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The Twitter Files Thread, In A Way More Readable Format

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The Twitter Files Thread, In A Way More Readable Format

we fixed the difficult-to-read text screenshots and embedded all the tweets in order—read it from start to finish here

Brandon Gorrell
Dec 3, 2022
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The Twitter Files Thread, In A Way More Readable Format

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Tonight, Matt Taibbi broke a potentially huge political corruption story by publishing a detailed account of the censoring of the NY Post’s Hunter Biden laptop article. But he didn’t place it at the New York Times, Washington Post, or any other media outlet. He tweeted it.

If you’ve been following the story, this isn’t that surprising: Elon’s made it clear he wants Twitter to become the “most accurate source of information in the world.” And, true to his word, he broke a big story on the platform today.

Twitter avatar for @morganisawizard
MJ @morganisawizard
*me refreshing @mtaibbi’s feed every 5 seconds* my finger:
Image
12:28 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
578Likes18Retweets

We’re all for that mission. But tonight, the experience of reading Taibbi’s scoop was suboptimal and headache-y. It seemed to take forever for him to update the thread with the next tweet, and on mobile, you had to open the horizontally-aligned text screenshots, zoom in, then scroll back and forth to read the content.

Here’s the thread in its entirety, with its text screenshots enlarged (we ran them through an image-to-text translator, copied the text into a vertically-aligned Notes window, and screenshotted them) so that it’s easier to read. Enjoy.

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
1. Thread: THE TWITTER FILES
11:34 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
122,810Likes44,523Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
2. What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter.
11:39 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
51,108Likes7,977Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
3. The “Twitter Files” tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer.
11:41 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
48,844Likes7,390Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
4. Twitter in its conception was a brilliant tool for enabling instant mass communication, making a true real-time global conversation possible for the first time.
11:43 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
41,270Likes5,808Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
5. In an early conception, Twitter more than lived up to its mission statement, giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”
11:45 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
40,131Likes5,676Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
6. As time progressed, however, the company was slowly forced to add those barriers. Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters.
11:46 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
42,451Likes6,125Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
7. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly.
11:47 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
49,559Likes8,347Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.”
Image
11:52 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
66,459Likes19,148Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
9. Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party:
Image
11:56 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
52,935Likes12,432Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
10.Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However:
11:58 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2022
41,990Likes7,497Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
11. This system wasn't balanced. It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right. opensecrets.org/orgs/twitter/s…
Image
12:02 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
51,597Likes12,492Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
12. The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives.
12:04 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
42,511Likes7,229Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
Okay, there was more throat-clearing about the process, but screw it, let's jump forward
12:05 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
36,997Likes4,659Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
16. The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story
12:06 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
42,504Likes9,277Retweets

[Don’t worry, he did go from 12. to 16. here — we didn’t miss any of the thread]

