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Twitter Files Supplemental


Valin

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Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi

3:38 PM · Dec 6, 2022

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Replying to @mtaibbi
 
On Friday, the first installment of the Twitter files was published here. We expected to publish more over the weekend. Many wondered why there was a delay.
 
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We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.
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The process for producing the “Twitter Files” involved delivery to two journalists (Bari Weiss and me) via a lawyer close to new management. However, after the initial batch, things became complicated.
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Over the weekend, while we both dealt with obstacles to new searches, it was @BariWeiss
who discovered that the person in charge of releasing the files was someone named Jim. When she called to ask “Jim’s” last name, the answer came back: “Jim Baker.”
 

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The Daily Mail (where America Gets Its News)

Elon FIRES Twitter's general counsel James Baker for 'vetting internal files on Hunter Biden laptop scandal and DELAYING release of second tranche' - ex-FBI lawyer was James Comey's deputy and involved in Russian collusion investigation

Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:39 EST, 6 December 2022 | Updated: 17:16 EST, 6 December 2022

Chief Twit Elon Musk has fired Twitter's general counsel James A. Baker, citing his alleged involvement in the suppressing the release of internal documents regarding Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

'In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today,' Musk wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.

Musk added that Baker's explanation of the events surrounding the laptop saga were 'unconvincing.' 

Journalist Matt Taibbi, who released the first batch of internal files about the Hunter saga on Friday, claimed that Baker had been fired in part for 'vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.' 

Also on Tuesday, Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, sent Baker a letter requesting his appearance before the House Oversight Committee next year, when the GOP is set to take control of the House.  

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Just The News

Musk fires Twitter lawyer over alleged role in censoring Hunter Biden laptop story

The Tesla founder went on to assert that he had given Baker a chance to explain himself, but that "[h]is explanation was ...unconvincing."

 Ben Whedon

December 6, 2022 - 5:28pm

witter CEO Elon Musk has fired company general counsel James Baker over his possible role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story.

"In light of concerns about Baker's possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today," Musk wrote in response to a Tweet from alternative journalist Matt Taibbi that included an article on Baker's history with federal investigations.

Baker was formerly the FBI's general counsel and was one of several federal officials to push the now-discredited Steele Dossier as part of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

The Tesla founder went on to assert that he had given Baker a chance to explain himself, but that "[h]is explanation was ...unconvincing."

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Six Degrees from James Baker: A Familiar Figure Reemerges With the Release of the Twitter Files

Jonathan Turley

December 4, 2022    

As thousands of Twitter documents are released on the company’s infamous censorship program, much has been confirmed about the use of back channels by Biden and Democratic officials to silence critics on the social media platform. However, one familiar name immediately popped out in the first batch of documents released through journalist Matt Taibbi: James Baker. For many, James Baker is fast becoming the Kevin Bacon of the Russian collusion scandals.

Baker has been featured repeatedly in the Russian investigations launched by the Justice Department, including the hoax involving the Russian Alfa Bank. When Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann wanted to plant the bizarre false claim of a secret communications channel between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, Baker was his go-to, speed-dial contact. (Baker would later testify at Sussmann’s trial). Baker’s name also appeared prominently in controversies related to the other Russian-related FBI allegations against Trump. He was effectively forced out due to his role and reportedly found himself under criminal investigation. He became a defender of the Russian investigations despite findings of biased and even criminal conduct. He was also a frequent target of Donald Trump on social media, including Twitter. Baker responded with public criticism of Trump for his “false narratives.”

After leaving the FBI, Twitter seemed eager to hire Baker as deputy general counsel. Ironically, Baker soon became involved in another alleged back channel with a presidential campaign. This time it was Twitter that maintained the non-public channels with the Biden campaign (and later the White House). Baker soon weighed in with the same signature bias that characterized the Russian investigations.

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Twitter Files: Jack Dorsey urges Elon Musk after James Baker ouster, 'Just release everything without filter'
'If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves?' former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey asks

Chris Pandolfo

Dec. 7 2022

Musk has teased the release of additional "Twitter files" that purport to show how the company worked to censor certain speech, as many conservatives have long asserted. Dorsey on Wednesday suggested that Musk release all the internal documents at once, "without filter," and also explain the actions Twitter will take under its new management.   

