The Twitter Files: All the key takeaways from Thread 1
Twitter threads are becoming a treat to the U.S. government. If you just arrived at the so-called Twitter Files conversation we highly recommend you to visit journalist Matt Tabbi’s twitter. Through very well explained twitter threads Tabbi exposes the information behind these files and its relevance. Like Tabbi there are other great communicators doing the same thing.
What we’re about to analyze is the first thread, which is a general explanation about these files. In Tabbi’s words: “What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter.” As we mentioned, this has to do with a series of files that contained confidential information regarding Twitter’s interaction with the U.S. government and the FBI.
The Twitter Files tell a shocking story about the inside of one of the world’s largest and most powerful social networks. Twitter allowed a quick and precise communication that in the early 2000 definitely represented a whole new universe. Almost twenty years later we can talk about a multiverse that is fascinating & scary! Tabbi describes these files as a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism.
The Twitter Files
As we mentioned before, Twitter threads are the best way to get this information clear. Yet there are several threads with many political terms that can make it difficult, we find Matt Tabbi to be one of the clearest ones, besides, he was directly involved. On December 2nd, 2022, Taibbi started tweeting screenshots of emails from twitter executives regarding content moderation in 2020.
These documented discussions ended in a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop case, which we’ll discuss later. Hunter Biden’s case is one of the most important news regarding the Twitter Files, yet in general they have to do with the network’s political management. Twitter is clearly one of the networks that can provide a literal political posture.
Over time, Twitter staff & executives start finding and exploiting tools to hide and highlight information according to its political content. Petitions to manipulate information start growing exponentially, by 2020, requests from celebrities asking to delete tweets were part of the routine. Now imagine this manipulation with topics like U.S. elections and the Covid-19 pandemic. Let’s talk about Biden’s computer.
Hunter Biden’s laptop
The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story. Each twitter file has to do with different particular topics such as Covid-19 information and FBI particular requests to the platform. The very first file has to do with the President’s son who has always been a controversial figure. One of Biden’s greatest controversies has to do with Ukranian & Chinese companies.
On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published the polemic article about Biden’s secret emails. Which was basically an expose of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop that contained important emails. Yet, this couldn’t interfere with Joe Biden’s future presidential campaign, which is why Twitter suppressed the story and removed links & posting warnings. They even blocked its transmission via direct message.
Even white House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account. This happened after she tweeted about the story, causing Trump campaign staffer Mike Hahna to write a furious letter “At least pretend to care for the next 20 days.” This situation made public policy executive Caroline Strom send out a polite “WTF query” in Tabbi’s words.
Strom’s note noted that the laptop story was removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy. The truth is Twitter used moderation tools with this story that are only used in extreme cases of contents that involve child pornography or violence. There was never a company policy, but a presidential campaign in trouble.
