684-600x399-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4986854\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1242798684-600x399-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/noscript> Interviews with Elon Musk as he arrives at Offshore Northern Seas 2022 meeting (ONS) in Stavanger Norway, Aug. 29, 2022.<br \/>CARINA JOHANSEN\/NTB\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Twitter, which is a key hub for political speech, has been censored. Many news stories have broken on Twitter in recent years and a significant portion of the nation\u2019s political debate takes place on the platform, as it allows an efficient way for direct and public interaction between all on the platform, from the most prominent to the least.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter did not censor some requests for censorship, but it was clear that the company did so out of principle. Rather, executives sometimes couldn\u2019t find a policy they could use as a justification. The documents reveal that Jack Dorsey, the previous chief executive of Twitter, was pressured by his lieutenants into expanding the policies to allow for more rigorous censorship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hypothesis underlying much of what we\u2019ve implemented is that if exposure, e.g., misinformation directly causes harm, we should use remediations that reduce exposure, and limiting the spread\/virality of content is a good way to do that (by just reducing prevalence overall),\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bariweiss\/status\/1601023770717626368\/photo\/1\">said<\/a> Yoel Roth, then Twitter\u2019s head of Trust and Safety, which governs content policy, in a 2021 internal message published by Weiss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got Jack on board with implementing this for civic integrity in the near term, but we\u2019re going to need to make a more robust case to get this into our repertoire of policy remediations\u2014especially for other policy domains.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4986956\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1321753242-1200x880.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4986956 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1321753242-600x440-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"440\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4986956 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1321753242-600x440-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"440\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Jack Dorsey was the creator, cofounder and Chairman of Twitter. He also cofounded and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Square in Miami, Fla. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Many times, Twitter leaders allowed the government to silence its critics via the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Many requests for censorship were received with an imperious attitude, especially from the Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-white-house\">White House<\/a>Not only that, but there were also some from Rep. Adam Schiff (D.Calif.), who was at the time the head of the powerful House Intelligence Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Around November 2020, Schiff\u2019s office sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1610394197730725889\">list of dema<\/a> Twitter, even for the removal \u201cany and all content\u201d about the committee\u2019s staff and suspend \u201cmany\u201d accounts including that of Paul Sperry, a journalist with RealClearInvestigations.<\/p>\n<p>Schiff\u2019s office accused Sperry of harassment and promoting \u201cfalse QAnon conspiracies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sperry dismissed the allegation. He asked Schiff to provide evidence and announced that he was denying it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/reporter-threatens-legal-action-adam-schiff-twitter-files-bombshell\">considering legal action<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Schiff\u2019s demands were apparently a response to Sperry\u2019s articles that speculated on the identity of the White House whistleblower that alleged a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d Between President Donald Trump &#038; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/p>\n<p>Sperry used anonymous sources to report that the whistleblower was most likely Eric Ciaramella, a former CIA analyst. He was heard talking in the White House alongside Sean Misko (a holdover staffer) from the Obama administration. Misko later joined Schiff\u2019s committee.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4986964\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-466697720-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4986964 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-466697720-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4986964 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-466697720-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> On March 18, 2015, morning sunlight hits the flag above the White House in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Twitter rejected Schiff\u2019s demands, save for reviewing \u201cagain\u201d Sperry\u2019s account activity. Sperry\u2019s account was suspended months later. Taibbi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYjC1Kklpoo\">said<\/a> he wasn\u2019t able to find out why.<\/p>\n<h2>Under Pressure<\/h2>\n<p>Twitter was informed that the FBI had sent numerous censorship requests to Twitter. These were simply meant to bring information to the FBI&#8217;s attention. It was up to the company what to do. The documents reveal that Twitter executives felt obliged to comply with these requests even though they were unable to justify it internally.<\/p>\n<p>Many forms were used to apply pressure from the government. The FBI would follow up on its requests and if they weren\u2019t fulfilled, Twitter had to explain itself to the bureau. If Twitter\u2019s position on an issue differed from the one expected by the government, company executives would be questioned and made aware that the bureau, and even the broader intelligence community, wasn\u2019t happy. The executives would then go into triage mode and rush to save the relationship it believed was essential.