"If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves? Including all discussions around current and future actions?" Dorsey asked. "Make everything public now." 

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Related

The FBI factor

Scott Johnson

Dec. 8 2022

I wish National Review would let Andrew McCarthy’s columns out from behind its paywall, but it is not to be. I have paid the big bucks to read Andy’s columns and found the fee worth it, but it rubs against the grain of the Internet. Surely some one or two of NR’s benefactors could spring for whatever it would take to free up Andy’s columns.

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The proclamation is itself classic disinformation: It is careful not to come out and say the Biden story is Russian disinformation . . . only that our crack national-security pros keenly discern all the “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” If you pressed them on it, Clapper, Brennan, et al., would claim they weren’t trying to deceive anyone by exploiting for partisan gain their privileged access to the nation’s intelligence secrets, no siree. They’d point you to the fine print: the proclamation’s fleeting admissions that, actually, the Gang of 51 has no idea whether the laptop data are “genuine,” and similarly lacks any hard “evidence of Russian involvement.”

But they sure got their point across, didn’t they? The social-media execs relied on this disingenuous, hyperpolitical, factually baseless proclamation to fortify themselves in the conclusion that the Biden reporting should be suppressed as hacked Russian disinformation. And Joe Biden himself pronounced, in a presidential debate watched by tens of millions of Americans, that the laptop story must be disinformation because, after all, dozens of former national-security officials — bipartisan, professional, patriotic, credible — had said so.

Here is the most galling part: They think we’re morons. They think they’re so very clever, manipulating words and putting their thumbs on the scale with the power we entrust to them. They think they’ve covered their tracks with so much deniability that we, the benighted rabble, could not hope to keep up with them.

I guess we’ll see if they’re right.

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‘Visibility Filtering:’ ‘Twitter Files’ Reveals Shadowbanning, Other Tools Used to Censor Conservatives

A new Twitter Files investigation has revealed the many tools that company executives employed to blacklist and shadowban conservative voices. The thread posted to Elon Musk’s platform reveals that the internal Twitter name for shadowbanning is “visibility filtering.”

Released by former New York Times reporter Bari Weiss in yet another lengthy Twitter thread, the revelations on Thursday showed that several mainstream conservative voices, from Charlie Kirk to Dan Bongino, were shadowbanned by the social media company under the rubrics of “Visibility Filtering” or “VF.” At one point, Twitter even placed Stanford professor, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, under the label “Trends Blacklist” for arguing that coronavirus lockdowns would harm children. Per Weiss: 

Twitter once had a mission “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected.

Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.

Or consider the popular right-wing talk show host, Dan Bongino, who at one point was slapped with a “Search Blacklist.”

Twitter set the account of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to “Do Not Amplify.”:snip:

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Twitter — and Democrats — lied, lied and lied again about censorship - Jonathan Turley

“1984” author George Orwell warned that “if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” That line has never been more relevant than in the aftermath of the second release of Twitter documents this week.

Many liberals had denied the social-media giant was engaging in censorship by using the more pleasant term “content modification.” Now, documents show Twitter executives burying “disfavored” views as “visibility filtering” and “amplification” limits.

Calling executives the “Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust” (Vijaya Gadde) and the “Global Head of Trust & Safety” (Yoel Roth) doesn’t alter their status as some of the greatest censors in history.

Yet the license for this massive system clearly came from Twitter’s very top. Shadow banning and “visibility filtering” are consistent with the policies of ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, who pledged the company would “focus less on thinking about free speech” because “speech is easy on the Internet. Most people can speak. Where our role is particularly emphasized is who can be heard.”:snip:

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21 minutes ago, Geee said:

‘Visibility Filtering:’ ‘Twitter Files’ Reveals Shadowbanning, Other Tools Used to Censor Conservatives

A new Twitter Files investigation has revealed the many tools that company executives employed to blacklist and shadowban conservative voices. The thread posted to Elon Musk’s platform reveals that the internal Twitter name for shadowbanning is “visibility filtering.”

