Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey previously testified under oath before Congress that his company does not censor conservatives.
Following the second installment of The Twitter Files, which revealed the platform’s efforts to suppress prominent conservatives, a rerun of Dorsey’s testimony to a congressional committee in September 2018 questioned whether Twitter “censors” its users. ‘qmi, clearly asked.
“I’m going to read a few quotes about Twitter’s practices and I want you to tell me whether they’re true or false,” said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Penn. “Social media is being rigged to censor conservatives. Is this true of Twitter?”
“No,” Dorsey replied.
“Are you censoring people?” Doyle asked later.
“No,” answered Dorsey.
“Prominent Republicans banning Twitter’s shadow … is that right?” Doyle followed.
“No,” said Dorsey.
ELON MUSK’S SECOND ‘TWITTER FILES’ BREAKDOWN Reveals ‘Secret Blacklists’, BARRY WEISS REPORTS
At the same hearing, then-Rep. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, took umbrage at Dorsey’s past claim that Democratic politicians were also affected by the shadow ban. Asked if he could identify which Democrats were affected, Dorsey declined to do so, claiming it was “to protect their privacy.”
“Can you personally confirm that when you did an auto search, it was an accurate statement that there were Democratic politicians who didn’t show up?” Barton asked.
“Yes,” said Dorsey.
JIM BAKER, TWITTER ATTORNEY INVOLVED IN RUSSIAGATE AND FORMER FBI OFFICIAL WAS A CNN ANALYST.
When pressed on what percentage of the accounts affected Democrats and Republicans, Dorsey declined to give specifics, but told Barton the results were “not biased.”
“Do you discriminate against more philosophies, such as anti-conservative and pro-liberal?” Barton asked.
“No, our policies and algorithms do not take into account any affiliations, philosophies or viewpoints,” Dorsey replied.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. In a separate exchange with Dorsey, Dorsey noted that the algorithm that led to the shadow ban of several Republican lawmakers “was not written with that intent.”
Jack Dorsey, the creator, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, previously swore to lawmakers that Twitter would not censor or ban conservatives. (Photo by Joe Raedl/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Raedl/Getty Images)
Dorsey’s instructions seem to directly contradict a report by Free Press editor Barry Weiss that current Twitter owner Elon Musk used to access the “Twitter Files.”
“A new #TwitterFiles investigation revealed that teams of Twitter employees create blacklists, prevent inappropriate tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics — all secretly, without notifying users,” Weiss began his thread on Thursday.
He pointed to Stanford University’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharyya, who has opposed the long-standing thinking of the COVID group during the pandemic and expressed his opposition to lockdowns.
“Twitter secretly put him on the Trending Blacklist, which prevented his tweets from trending,” Weiss said.
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He reports that Fox News host Dan Bongino is on the Search Blacklist, while Twitter has Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk on Do Not Amplify.
According to Weiss, the term “shadow-banning,” which describes the covert suppression of the presence of Twitter users, was referred to by Twitter executives and employees as “Visibility Filtering,” or “VF.”
“”Think of visibility filtering as a way for us to suppress what people see to varying degrees. It’s a very powerful tool,” one senior Twitter executive told us in a Weiss tweet. “”VF” refers to Twitter’s control over user visibility. It is used to block individual user searches from VF; to limit the scope of a particular tweet’s detection; to block selected users’ posts from ever appearing on the “trending” page. used; and being included in hashtag searches. All without users’ knowledge.”
Bari Weiss, editor of The Free Press and host of the “Honest” podcast, shared a second installment, titled “The Twitter Files,” revealing the company’s past practices of censoring conservatives.
(REUTERS/Mike Blake)
An independent journalist also reported that TikTok Libs has faced increased scrutiny from a specific group known as Site Integrity Policy, Policy Enhancement Support (SIP-PES). The popular account was placed on the “Trends Blacklist” marked “Do not take action against the user without consulting SIP-PES”.
“Chaya Raichick’s account, which started in November 2020 and now has more than 1.4 million followers, has been blocked six times in 2022 alone, says Raychick. Each time, Raychick was blocked from posting for more than a week. Twitter retaliated to Raichick. reported again. He said he was suspended for violating Twitter’s policy against “hateful conduct.” But in an internal SIP-PES memo dated October 2022, after the seventh suspension, the committee noted that “LTT directly violates the hateful conduct policy. “admitted” that he did not participate in the conduct, Weiss said.
The first installment of the “Twitter Files” shared Friday by Substack writer Matt Taibbi offered insight into what led to Twitter’s suppression. Hunter Biden laptop story in the 2020 presidential elections. At the time, Twitter claimed it was enforcing its “compromised material” policy, which prohibits the sharing of digitally stolen material on the platform despite any evidence that the laptop was compromised.
Taibbi reported that the decision to censor the Hunter Biden scandal was made at the highest levels at Twitter, but its then-CEO Jack Dorsey was not aware.
“They just did it on their own,” a former employee described the decision. But no one dared to change it. “, Taibbi wrote.
Journalist Matt Taibbi leaked the “Twitter Files” at the same time on Friday.
(Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage/Getty Images)
Taibbi then shared a screenshot of the exchange between Gadde, Roth, and former Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy, who wrote: “I’m struggling to understand the policy basis for labeling this dangerous…”
“… can we truthfully claim that this is part of politics?” According to a separate screenshot shared by Taibbi, Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s former VP of Global Communications, made the same request.
Jim Baker, Twitter’s former deputy general counsel, responded: “I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked, but “they may have been, “We should be reasonable and cautious in our assumption,” he added.
Former Twitter Deputy General Counsel and former FBI General Counsel Jim Baker
(Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)
It was later revealed that Baker had checked the first batch of “Twitter files” without Musk’s knowledge, which led to Baker’s quick termination. It’s unclear whether Baker’s involvement in the investigation of the “Twitter Files” led Taibbi to reach this conclusion, or whether Baker missed files that showed the federal government’s involvement in suppressing Twitter’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
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Taibbi originally reported: “Although several sources recalled hearing over the summer about a ‘general’ warning from federal law enforcement about possible foreign hacking, I have seen – about government involvement in the laptop incident there is no evidence.”
Billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over Twitter in late October and promptly fired several top executives.
(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via CARINA JOHANSEN/NTB/AFP Getty Images (photo image))
Musk has talked about being transparent Twitter’s past and present actions This is demanding when it comes to selecting content on the platform, including censored content.
Twitter has blocked its users from sharing the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in tweets and direct messages.
At the time, Twitter Safety claimed the articles violated its “infringing content policy.” Twitter’s CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey, admitted his company’s actions were a mistake.
Many critics believe that the suppression of the Hunter Biden scandal by Big Tech and the media in general was enough to tip the election in his father’s favor.