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4986980\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1242409189-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4986980 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1242409189-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4986980 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1242409189-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A seal reading \u201cDepartment of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation\u201d On August 9, 2022, it was displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Headquarters in Washington. (STEFANI REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figure>\n<p>Another point of pressure was corporate media. If Twitter wouldn\u2019t do what it was told fast enough, the media would be provided with information portraying Twitter as ignoring some problem of paramount importance, such as possible foreign influence operations on its platform.<\/p>\n<p>One censorship request, for instance, targeted an account allegedly run by Russian intelligence, though Twitter wasn\u2019t given any evidence of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to a lack of technical evidence on our end, I\u2019ve generally left it be, waiting for more evidence,\u201d Taibbi reports that one Twitter executive who previously worked for the CIA said this,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution and reporting on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The internal email suggests that Twitter, despite having no concrete evidence to back it, wouldn\u2019t dare to disobey the request because of the media fallout of the government publicly labeling the account as run by Russian intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>Congress was perhaps the heaviest sword of Damocles hanging over Twitter\u2019s head. Lawmakers could not only spur negative media coverage, but also tie up the company in hearings and investigations, or even introduce legislation that could hurt Twitter\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3753711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-3753711\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/CIA-600x399-1.jpg\" alt=\"The logo of the CIA\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3753711\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/CIA-600x399-1.jpg\" alt=\"The logo of the CIA\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/noscript> On Jan. 21, 2017, the CIA headquarters was seen sporting the logo of the CIA. (Olivier Doulier\/Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just like Sen. Mark Warner (D. Va.), was. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1610372352872783872\">pushing Twitter<\/a> To provide more evidence of Russian influence operations using its platform in 2017, he also teamed with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D.Minn.) and John McCain, (R.Ariz.), proposed a bill that would have required extensive disclosures about online political advertising.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter managers became convinced that lawmakers were using Twitter to leak information and create negative news stories. Twitter was also trying to placate them, taking increasingly strict measures against alleged Russia-linked accounts.<\/p>\n<p>While the FBI was merely alerting Twitter to the activities of malign actors abroad, many of those censorship requests were simply lists that contained little or no evidence of foreign links. At times, Twitter tried to ask for more information, noting that it couldn\u2019t find any evidence on its end, but often it simply complied. It was impossible for Twitter to do its due diligence on each request\u2014there were simply too many, according to Taibbi.<\/p>\n<p>One request <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1610394306308702213\/photo\/1\">revealed by Taibbi<\/a> As claimed \u201cthe attached email accounts\u201d They were created \u201cpossibly for use in influence operations, social media collection, or social engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout further explanation, Twitter would be forwarded an excel doc,\u201d Taibbi said.<\/p>\n<p>The political right was the most targeted group for censorship requests. Some researchers said that the right was much more involved in spreading misinformation, but the documents indicate that the censorship wasn\u2019t so much a matter of a right-left dichotomy, but rather a pro- and anti-establishment one. Even left-leaning accounts could be targeted if they diverged from the official government narrative.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the right didn\u2019t appear too keen on demanding censorship to begin with. Taibbi couldn\u2019t find a single censorship request from the Trump campaign, Trump White House, or even any Republican, though he was told there were some.<\/p>\n<p>However, it seemed that there was no interest in targeting misinformation from the establishment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4986994\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1229207666-1200x802-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4986994 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1229207666-1200x802-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4986994 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1229207666-1200x802-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A view from the exterior of \u201cThe Mac Shop\u201dHunter Biden was alleged to have brought his laptop to be repaired, but never returned it. He was last seen at this location in Wilmington, Del. (Oct. 21, 2020). (ANGELA WEISS\/AFP via Getty Images).