The latest and the ninth instalment of the ‘Twitter Files’ has uncovered a web of coordination between the tech giant and US government agencies. Releasing the latest instalment on Christmas eve, Substack writer Matt Taibbi claims that it goes beyond the FBI which was acting as the “doorman to a vast programme of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.”
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Posting part of a screenshot of an email, Taibbi alleges that “Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track.”
6.Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track. Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying. pic.twitter.com/C8d8jntnC0
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022
In the long series of tweets, he further claims that one of Twitter’s executives is ex-CIA.
“It was an open secret at Twitter that one of its executives was ex-CIA, which is why Chan referred to that executive’s ‘former employer'”. He also shared another screenshot as evidence in which, there is a clear mention of this.
“The first Twitter executive abandoned any pretense to stealth and emailed that the employee “used to work for the CIA, so that is Elvis’s question”.
12.The first Twitter executive abandoned any pretense to stealth and emailed that the employee “used to work for the CIA, so that is Elvis’s question.” pic.twitter.com/5kL8xNRZcO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022
The US government was in contact “not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm”. This includes Facebook, Microsoft, Verison, Reddit, Pinterest and “many others”.
As per the revelations, around the 2020 elections, the government had “overwhelmed” Twitter with lists of hundreds of “problem accounts” that were to be taken down for misleading information.
Apparently, most of these accounts were domestic, Taibbi remarks that “It seemed to strike no one as strange that a “Foreign Influence” task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material”.
One of the most common forums was a regular meeting of the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), attended by spates of executives, FBI personnel, and – nearly always – one or two attendees marked “OGA”, mentions Matt on his twitter handle.
30. It seemed to strike no one as strange that a “Foreign Influence” task force was forwarding thousands of mostly domestic reports, along with the DHS, about the fringiest material: pic.twitter.com/YlOQQeUbkw
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022
The previous instalments of the so-called Twitter files too have made similar surprising revelations including that tweets by former US President Donald Trump in the run-up to January 6 Capital riots did not violate the company’s policies.
(With inputs from agencies)
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