Twitter Files Part 1

Twitter Files Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLNlSpLswhg

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unless you've been living under a rock
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or only stick to mainstream Media news
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you now know that the first installment
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of Twitter files was released by Elon
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Musk and tweeted by Matt Tybee it was
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hard to follow so I thought it best for
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me to read it to you as it unfolded
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what you're about to read is the first
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installment in a series based upon
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thousands of internal documents obtained
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by sources at Twitter the Twitter files
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tells an incredible story from inside
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one of the world's largest and most
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influential social media platforms it is
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a frankenstonian tale of a human-built
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mechanism grown out of the control of
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its designer Twitter and its conception
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was a brilliant tool for enabling
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instant mass communication making a true
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real-time Global conversation possible
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for the first time in an early
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conception Twitter more than lived up to
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its mission statement giving people the
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power to create and share ideas and
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information instantly without barriers
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as time progressed however the company
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was slowly forced to add those barriers
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some of the first tools for controlling
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speech were designed to combat the likes
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of spam and financial fraudsters slowly
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over time Twitter staff and Executives
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began to find more and more uses for
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these tools Outsiders began petitioning
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the company to manipulate speech as well
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first a little then more often then
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constantly by 2020 requests from
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connected actors to delete tweets were
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routine one executive would write to
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another more to review from the Biden
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team the reply would come back handled
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celebrities and unknowns alike could be
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removed or reviewed at the behest of a
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political party both parties had access
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to these tools for instance in 2020
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requests from both the Trump White House
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and the Biden campaign were received and
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honored however this system wasn't
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balanced it was based on contacts
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because Twitter was and is
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overwhelmingly staffed by people of one
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political orientation there were more
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channels more ways to complain open to
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the left while Democrats than the right
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the resulting slant in the content
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moderation decisions is visible in the
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documents you're about to read however
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it is also the assessment of multiple
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current and former high-level Executives
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okay there was more throat clearing
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about the process but screw it let's
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jump forward the Twitter files part one
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how and why Twitter blocked the hunter
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Biden laptop story on October 14 2020
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the New York Post published Biden's
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secret emails an expose based on the
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contents of Hunter Biden's abandoned
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laptop Twitter took extraordinary steps
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to suppress the story removing links and
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posting warnings that it may be unsafe
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they even blocked its transmission via
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direct message a tool hitherto reserved
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for extreme cases like child pornography
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White House spokeswoman Kaylee mcenany
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was locked out of her account for
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tweeting about the story prompting a
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furious letter from Trump campaign
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staffer Mike Khan who sees at least
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pretend to care for the next 20 days
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this led public policy executive Carolyn
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Strom to send out a polite WTF query
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several employees noted that there was
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tension between the comms policy teams
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who had little less control over
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moderation and the safety trust teams
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strom's note returned the answer that
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the laptop story had been removed for
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violation of the company's hacked
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materials policy although several
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sources recalled hearing about a general
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warning from federal law enforcement
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that summer about possible foreign hacks
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there's no evidence that I've seen of
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any government involvement in a laptop
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story in fact that might have been the
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problem the decision was made at the
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highest levels of the company but
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without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey
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with former head of legal policy and
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Trust Vegeta playing a key role they're
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just they just freelanced it is how one
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former employee characterized the
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decision hacking was the excuse but
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within a few hours pretty much everyone
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realized that wasn't going to hold but
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no one had the guts to reverse it you
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can see the confusion in the following
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lengthy exchange which ends up including
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Gotti and former trust and safety Chief
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Joel Roth com's official Trenton Kennedy
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writes I'm struggling to understand the
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policy basis for marking this as unsafe
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by this point everyone knew this was
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[ __ ] said one former employee but the
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response was essentially to err on the
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side of continuing to air
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former VP of global comms Brandon Borman
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asked can we truly truthfully claim that
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this is part of the policy to which
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former deputy general counsel Jim Baker
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again seems to advise staying the
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non-course because caution is warranted
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a fundamental problem with tech
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companies and content moderation many
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people in charge of speech know care a
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little about speech and have to be told
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the basics by Outsiders to wit in one
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humorous exchange on day one Democratic
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Congressman rocana reaches out to Gotti
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to gently suggest she hop on the phone
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to talk about the backlash regarding
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speech Kana was the only Democratic
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official I could find in the files who
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expressed concern Gotti replies quickly
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immediately diving into the weeds of the
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Twitter policy unaware Kana is more
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worried about the Bill of Rights Khanna
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tries to reroute the conversation to the
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First Amendment mention of which is
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generally hard to find in the files
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within a day head of public policy
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Lauren kulberson receives a ghastly
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letter to report from Carl Sabo of the
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research for firm net Choice which had
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already pulled 12 members of Congress
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nine Republicans and three Democrats
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from the house Judiciary Committee to
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Republican Judy Chu's office netchoice
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lets Twitter know a bloodbath awaits in
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upcoming Hill hearings with members
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saying it's a Tipping Point complaining
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Tech has grown so big that they can't
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even regulate themselves so government
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may need to intervene Sabo reports to
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Twitter that some Hill figures are
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characterizing a laptop story as text
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Access Hollywood moment Twitter files
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continued the First Amendment isn't
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absolute sabo's letter contains chilling
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passages relaying Democratic lawmakers
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attitudes they want more moderation as
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for the Bill of Rights it's not absolute
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an amazing subplot of the Twitter Hunter
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Biden laptop Affair was how much was
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done without the knowledge of CEO Jack
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Dorsey and how long it took for the
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situation to get unfucked as one
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ex-employee put it even after Dorsey
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jumped in there are multiple instances
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in the files of Dorsey intervening to
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question suspensions and other
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moderation actions for accounts across
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the political Spectrum the problem with
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the Hacked materials ruling several
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sources said was that this normally
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required an official law enforcement
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finding of a hack but such a finding
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never appears throughout what one
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executive describes as a whirlwind
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24-hour company-wide mess it has been a
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whirlwind 96 hours for me too there's
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much more to come including answers to
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questions about issues like Shadow
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Banning boosting follower accounts the
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fate of various individual accounts and
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more these issues are not limited to
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political right good night everyone
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thanks for all of those who picked up
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the phone in the last few days stay
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tuned for part 2 being released on
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Twitter tonight
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foreign