<\/figure>\n<h2>Hunter Biden\u2019s Laptop<\/h2>\n<p>Twitter\u2019s suppression of the 2020 New York Post expos\u00e9 on Hunter Biden, son of then-candidate Joe Biden, was dissected in the Twitter release in particular detail. According to reports, Roth, the head of Trust and Safety at Twitter, was regularly invited to meet with the FBI and other intelligence agencies in order to get briefings about the online activities of foreign governments. Roth was expected to receive briefings on the online activities of foreign regimes during the several months before the 2020 election. \u201chack-and-leak\u201d Russian operation, possible in October and possibly Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI alleged there was some evidence of Russian influence operation related to Hunter Biden\u2019s dealings in Ukraine. But the bureau was also aware that Hunter Biden left his laptop with a trove of explosive information in a New York repair shop and that a copy of it was handed to Trump\u2019s then-lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In December 2019, the FBI took the laptop to the repair shop and placed Giuliani under surveillance until August 2020 when Giuliani was given the copy. The FBI knew that the information on the laptop was not hacked or a part of a Russian plot.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter executives had no doubt that the FBI was correct when the Post reported the story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis feels a lot like a somewhat subtle leak operation,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShellenbergerMD\/status\/1604900581809614848\">Roth commented<\/a> He acknowledged that he didn&#8217;t have evidence to support the claim in an internal email. \u201cquestionable origins\u201d Hunter Biden apparently took the laptop to a computer repair shop and left it there.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987000\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1230693000-1200x1644.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4987000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1230693000-600x822-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"411\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4987000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1230693000-600x822-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"411\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Hunter Biden arrives to witness the inauguration of Joe Biden as President-elect on the West Front at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. This will take place on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Roth noted that the story didn\u2019t actually violate any Twitter rules. However, it was noted \u201cunsafe\u201d Twitter has blocked them under its policy against hacking materials. However, there is no evidence that they were hacked.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter\u2019s then-Deputy General Counsel James Baker backed the censorship move, saying it was \u201creasonable\u201d To \u201cassume\u201d Information about Hunter Biden was hacked.<\/p>\n<p>Baker was FBI General Counsel up to May 2018. Baker joined Twitter in June 2020. Baker was closely associated with the Russia investigation scandal, where the FBI embroiled Trump&#8217;s campaign and later his administration in thorough investigations based upon fabricated and thin allegations that Trump colluded in Russia to win the 2016 election. The allegations were produced by operatives funded by the campaign of Trump\u2019s opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the FBI knew nothing of intelligence that suggested a terrorist plot. \u201chack-and-leak\u201d Assisting in operation before the 2020 election <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShellenbergerMD\/status\/1604881305178497024\/photo\/3\">testified<\/a> in November 2022 by Elvis Chan, head of the cyber branch at the FBI\u2019s San Francisco Field Office, which was responsible for communications with Twitter and other tech companies with headquarters in its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>Shellenberger reported that Twitter found very few Russian activities ahead of the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n<h2>Shadowbanning<\/h2>\n<p>Twitter has long denied the practice of shadowbanning\u2014suppressing the reach of an account without informing the user. The denial, however, specifically defined shadowbanning as making the person\u2019s content invisible to others. What people have been complaining about is that Twitter would suppress how many people see their content without making it invisible altogether\u2014Twitter has been doing that a lot, the internal materials show.<\/p>\n<p>One Twitter engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bariweiss\/status\/1601015872046260226\">told Weiss<\/a>: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine and one early critics of COVID-19 lockdowns, was one of those whose accounts were secretly throttled.<\/p>\n<p>Others included Dan Bongino, conservative podcaster and former Secret Service agent, and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, the country\u2019s largest conservative youth group.<\/p>\n<h2>COVID-19<\/h2>\n<p>Twitter has extensively suppressed all information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything about the origin, treatment and policies that were put in place to control its spread, including the vaccines, had to be consistent with the official position of Congress, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<p>Zweig said that he \u201cfound countless instances of tweets labeled as \u2018misleading\u2019 or taken down entirely, sometimes triggering account suspensions, simply because they veered from CDC guidance or differed from establishment views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>@KelleyKga, Twitter user and self-described fact-checker, criticised a tweet that falsely claimed COVID-19 was a leading cause for death by disease among children. @KelleyKga noted that such a claim requires cherry-picking data, and back his argument with data compiled by the CDC. However, his criticism was labeled as \u201cmisleading\u201d It was also removed. However, the tweet with the false claim wasn&#8217;t deleted.