Journalist Matt Taibbi published a new installment of “The Twitter Files” on Saturday afternoon, revealing that the FBI was not the only government agency that communicated with Twitter about content on the platform on a regular basis.
The State Department, Department of Defense, and Central Intelligence Agency, according to Taibbi, were also involved in contacting the platform about potential foreign propaganda on the platform.
Internal company emails revealed that FBI agent Elvis Chan requested permission from Twitter executives to invite a “OGA” — Other Government Agency — to an upcoming conference.
The email mentioned a Twitter employee, whose name was redacted, and stated that people from the employee’s “former employer,” which a Twitter executive confirmed was the CIA, were specifically inquiring about the invitation.
In internal business discussions, one of Twitter’s top attorneys stated that the employee’s previous work for the CIA was intended to be kept a secret.
“The government was in constant contact not just with Twitter but with virtually every major tech firm,” Taibbi said. “These included Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others. Industry players also held regular meetings without government.”
The recent Twitter Files release also revealed that FBI agents assisted the firm in contacting local law enforcement officials in order to resolve difficulties.
According to Taibbi, the FBI was “obviously customizing” its platform searches to hunt for potential content violations that Twitter may take action on.
Former FBI lawyer Jim Baker, who was embroiled in a slew of scandals related to his role in several investigations involving former President Donald Trump, believed the FBI’s activities were peculiar.
“Odd that they are searching for violations of our policies,” Baker said in an email.
The Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) flagged the “fringiest” conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election to the social media company.
According to the Twitter Files, Twitter was under pressure at times to take action on accounts that federal law enforcement believed were linked to foreign governments, even though it lacked the evidence to reach the same conclusion as those law enforcement organizations.
According to the Twitter employee who formerly worked at the CIA, one assertion from the State Department concerning Russian influence efforts was not backed by the company’s conclusions due to “a lack of technical proof.”
He also stated that government pressure was mounting because they wanted to attribute the influence activities to the countries responsible.
“‘Other Government Agencies’ ended up sharing intelligence through the FBI and FITF not just with Twitter, but with Yahoo!, Twitch, Clouldfare, LinkedIn, even Wikimedia,” Taibbi added. “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.”
Federal authorities also highlighted suspicious Twitter accounts that might have been linked to foreign operations spreading narratives about Ukraine and coronavirus vaccinations. The accounts were tweeting “Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Propaganda” and saying that the administration was dishonest in deciding which nations received vaccines.
“This is a difficult speech dilemma. Should the government be allowed to try to prevent Americans (and others) from seeing pro-Maduro or anti-Ukrainian accounts?” Taibbi concluded. “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?”
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.