At this point in the whole #TwitterFiles world, we’d be more surprised if Matt Taibbi or the other journalists involved WEREN’T exposing another Democrat who tried to use their office and authority to pressure Twitter into silencing/censoring the Right. It’s becoming a trend really.
And sure, the Left is shrieking about the Trump admin asking Twitter to remove a mean tweet Chrissy Teigen wrote (which was silly but whatever), and claiming this proves it’s not just Democrats doing this, but give us a break. Wanting Twitter to remove a tweet because it hurts your feelings or pride is VERY different from an elected official trying to silence an entire group of people based on a narrative they believe could hurt them politically.
Taibbi used this thread to mock, humiliate, and embarrass the media … and it’s a beautiful thing:
TWITTER FILES #16
Comic Interlude: A Media Experiment pic.twitter.com/Knp0UjfaMp— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Don’t recognize this guy? Don’t feel bad, we didn’t at first either.
Keep going.
2. The #TwitterFiles have revealed a lot: thousands of moderation requests from every corner of government, Feds mistaking both conservatives and leftists for fictional Russians, even Twitter deciding on paper to cede moderation authority to the “U.S. intelligence community”: pic.twitter.com/njklzvX0n1
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Which is really the big story BUUUUUT gosh, golly, and gee, the mainstream media just doesn’t want to cover THAT part.
3. These and at least a dozen other newsworthy revelations produced exactly zilch in mainstream news coverage in the last two months: pic.twitter.com/aZO9msFCtM
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Shocker.
4. Then House hearings were held last week, at which one witness told a story about Donald Trump asking to remove a mean tweet by Chrissy Teigen.
The press went bananas. Now THAT was big news! pic.twitter.com/8ynYaD0lBb
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
A MEAN TWEET! TRUMP! REEEEE
Forget that Adam Schiff literally got a journalist kicked off Twitter in essence violating his First Amendment rights … TRUMP didn’t like a tweet from Chrissy Teigen and that’s the real news y’all.
5. Purely to show the bankruptcy of media in this area, let’s introduce a pair of loud new data points, and see if any press figures at all cover either of them.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
We’re not holding our breath.
6. If a president freaking out about one tweeter is news, surely a U.S. Senator finking on three hundred-plus of his constituents also must be? pic.twitter.com/dUtLV8TlmV
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Angus King.
Alrighty.
7. Here’s Maine Senator Angus King writing to Twitter to call a slew of accounts “suspicious” for reasons like:
“Rand Paul visit excitement”
“Bot (averages 20 tweets a day)”
Being followed by rival Eric Brakey
Or, my personal favorite: “Mentions immigration.” pic.twitter.com/uoJRlfrlOp— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Why would King care about someone being excited over a Rand Paul visit?
Don’t answer that.
Oh, and he wanted people his rival followed removed.
Wow.
8. King’s office declined comment. If Dick Nixon sniffed glue, this is what his enemies list might have looked like: https://t.co/GuH4v7EnoQ
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Crickets this morning, FYI.
9. So as not to focus only on Dems or those who caucus with Democrats, here’s a contribution from Republican Mark Lenzi, a State Department official most famous for offering to donate his brain to science after a claimed brush with Havana syndrome. pic.twitter.com/VKlY7oRbp1
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
See, media. They’re even exposing a few Republicans who did stupid crap too.
Watch, this will be the one angle they cover other than Trump.
heh
10. Lenzi wrote to Twitter bluntly asking to remove 14 accounts distinguished among other things by skepticism of Russiagate: “The below are some Russian controlled accounts that I think you will want to look into and delete.” pic.twitter.com/EWmStMTRpr
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
11.A government official, writing from a State department email, asks to “delete” 14 accounts that are engaged in legit speech and for which no evidence is shown they're Russian controlled or bots (in fact, we at Racket know some of these people). A clear First Amendment issue.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
You’d think?
12. I noted before there were many crazy requests in Twitter records from officials wanting foes taken off Twitter, with Californian Adam Schiff’s effort to ban a reporter and stop “any and all search results” about a staffer making Angus King’s spreadsheet gambit look tame. pic.twitter.com/VVp1lwVI1T
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Adam Schiff is by far the worse. The very worse.
So media are staying far, far away from that story.
13. The fact that mainstream outlets ignored the Schiff story but howled about Teigen shows what they're about. Responses like this are designed to keep blue-leaning audiences especially focused on moronic partisan spats, obscuring bigger picture narratives.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
This.
ALL of this.
14. The real story emerging in the #TwitterFiles is about a ballooning federal censorship bureaucracy that's not aimed at either the left or the right per se, but at the whole population of outsiders, who are being systematically defined as threats.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
15. Beginning in March, we'll start using the Twitter Files to tell this larger story about how Americans turned their counterterrorism machinery against themselves, to disastrous effect, through little-known federal agencies like the Global Engagement Center (GEC).
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
16. Until then, if you found yourself on King's list, please DM or write in to https://t.co/FCrKr0tMPX. I'm on vacation next week, but we'll mock up "Angus King Told Twitter I Was Suspicious, And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" shirts when I get back.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 19, 2023
Dangit, we’re not on the list so no t-shirt for us.
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Related:
WaPo LAHOO-ZAHER Philip Bump brings knife to a gunfight STILL pushing Russia collusion and HOO boy
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