<\/p>\n<p>Euzebiusz jamrozik wrote on Twitter a precise summary of studies on COVID-19 side effects. The tweet was tagged \u201cmisleading\u201d Deleted.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter may have suppressed some information at times, but many COVID-19-related requests were made from the government, and even directly from Biden White House, internal documents show.<\/p>\n<p>Rob Flaherty, White House Digital Director, accused Twitter of stealing his email. \u201cbending over backwards\u201d It was impossible to refuse one of his censorship requests. \u201ctotal Calvinball\u201d\u2014a game where rules are made up along the way. The email wasn\u2019t part of the Twitter files. It was part of a ongoing lawsuit filed by Louisiana&#8217;s attorneys general against the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>Another White House staffer requested that Twitter censor a tweet from Robert Kennedy, Jr., who is a long-standing critic of vaccination. One staffer thought about whether Twitter could be used to censor Robert Kennedy Jr&#8217;s tweet. \u201cget moving on the process for having it removed ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then if we can keep an eye out for tweets that fall in this same genre that would be great,\u201d He said this in an email dated January 23, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The administration wasn\u2019t always trying to get such content removed. People who simply expressed their opinions \u201chesitancy\u201d According to documents, vaccines&#8217; content was supposed to be kept from reaching a significant audience.<\/p>\n<p>There was much at stake for the Biden administration as the vaccine rollout is one of its most prominent and important tasks. Other stakeholders were also involved.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987191\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1234834642-1200x798.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4987191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1234834642-600x399-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4987191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1234834642-600x399-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Joe Biden speaks on the Covid-19 response, and the vaccination program at Washington&#8217;s White House on August 23, 2021. (JIM WATSON\/AFP via Getty Images).<\/figure>\n<p>Scott Gottlieb was a board member of Pfizer and the head of its regulatory and compliance committee. Pfizer is the pharmaceutical giant that created the COVID-19 vaccination and has made tens and billions of dollars from the sales.<\/p>\n<p>Gottlieb has sent at least three requests to Twitter. One was directed at a doctor who claimed that natural immunity to COVID-19 is better than vaccination. Twitter deleted the tweet, even though it was right.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Hart, an author who had been arguing on Twitter against school closings, was also targeted by another request. Hart pointed out that COVID-19-related deaths in children are very rare. Gottlieb submitted the request shortly after Pfizer approved the use of its vaccine for children. Twitter didn\u2019t comply with the request.<\/p>\n<p>Berenson, a former NY Times reporter was also targeted in another request. Gottlieb claimed that Berenson\u2019s criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of COVID-19 response in the Biden administration, was causing threats of physical violence toward Fauci. Twitter suspended Berenson\u2019s account shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>Gottlieb sent his request to the same Twitter official that was a contact person for White House censorship requests.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987037\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1295388232-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4987037 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1295388232-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4987037 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1295388232-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> On Jan. 8, 2021, the suspended Twitter account of Donald Trump appeared on a laptop screen. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Trump&#8217;s Deplatforming<\/h2>\n<p>Trump was especially effective on Twitter. His soundbites were honed over decades in dealing with New York press. They earned Trump some 90,000,000 followers. Trump\u2019s Twitter presidency, however, brewed scorn in the beltway, especially among the foreign policy crowd that was used to diplomatic subtlety.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter\u2019s removal of Trump a few days after the Jan. 6, 2021, protest and riot at the U.S. Capitol appears to be one of those instances where Twitter executives acted on their own, breaking the platform\u2019s content policies in suppressing the voice of a sitting American president, internal documents indicate.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter suspended Trump\u2019s account on Jan. 8, 2021, after the president made two posts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!\u201d said one of Trump\u2019s tweets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,\u201d Read the other.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter moderators and supervisors agreed that the Tweets didn\u2019t violate any rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019d have a hard time saying this is incitement,\u201d One staffer wrote it. