THE TWITTER FILES: Clandestine Government Agency Edition

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Journalist Matt Taibbi has decided to grace us with a Christmas Eve edition of THE TWITTER FILES - which he says details "Twitter's relationship to other government agencies - including some that don't like to see their name in print much."

YES - Twitter was working with the CIA to censor American's free speech and spread government propaganda. An excellent read and summary here:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...agency-edition
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4.The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.

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.

7.A chief end result was that thousands of official “reports” flowed to Twitter from all over, through the FITF and the FBI’s San Francisco field office.

8.On June 29th, 2020, San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan wrote to pair of Twitter execs asking if he could invite an “OGA” to an upcoming conference:

9.OGA, or “Other Government Organization,” can be a euphemism for CIA, according to multiple former intelligence officials and contractors. Chuckles one: “They think it's mysterious, but it's just conspicuous."

10.“Other Government Agency (the place where I worked for 27 years),” says retired CIA officer Ray McGovern.

11. 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.”

15.“I invited the FBI and the CIA virtually will attend too,” Cardille says to Baker, adding pointedly: “No need for you to attend.”

16.The government was in constant contact not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm.

17. These included Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others. Industry players also held regular meetings without government.
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23. Email after email came from the San Francisco office heading into the election, often adorned with an Excel attachment:

24. There were so many government requests, Twitter employees had to improvise a system for prioritizing/triaging them:

25. The FBI was clearly tailoring searches to Twitter’s policies. FBI complaints were almost always depicted somewhere as a “possible terms of service violation," even in the subject line:

26. Twitter executives noticed the FBI appeared to be aasigning personnel to look for Twitter violations.

27.“They have some folks in the Baltimore field office and at HQ that are just doing keyword searches for violations. This is probably the 10th request I have dealt with in the last 5 days,” remarked Cardille.



28. Even ex-FBI lawyer Jim Baker agreed: “Odd that they are searching for violations of our policies.”

29.The New York FBI office even sent requests for the “user IDs and handles” of a long list of accounts named in a Daily Beast article. Senior executives say they are “supportive” and “completely comfortable” doing so.
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33. The #TwitterFiles show execs under constant pressure to validate theories of foreign influence – and unable to find evidence for key assertions.'

34. “Found no links to Russia,” says one analyst, but suggests he could “brainstorm” to “find a stronger connection.”
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42. “Other Government Agencies” ended up sharing intelligence through the FBI and FITF not just with Twitter, but with Yahoo!, Twitch, Clouldfare, LinkedIn, even Wikimedia:

43. Former CIA agent and whistleblower John Kiriakou believes he recognizes the formatting of these reports.

44.“Looks right on to me,” Kiriakou says, noting that “what was cut off above [the “tearline”] was the originating CIA office and all the copied offices.”

45. Many people wonder if Internet platforms receive direction from intelligence agencies about moderation of foreign policy news stories. It appears Twitter did, in some cases by way of the FITF/FBI.

55. The line between “misinformation” and “distorting propaganda” is thin. Are we comfortable with so many companies receiving so many reports from a “more aggressive” government?
eyecu2's Avatar
Wow,5 posts about the same thing.
I'll take "Tell me you're desperately trying to be relevant & make people think you know about something, without saying it directly" for 400 Alex
So strange.
berryberry's Avatar
We have the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ and now the White House directly pressuring Twitter execs to censor Americans’ speech.

And we see how leftists react. They can't handle the truth. They are willing bending over for the government to take away the basic right to free speech

It is pathetic and sad but this sadly is how people on the left think and act
eyecu2's Avatar
Pathetic people on the left??? Where are the mods when we're being targeted with mean words by ppl on the board??!!!

I mean I'd reply to the absurd assumptions that have been cast by a member on this board, but the free speech for casting dispersions is only for one member here.

Meanwhile in MAGA land, land of the undereducated & the home of conspiracies theories- paranoia still reigns supreme....or it's true that everyone IS just out to get them!!
chizzy's Avatar
Pathetic people on the left??? Where are the mods when we're being targeted with mean words by ppl on the board??!!!

I mean I'd reply to the absurd assumptions that have been cast by a member on this board, but the free speech for casting dispersions is only for one member here.

Meanwhile in MAGA land, land of the undereducated & the home of conspiracies theories- paranoia still reigns supreme....or it's true that everyone IS just out to get them!! Originally Posted by eyecu2
Mean words? Wow eye lol
chizzy's Avatar
Pathetic people on the left??? Where are the mods when we're being targeted with mean words by ppl on the board??!!!

I mean I'd reply to the absurd assumptions that have been cast by a member on this board, but the free speech for casting dispersions is only for one member here.

Meanwhile in MAGA land, land of the undereducated & the home of conspiracies theories- paranoia still reigns supreme....or it's true that everyone IS just out to get them!! Originally Posted by eyecu2
mean words, like saying maga supporters are uneducated or undereducated? gee- those mean words hurt my feelings not to mention they are very much false and bullshit. should I report your mean words? lol come on eye dont lower urself to that kind of complaining
berryberry's Avatar
How can any real American support this:



So we have the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ and Senile Biden's White House directly pressuring Twitter execs to censor Americans’ speech. A pure violation of the first amendment. How can anyone support this?

Censorship is not American and what Senile Biden, the FBI, CIA, DOJ, etc. did is dangerous & wrong. If you’re think otherwise, imagine your least favorite politician with this same power.
eyecu2's Avatar
mean words, like saying maga supporters are uneducated or undereducated? gee- those mean words hurt my feelings not to mention they are very much false and bullshit. should I report your mean words? lol come on eye dont lower urself to that kind of complaining Originally Posted by chizzy
You know it was sarcasm Chizzy-

My feelings are not hurt, not will I go into why I said it, because if you read into the post it's obvious. There is some folks with very thin skin here however.
berryberry's Avatar
Again, censorship is not American and what Senile Biden, the FBI, CIA, DOJ, etc. did is dangerous & wrong and a violation of the first amendment

Elon Musk - Most people don’t appreciate the significance of the point Matt was making:

*Every* social media company is engaged in heavy censorship, with significant involvement of and, at times, explicit direction of the government.

Google frequently makes links disappear, for example.


berryberry's Avatar
1. Google currently employs at least 165 people, in high-ranking positions, from the Intelligence Community.

Google’s Trust & Safety team is managed by 3 ex-CIA agents, who control “misinfo & hate speech.”

Here’s the breakdown:
CIA-27
FBI-52
NSA-30
DHS-50
ODNI-6

2. Since the 2016 Presidential election, Google/Facebook/Twitter have hired at least 300+ people formerly employed by CIA, FBI, etc

Ex-CIA agents are Heads of Trust & Safety at Google & Facebook. Is it OK that ex-CIA agents control what “misinfo” is?