Twitter Trust and Safety VP Ella Irwin says she took the screenshots of internal systems that Bari Weiss shared and that “reporters were not accessing user DMs”

Elon Musk is giving outside writers unprecedented access to internal Twitter Inc. information …

Bloomberg 2022-12-09 Kurt Wagner

Discussion

@justinbaragona Justin Baragona on x
“Now, Weiss has been given access to Twitter's employee systems, added to its Slack, and given a company laptop, two people familiar with her presence said. The level of access to Twitter systems given to Weiss is typically given only to employees...” https://www.businessinsider.…
@ellagirwin Ella Irwin on x
@thetomzone Correct. For security purposes, the screenshots requested came from me so we could ensure no PII was exposed. We did not give this access to reporters and no, reporters were not accessing user DMs.
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
16. One of the accounts that rose to this level of scrutiny was @libsoftiktok—an account that was on the “Trends Blacklist” and was designated as “Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES.” https://twitter.com/...
@abgutman Abraham Gutman on x
.@elonmusk, yes or no — do Weiss and Taibbi have access to users' DMs? It would be good to get clear explanation about this screen and yes/no answer to this straightforward question. https://twitter.com/...
@spdustin @spdustin on x
@44 @emptywheel eirwin4903ZWlyd21u863, repeated over and over on all the screenshots from that internal tool. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Feels like Weiss' thread should be enough for the FTC to open an investigation into a violation of the consent decree and perhaps get a subpoena for Twitter's internal access logs.
@annecollier @annecollier on x
Three of us resigned from Twitter's Trust & Safety Council today: @eirliani @podesta_lesley and me. Here's why https://www.netfamilynews.org/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@unusual_whales Controversial decisions were often made without getting Jack's approval and he was unaware of systemic bias. The inmates were running the asylum. Jack has a pure heart imo.
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
everything that Bari Weiss is currently “breaking” as part of Twitter Files 2 has been reported on and known about for two and a half years https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@whiteroseafa @whiteroseafa on x
Elon gave Bari Weiss access to people's DMs and shit? https://twitter.com/...
@emptywheel @emptywheel on x
So Twitter replaced a department full of communications professionals whom journalists could call with two pundits with a grievance and flimsy grasp of basic logic?
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
Here's Elon Musk promising Libs of TikTok that he'll ensure the account's posts — which explicitly target queer and trans folks with violence — won't be suppressed on the platform. https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
There are some mildly interesting details in here but presenting it as some new and shocking and secret finding is either ignorant or disingenuous. There have been whole news cycles about Twitter shadowbans. I know because I've written about them multiple times over the years. ht…
@zaleskiluke Luke Zaleski on x
Elon Musk Brings in Cousins, Confidants, and Bari Weiss to Twitter https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x
Did Elon just give Bari Weiss and Abigail Shrier access to everyone's DM's? This would be a clear violation of the Stored Communications Act by sharing with them. Not to mention, potentially handing the most transphobic “journalists” access to trans people is dangerous. https://t…
@nkulw Noah Kulwin on x
Elon musk trying to drive engagement on Twitter by letting attention-hungry narcissists root around in corporate history so long as they publish stuff that doesn't hurt musk and they also publish it on Twitter in the form of tedious threads https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
a secret group made decisions secretly without overview and who was on that group, folks? the CEO of the company and the head of every relevant department lol do you hear what you're saying? these are the very people who would overview these decisions https://twitter.com/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
With the “Twitter Files,” Musk isn't so much revealing things about Twitter we didn't know, but using former journalists to rewrite Twitter's history — at least for the cult and the right-wing — in a way that serves him, his insider circle, and the right-wing media ecosystem. htt…
@the_nerd_skull @the_nerd_skull on x
And Musk has essentially just violated every bit of the GDPR at once, including the absolute top of the pile in terms of what you absolutely cannot do.
@atrupar Aaron Rupar on x
Musk is trying to turn Twitter into a Project Veritas message board
@joshuaphilll @joshuaphilll on x
Oh my god. Stochastic terrorist wants a larger reach and Musk is looking into it https://twitter.com/...
@the_nerd_skull @the_nerd_skull on x
And now we have word that Musk has revealed PII (Personally identifiable information) to outside actors without permission. This is the absolute biggest no-no in the entire GDPR framework.