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear he\u2019s saying the \u2018American Patriots\u2019 are the ones who voted for him and not the terrorists (we can call them that, right?) from Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Higher executives, under pressure from their many anti-Trump employees, wouldn\u2019t accept that conclusion and continued to push for construing Trump\u2019s comments as malicious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest question is whether a tweet line the one this morning from Trump, which isn\u2019t a rule violation on its face, is being used as coded incitement to further violence,\u201d Vijaya Gadde, Twitter\u2019s Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bariweiss\/status\/1602372771052367872\">argued<\/a> In an internal message<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987052\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1227630853-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4987052 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1227630853-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4987052 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1227630853-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Donald Trump speaks in Oval Office, before signing an executive act regulating social media in Washington on May 28, 2020. (Doug Mills-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Another Twitter moderation team quickly furnished Gadde\u2019s argument with a narrative. Trump was a \u201cleader of a violent extremist group who is glorifying the group and its recent actions,\u201d According to internal messages, the team reached a conclusion.<\/p>\n<h2>Memo on Undermining Nunes<\/h2>\n<p>Devin Nunes (R.-Calif.), submitted his memo detailing FBI surveillance violations in pursuit of the Trump Russia investigation. As confirmed later by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the memo was accurate on almost all points of substance.<\/p>\n<p>The corporate media dismissed the memo and referred to it as &#8220;a joke&#8221;. \u201cjoke,\u201d But it gained significant attention on social media. The memo was then claimed by several legislators and legacy media that it was promoted online by accounts connected to Russian influence operations.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter did not find any evidence of Russian influence on the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3772753\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/04\/12\/GettyImages-1183773057-1200x820.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-3772753\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1183773057-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3772753\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1183773057-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Rep. Devin Nunes (Republican from California) speaks at a hearing held on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 21, 2019. (Andrew Harrer\/Pool\/AFP via Getty Images).<\/figure>\n<p>All claims were sourced to Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), an organization that was established in 2017 under the German Marshall Fund. It is a think tank funded and supported by the American, German and Swedish governments.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. national security and foreign policy establishments are closely connected to the ASD. Laura Rosenberger, an ex-Clinton campaign advisor who served in various positions at the State Department as well as the National Security Council, was the head of the ASD at the time. Its Advisory Council comprises John Podesta, former Clinton campaign chairman, Michael Morell, former CIA chief, and Mike Chertoff, former head of the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter officials were unsure how the ASD reached its conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe investigated, found that engagement was overwhelmingly organic and driven by strong VIT [Very Important Tweeters] engagement (including Wikileaks, [Donald Trump, Jr., Rep. Steve King, and others),\u201d Trust and Safety head Roth <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1613589080096350208\/photo\/1\">wrote<\/a> in an internal message.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the \u201cdashboard\u201d ASD used to make its claims had already been reverse-engineered by Twitter\u2014a fact Roth didn\u2019t want to disclose to the media.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter tried debunking the story behind the scenes without giving out such details, but to no avail. Initially, reporters ran with the story without even reaching out to Twitter, Roth wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The initial letter on the matter from Schiff and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee at the time, also came out before giving Twitter a chance to respond, internal messages say.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter tried to stop Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) from piling on with his own letter, but again failed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlumenthal isn\u2019t always looking for real and nuanced solutions. He wants to get credit for pushing us further. And he may move on only when the press moves on,\u201d commented Carlos Monje, Twitter\u2019s then-Public Policy director, in an internal message. Formerly a Department of Transportation official, Monje returned to the department under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, Twitter never publicly challenged the Russia narrative.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987066\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1445610650-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4987066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1445610650-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4987066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1445610650-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Nov. 29, 2022. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Aiding Pentagon Psyops<\/h2>\n<p>In 2017, a Pentagon official asked Twitter to \u201cwhitelist\u201d several accounts the Defense Department was using to spread its message in the Middle East. Twitter obliged, giving the accounts similar privileges it was reserving for verified accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Later, however, the Pentagon removed any apparent connections between the accounts and the U.S. government, making them de facto surreptitious. Even though the accounts should have been removed under Twitter\u2019s inauthentic activity policy, the company left them up for several years, independent journalist Fang reported.