The most recent âTwitter Filesâ release, handled by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, revealed the extent to which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) routinely asked Twitter to take Censorship actions against certain Twitter accounts, mostly citing concerns of election-related misinformation.
In the latest revelations, Taibbi suggested that the contact between Twitter and the FBI was so regular that it seemed as if Twitter had become a âsubsidiaryâ of the government law enforcement agency.
Because of the nature of the revelations, which presumably were never meant for public consumption, conservative commentator and musician John Rich rhetorically asked how long it would take for the FBI to raid new Twitter owner Elon Muskâs home, which seemed to be a shot at the agency for the recent Mar-a-Lago raid.
âHow long before the FBI raids @elonmuskâs home?â Rich tweeted Friday.
Early Saturday morning, Musk responded to Richâs tweet, writing, âI donât have a home.â
While Musk has the resources to have a home, his âhomelessâ housing situation is now widely known. According to a USA Today report from earlier this year, he told the non-profit organization TED that he doesnât own a home and sleeps at friendsâ houses.
âIn fact, I donât even own a home right now. Iâm literally staying at friendsâ places,â he said. âIf I travel to the Bay Area, which is where most of Tesla engineering is, I basically rotate through friendsâ spare bedrooms.â
The revelations from Taibbiâs reporting generated concerns and discussions regarding the types of accounts flagged by an internal FBI unit specializing in identifying what it believed to be harmful âmisinformation,â mostly election-centered.
The government agency would routinely reach out to former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth and his team and in some cases, essentially order them to take actions against Twitter users, many of which were either satirical tweets or apparent jokes.
â4. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth,â Taibbi tweeted.
Taibbi noted that some of the emails between Twitter and the FBI were of no genuine concern but added that a âsurprisingly high numberâ were centered around imploring Twitter to take Censorship actions.
â6. But a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts,â Taibbi tweeted.
Taibbi went on to say that the relationship between the FBI and Twitter evolved into a type of âmaster-canineâ situation, as the emails he revealed showed the FBI issuing what appeared to be orders to censor specific individuals, with the expectation that it was more than a friendly a request.
ââHELLO Twitter CONTACTSâ: The master-canine quality of the FBIâs relationship to Twitter comes through in this November 2022 email, in which âFBI San Francisco is notifying youâ it wants action on four accounts:â Taibbi tweeted, attaching an example of one of those types of emails.
Many Twitter users are anxious to view the upcoming âTwitter Filesâ batch involving communications between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Twitter during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Musk has hinted that such files are coming but hasnât announced a date.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