A Golden Oldie

Jan 11, 2018
In the latest undercover Project Veritas video investigation, eight current and former Twitter employees are on camera explaining steps the social media giant is taking to censor political content that they don’t like.

 

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25 minutes ago, Geee said:

Twitter — and Democrats — lied, lied and lied again about censorship - Jonathan Turley

Many liberals had denied the social-media giant was engaging in censorship by using the more pleasant term “content modification.” Now, documents show Twitter executives burying “disfavored” views as “visibility filtering” and “amplification” limits.

Content Modification, such a Nice Phrase. So...Meaningless. Sort of like

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Collateral Damage

f35-crash.jpg

Target Eliminated

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18 minutes ago, Valin said:

I  have to laugh, Listening to Hugh Hewitt and he is actually Shocked that this was going  on.

I'm shocked that he is shocked. It's not like posters have not been compelling about it for years and it's been really public.

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Bari Weiss

THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART TWO. TWITTER’S SECRET BLACKLISTS.

6:15 PM · Dec 8, 2022

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1. A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.
 
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2. Twitter once had a mission “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected.
 
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12. The group that decided whether to limit the reach of certain users was the Strategic Response Team - Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET. It often handled up to 200 "cases" a day.
 
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13. But there existed a level beyond official ticketing, beyond the rank-and-file moderators following the company’s policy on paper. That is the “Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support,” known as “SIP-PES.”
 
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14. This secret group included Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust (Vijaya Gadde), the Global Head of Trust & Safety (Yoel Roth), subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others.
 
 

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29. We're just getting started on our reporting. Documents cannot tell the whole story here. A big thank you to everyone who has spoken to us so far. If you are a current or former Twitter employee, we'd love to hear from you. Please write to: tips@thefp.com
 

Bold Me

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1 minute ago, Geee said:

I'm shocked that he is shocked. It's not like posters have not been compelling about it for years and it's been really public.

I Really LIKE Hugh, he is one of the Best Long Form Interviewers around, and has been for Quite Some Time. That said He Is Part Of The Republican Establishment. That's not necessarily a Bad Thing, but you have to be aware of it. He and Larry Arnn sit down every Friday on the 3rd hour Really Good Stuff!

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'This is election interference': Republicans demand hearings and urge Elon Musk to reveal the candidates that were suppressed before elections after latest Twitter bombshell revealed conservatives were 'shadowbanned'

 Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com

11:30 EST, 9 December 2022

  • GOP wants to know if the suppression of conservatives covered candidates
  • Republicans have also demanded hearings on Big Tech censorship
  • Follows the release of the second part of the Twitter Files on Thursday night
  • It involved conservative users being suppressed or suspended - even if they didn't break any policies 

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Dec. 9 2022

Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks about Elon Musk’s latest release of the Twitter Files through Bari Weiss that confirms users worst fears about shadowbans, blacklists and social media censorship; Jack Dorsey lying to Ted Cruz about Twitter’s shadowbans in his testimony before congress; Eric Weinstein’s insight into big tech censorship; San Francisco Mayor London Breed investigating Elon Musk for putting beds in the Twitter office; White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre being grilled by Fox News’ Peter Doocy about Russia seeming to get a better deal with releasing Brittney Griner in exchange for the “lord of war” and “merchant of death” Viktor Bout, while Paul Whelan remains in a Russian prison; CNN’s Don Lemon telling Van Jones that the release of Brittney Griner is really an LGBTQ issue; Dr. Fauci retiring without any regrets;  “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah using China’s zero covid policy to mock anyone who questioned lockdowns in America; Howard Stern’s appalling take on Kirstie Alley’s death; Jordan Peterson telling Sky News Australia’s Rita Panahi about why a totalitarian social credit system is more likely than we think; and much more.

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John Podesta's niece worked there as Trust and Safety Council??? Just how many creeps are going to crawl out of Twitters woodwork???

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3 hours ago, Geee said:

John Podesta's niece worked there as Trust and Safety Council??? Just how many creeps are going to crawl out of Twitters woodwork???

 

IF I  were Elon, I'd be looking at some High Class Security.

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