<\/p>\n<h2>Federal \u2018Belly button\u2019 of Investigation<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI served as a conduit for other government agencies to pass information to Twitter and ask for favors, according to Taibbi.<\/p>\n<p>In one exchange, FBI cyber head Chan explained that the bureau would funnel to Twitter communications from the U.S. intelligence community (USIC), but other election-related communications would come from the DHS\u2019s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can give you everything we\u2019re seeing from the FBI and USIC agencies,\u201d Chan said. \u201cCISA will know what\u2019s going on in each state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He then asked if Twitter would like to communicate with CISA separately or if it would prefer to \u201crely on the FBI to be the belly button of the [U.S. government].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Twitter executives were shocked to discover that agents from the FBI were specifically trained to search Twitter and flag content policy violations.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter has hired at least 15 ex-FBI agents since 2017, furthering the agency&#8217;s integration with the platform. It is so common that there was even an internal discussion group at Twitter for ex-folk agents.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1606701401299914753\/photo\/1\">responded<\/a> Twitter files disclosures within a statement that labels the reporting \u201cmisinformation\u201d Spread by \u201cconspiracy theorists and others \u2026 with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Department of Homeland Censorship<\/h2>\n<p>DHS has managed, in order to protect critical infrastructure, to include speech policing. Just before leaving the White House in January 2017, President Barack Obama declared elections to be critical infrastructure. The DHS\u2019s CISA then made it its job not only to protect elections from hackers, but also from misinformation and disinformation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987217\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/GettyImages-1157263243-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4987217\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1157263243-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4987217\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1157263243-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> The US Department of Homeland Security building, Washington, July 22, 2019. (ALASTAIR PIKE\/AFP via Getty Images).<\/figure>\n<p>CISA formed a partnership with several private research organizations in July 2020 to study and counter electoral threats. They called themselves the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and included the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington\u2019s Center for an Informed Public, the Atlantic Council\u2019s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and Graphika, a social media analytics firm.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlantic Council is a NATO thinktank. It maintains close relationships with the government, in particular the intelligence and foreign policy community. Its 200-member board includes seven ex-CIA heads as well as a variety of high-ranking national security officials.<\/p>\n<p>In practice, EIP searched social media looking for information that could be used to threaten elections. \u201cmisleading\u201d way. This content will be sent to social media companies to be removed or suppressed.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Stamos, EIP leader, said that the group was established to \u201cfill the gap\u201d in countering election disinformation that the government wasn\u2019t authorized to address.<\/p>\n<p>The government isn\u2019t allowed to interfere with the lawful speech of Americans, which is protected under the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>The EIP claimed credit in its final report following the 2020 election for helping to remove or suppress 22 million pieces online content, and many other entire websites. \u201cnarratives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In general, the EIP participants were also involved in suppression of information about COVID-19 elections and 2022.<\/p>\n<p>CISA tried to distance itself from the EIP\u2019s censorship role, saying it never sent the EIP any examples of potential misinformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCISA does not censor speech, period. CISA\u2019s mission is to build resilience to disinformation and foreign malign influence activities that threaten critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure,\u201d The Epoch Times was contacted by a spokesperson from CISA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe work in a non-partisan manner with state and local election officials to equip the American public with accurate information about the conduct and security of their elections. Online content platform operators, as always, make their own decisions regarding the content on their platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A CISA official told The Epoch Times that the agency doesn\u2019t send content removal requests to social media.<\/p>\n<p>This assertion seems to conflict with other publicly accessible information.<\/p>\n<p>Local election officials are encouraged to report on the DHS-funded Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center. \u201cmisinformation\u201d Oder \u201cdisinformation\u201d EI-ISAC. CISA will then receive the information. \u201cwill submit it to the relevant social media platform(s) for review,\u201d An <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1603857725611450369\">online EI-ISAC document<\/a> says.<\/p>\n<p>The official explained that CISA was sending information identified by state election officials as possible election security-related disinformation, to social media platforms, in the 2018 and 2020 elections cycles. However, not in the 2022 election cycle.