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
17. On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop:
nypost.comSmoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dadHunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine in…
12:07 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
45,390Likes11,836Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
18. Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be “unsafe.” They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography.
12:08 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
49,213Likes12,272Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
19. White House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account for tweeting about the story, prompting a furious letter from Trump campaign staffer Mike Hahn, who seethed: “At least pretend to care for the next 20 days.”
Image
12:09 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
52,747Likes12,327Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
20.This led public policy executive Caroline Strom to send out a polite WTF query. Several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams, who had little/less control over moderation, and the safety/trust teams:
Image
12:12 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
35,074Likes6,624Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
21. Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy: https://t.co/EdTa2xbXn1
Image
12:13 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
36,186Likes7,366Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
22. Although several sources recalled hearing about a “general” warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there’s no evidence - that I've seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story. In fact, that might have been the problem...
12:18 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
36,299Likes6,523Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
23. The decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role.
12:19 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
42,139Likes9,042Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
24. “They just freelanced it,” is how one former employee characterized the decision. “Hacking was the excuse, but within a few hours, pretty much everyone realized that wasn’t going to hold. But no one had the guts to reverse it.”
12:19 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
41,122Likes8,278Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
25.You can see the confusion in the following lengthy exchange, which ends up including Gadde and former Trust and safety chief Yoel Roth. Comms official Trenton Kennedy writes, “I'm struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe”:
Image
12:21 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
37,983Likes8,377Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
26. By this point “everyone knew this was fucked,” said one former employee, but the response was essentially to err on the side of… continuing to err.
Image
12:24 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
36,354Likes8,078Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
27. Former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman asks, “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?”
Image
12:26 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
33,386Likes6,490Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”:
Image
12:28 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
31,623Likes6,304Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
29. A fundamental problem with tech companies and content moderation: many people in charge of speech know/care little about speech, and have to be told the basics by outsiders. To wit:
12:30 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
33,798Likes6,003Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
30. In one humorous exchange on day 1, Democratic congressman Ro Khanna reaches out to Gadde to gently suggest she hop on the phone to talk about the “backlash re speech.” Khanna was the only Democratic official I could find in the files who expressed concern.
Image
12:31 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
31,595Likes6,293Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
Gadde replies quickly, immediately diving into the weeds of Twitter policy, unaware Khanna is more worried about the Bill of Rights:
Image
12:32 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
30,195Likes6,102Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
32.Khanna tries to reroute the conversation to the First Amendment, mention of which is generally hard to find in the files:
Image
12:34 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
36,048Likes7,829Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
33.Within a day, head of Public Policy Lauren Culbertson receives a ghastly letter/report from Carl Szabo of the research firm NetChoice, which had already polled 12 members of congress – 9 Rs and 3 Democrats, from “the House Judiciary Committee to Rep. Judy Chu’s office.”
Image
12:38 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
28,848Likes5,726Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
34.NetChoice lets Twitter know a “blood bath” awaits in upcoming Hill hearings, with members saying it's a "tipping point," complaining tech has “grown so big that they can’t even regulate themselves, so government may need to intervene.”
Image
12:42 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
26,924Likes5,517Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
35.Szabo reports to Twitter that some Hill figures are characterizing the laptop story as “tech’s Access Hollywood moment”:
Image
12:43 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
27,279Likes5,482Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
36.Twitter files continued: "THE FIRST AMENDMENT ISN’T ABSOLUTE” Szabo’s letter contains chilling passages relaying Democratic lawmakers’ attitudes. They want “more” moderation, and as for the Bill of Rights, it's "not absolute"
Image
12:45 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
41,417Likes13,198Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
An amazing subplot of the Twitter/Hunter Biden laptop affair was how much was done without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, and how long it took for the situation to get "unfucked" (as one ex-employee put it) even after Dorsey jumped in.
12:55 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
34,960Likes7,040Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
There are multiple instances in the files of Dorsey intervening to question suspensions and other moderation actions, for accounts across the political spectrum
1:10 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
27,250Likes4,629Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
The problem with the "hacked materials" ruling, several sources said, was that this normally required an official/law enforcement finding of a hack. But such a finding never appears throughout what one executive describes as a "whirlwind" 24-hour, company-wide mess.
Image
1:30 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
19,309Likes4,377Retweets

Screenshot text:

Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
It's been a whirlwind 96 hours for me, too. There is much more to come, including answers to questions about issues like shadow-banning, boosting, follower counts, the fate of various individual accounts, and more. These issues are not limited to the political right.
1:35 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
31,171Likes5,429Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mtaibbi
Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi
Good night, everyone. Thanks to all those who picked up the phone in the last few days.
1:37 AM ∙ Dec 3, 2022
35,439Likes2,634Retweets


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The Twitter Files Thread, In A Way More Readable Format

www.piratewires.com
9 Comments
Bobby Lee
Writes The Nature of your Reality
Dec 3, 2022Liked by Brandon Gorrell, Mike Solana

elon needs to teach Taibbi how to properly make a thread lol. nicely formatted Solana

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1 reply by Mike Solana
Chris Coffman
Writes Positive Space
Dec 3, 2022Liked by Brandon Gorrell, Mike Solana

Well done--this is so much easier to read than it was on Twitter. Somebody needs to tell Matt to use my mate Louie’s ThreadX Tweeting app

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