@radiofreetom Tom Nichols on x
One thing Trump spread across the American right: The inability (or unwillingness, or indifference) to remembering anything from five minutes ago https://twitter.com/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
Probably a good time to remind everyone that regardless of what Elon Musk, his reactionary advisors, and fake journalists want you to believe, Twitter admitted its algorithms were biased in favor of right-wing accounts just last year. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@anthony Anthony DeRosa on x
In October last year, Twitter shared that its algorithm promotes right-leaning content more often than left — but the reasons for that remain unclear. The findings drew from an internal study on Twitter's algorithmic amplification of political content https://www.theverge.com/...
@adrianweckler Adrian Weckler on x
Hope Elon and his new execs didn't let this investigative unit rifle through user DMs. They're supposed to be private. Level of access still unclear. If DMs exposed, @DPCIreland might be interested. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@tomscocca Tom Scocca on x
How did they know which DMs to request screenshots of https://twitter.com/...
@amuse @amuse on x
Democrats are asking Biden's FTC to investigate @elonmusk for allowing @mtaibbi and @bariweiss to access Twitter's internal systems and documents. They argue there is no ‘business purpose’ in providing access that is being used to prove malfeasance. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ .…
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
“.. Feels like Weiss' thread should be enough for the @FTC to open an investigation into a violation of the consent decree and perhaps get a subpoena for #Twitter's internal access logs ..” @business ⁦@alexstamos⁩ https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@orinkerr Orin Kerr on x
<Looks at his mentions, sees people wondering if Bari Weiss violated the Stored Communications Act by looking through private DM's with Twitter's permission but not that of sender/receivers.> Nope, no violation, see the 18 U.S.C. 2701(c)(1) exception. https://www.law.cornell.edu/…
@orinkerr Orin Kerr on x
The more important question: Is Twitter civilly liable for giving private communications to Weiss? If they disclosed private user DMs, yes, they probably are liable, under 2702 and 2707. https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
what Bari Weiss is “unveiling” in her Twitter Files part 2 is also how Elon Musk said he was going to run content moderation on the platform https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@juliusgoat @juliusgoat on x
Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss are like Woodwood & Bernstein, if Woodward & Bernstein never learned investigative reporting, and were hired by Nixon to break into Democratic Committee HQ, and then documented the break-in and the theft. https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
lol wait this shows Libs of TikTok got special treatment from Twitter DO NOT TAKE ACTION ON USER https://twitter.com/...
@noahgarfinkel Noah Garfinkel on x
The Twitter Files thing feels like someone reading a recipe with a suspicious angry voice for no reason. After padding the chicken dry, it says to salt AND pepper BOTH sides before dredging it in egg and flour that was NEVER SIFTED.
@thetomzone Tom Mckay on x
this couldn't possibly be new twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin (@ellagirwin) letting Bari Weiss rifle around in a backend tool that clearly says “Direct Messages” in the sidebar could it? 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@MarinaMedvin DMs should be encrypted, so that it is impossible for anyone at Twitter to see the public's DMs, just as is the case with Signal or iMessage
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Truth brings reconciliation
@charliekirk11 Charlie Kirk on x
I'm happy Elon Musk and Bari Weiss have confirmed my account was targeted, but every Twitter user deserves to know if they too were targeted in some way. Twitter should publicly release ALL information on shadowbans, no matter how large or small the target was. Let the truth out.
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
23. In internal Slack messages, Twitter employees spoke of using technicalities to restrict the visibility of tweets and subjects. Here's Yoel Roth, Twitter's then Global Head of Trust & Safety, in a direct message to a colleague in early 2021: https://twitter.com/...
@tupp_ed @tupp_ed on x
Personal Data, under Article 4 of the GDPR, is a wider term than the US concept of PII. I see plenty of Personal Data being disclosed in this screenshot. I have trouble working out which Article 6 legal basis for data processing would cover it. https://twitter.com/...
@jtlol @jtlol on x
If so, who had access to it before Musk was in charge? https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of reach” - elmo repeating what civil society has been saying for five years. https://twitter.com/...
@ted_scheinman Ted Scheinman on x
so bari weiss is doing: a.) an internal witch-hunt for a private company and b.) external PR for said company no real journalist would agree to this unholy amalgamation. the basest hackery. https://twitter.com/...
@unusual_whales @unusual_whales on x
BREAKING: Twitter Files released by Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi & Bari Weiss, have suggested that a secret group headed by Vijaya Gadde, the Head of Legal, Yoel Roth, the Head of Trust, CEOs Jack Dorsey & Parag, & others, made decisions secretly & without overview to moderate Twitter.