<\/p>\n<h2>A Shift In Priorities<\/h2>\n<p>Mike Benz, a former State Department employee, managed the Cyber Portfolio in Trump&#8217;s administration. He traced the government\/private censorship apparatus back to the foreign policy regime-change infrastructure.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4987168\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/01\/15\/Screen-Shot-2023-01-15-at-5.42.47-PM-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4987168\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen-Shot-2023-01-15-at-5.42.47-PM-2-600x399-1.png\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4987168\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen-Shot-2023-01-15-at-5.42.47-PM-2-600x399-1.png\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Mike Benz during an interview on EpochTV\u2019s \u201cOver the Target\u201d. (The Epoch Times).<\/figure>\n<p>The establishment saw the growth of social networks in the 2000s as a positive thing, since it was invaluable in helping to accelerate insurgencies. The United States has a long history supporting local opposition to rogue regimes or dictators. Social media enabled such groups to organize mass protests quickly, as was demonstrated by the Arab Spring, Benz argued.<\/p>\n<p>This is why the U.S. foreign-policy establishment supports free expression online.<\/p>\n<p>The establishment lost faith in free speech after the 2016 Brexit and Trump election upsets. Both events were seen as undermining NATO and both were blamed on foreign influence on social media\u2014specifically Russia. Particularly the U.S. and UK governments saw the need for identifying and eliminating Russian influence operations online, and created a government-private apparatus.<\/p>\n<p>Benz observed that even though the Trump-Russia investigation proved to be a dud the establishment crowd had no choice but to recognize that the populist message was primarily driven by domestic forces.<\/p>\n<p>The apparatus that was originally created to combat foreign influence seems to have shifted its focus to domestic speech.<\/p>\n<p>Because the Constitution prohibits government interference in American political speech, however, the government cannot directly target lawful domestic speech.<br \/>Benz argued that despite these obstacles, the government still found indirect ways to support domestic censorship.<\/p>\n<p>Benz identified one method: Grants to academic institutions for research on misinformation and development of countermeasures.<\/p>\n<p>The National Science Foundation is a federal agency that finances non-medical research. It has provided nearly $40 million in funding to 42 U.S. universities. \u201cdisinformation\u201d Oder \u201cmisinformation\u201d Benz was discovered by the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>A $3 million grant went to two members of the EIP, the University of Washington\u2019s Center for an Informed Public, and the Stanford Internet Observatory.<\/p>\n<p>George Washington University was awarded a grant of $300,000. This was specifically for the purpose of countering the crisis. \u201cpopulist\u201d The messaging of politicians in the United States, and many other countries.<\/p>\n<p>Benz was so upset by the encroaching censorship, he started a Foundation for Freedom Online group (FFO), dedicated to restoring freedoms of expression on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>It is possible that the censorship machinery was exposed to the public.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration was forced last year to put on hold the DHS\u2019s planned Disinformation Governance Board. Nina Jankowicz has resigned as its newly-nominated head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now, the main source of support I ask is be passionate zealots for this,\u201d Benz said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/the-worlds-most-powerful-spy-agency-is-targeting-you_4941802.html\">during his interview<\/a> on EpochTV\u2019s \u201cOver the Target\u201d Lee Smith with you in December<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell your parents, tell your wife and the kids at the dinner table, tell your friends. If you\u2019re taking rests in between ping pong games, play these Youtube videos for people. All of this starts at the guerilla level,\u201d He stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis stuff speaks for itself. It will be a cult classic just by virtue of the fact that it exists now. Because once you see this, I\u2019ll guarantee you, you will see this everywhere. This stuff is like a secret decoder ring that will help you slice through the daily news items you see in the censorship space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the Twitter files are used as the \u201cone hole \u2026 that is breaking this Titanic ship of censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-petr-svab\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/15f57d553829f93e_ttl7dayFDN_WEB_PetrSvab_v2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Petr Svab\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>Petr is a New York reporter. He covered topics such as politics and economics, education, law enforcement, and other national issues.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Files show how the government forced the social media giant to censor a large number accounts Documents leaked by Twitter\u2019s new owner, tech billionaire Elon MuskThe social media company is intertwined in a government\/private partnership. censorship apparatus. Twitter took down or removed content about various topics, including irregularities during the 2020 elections and mail-in voting &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1808192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[5458,5665,15252,7233,3819,7523,4253],"class_list":["post-1808189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-bongino","tag-files","tag-infographic","tag-key","tag-report","tag-revelations","tag-twitter"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1808192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}