@theserfstv @theserfstv on x
The new Twitter files have revealed that Libs of TikTok, despite the dangers she presented to schools and hospitals, actually GOT preferential protection! https://twitter.com/...
@ellagirwin Ella Irwin on x
@MrAndyNgo @elonmusk Yes. Jeff works for me, which is why I can correct this info. He has been at Twitter since 2021 but working in a different role. He recently stepped into his new role as part of Twitter 2.0 and has been integral in helping us drive transparency and fairness.
@elizableu Eliza on x
I'm not going to lie the new Twitter trust and safety folks are really cool.
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
The new head of T&S denies that Weiss and team have access to DMs, which has to be squared with claims that their access was extensive and unfiltered. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@7im @7im on x
it's a strange world where @catturd2 is verified ($8) and twitter's head of trust and safety has no blue check at all https://twitter.com/...
@wilson__valdez @wilson__valdez on x
So here's Twitter's new head of Trust and Safety saying she gave Bari the ‘screenshots requested’. So if this is accurate, it's confirmation of the obvious: that they're just cherry-picking shit for their narrative and they have no clue whether their ‘full picture’ is true. https…
@michaelehayden Michael Edison Hayden on x
Bari Weiss wants you to find it nefarious that Twitter did the bare minimum in limiting the reach of anti-LGBTQ+ bigot Chaya Raichik. Any responsible company would have suspended Libs of Tik Tok before it got such a big audience. https://twitter.com/...
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
is this not quite literally media corruption https://twitter.com/...
@eladnehorai Elad Nehorai on x
So Bari Weiss, one of the loudest anti-"cancel culture" warriors and supposed fighter of antisemitism is: 1. Destroying the lives of former Twitter employees. 2. Working with a man who has done more to spread antisemitism in the past month than anyone in America. https://twitter.…
@nycsouthpaw @nycsouthpaw on x
The new head of twitter trust and safety admits to this skullduggery only after someone notices a watermark containing her id on the screens she photographed and gave to Weiss et al. https://twitter.com/...
@parkermolloy Parker Molloy on x
How funny was it the other day when a bunch of right-wingers were like, “How DARE you suggest that Taibbi was doing PR for the richest man on earth! This is journalism!” and now Weiss is just straight up being plugged into Twitter's system. It's PR. For the richest man on Earth. …
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Hopefully that button doesn't actually work for them; Twitter has put a lot of work into internal access controls. If those two have been provisioned DM access, I expect that's, at a minimum, an FTC reportable security incident.
@hannahgais Hannah Gais on x
taibbi et al. can get mad about their little stunt being portrayed as PR, but no real journalist would take and then use a computer provided to them by a source as if it's a gift like this. nothing about this is ethical. https://twitter.com/...
@radiofreetom Tom Nichols on x
The big reveal about Twitter moderation is a classic death of expertise moment: people who didn't know about something until now assume not knowing about it meant that it was a huge secret
@respectablelaw @respectablelaw on x
@ellagirwin @thetomzone “The screenshots requested” is very interesting language that suggests this was likely an even bigger clown show than many suspected.
@emptywheel @emptywheel on x
There is literally NO WAY Weiss is doing real research w/o assessing non-right wing accounts. It's either a cherry pick or a privacy violation. https://twitter.com/...
@thetomzone Tom Mckay on x
uh well, here's the new head of Twitter trust and safety saying she's the one taking photos of the moderation backend for Bari Weiss https://twitter.com/...
@sarahposner Sarah Posner on x
Has Musk brought on Bari to deflect attention from the fact that he's bringing actual Nazis back to the platform, using her (a purported arbiter of what is antisemitic) as a shield against that criticism https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@robferdman Roberto Aram Ferdman on x
The most obvious and hilarious PR campaign masquerading as investigative journalism you will ever see https://twitter.com/...
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
This account's whole purpose is to direct violence and hatred at various individuals and groups, including queer and trans folks. But Bari Weiss and Elon Musk are out here defending it and allowing it to pretend it never broke any rules. Absolutely vile. https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
I want Twitter Files Part #3, where someone literally takes pictures of all the secretive internal feature prototypes https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@bariweiss @libsoftiktok 🤨 https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Musk fired the lawyer responsible for telling him what happens if Weiss or Taibbi click that button. https://twitter.com/...
@marinamedvin @marinamedvin on x
BTW Twitter employees can see your DMs https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@eliothiggins Eliot Higgins on x
I hope Elon and pals are working in their answers to assure EU officials journalists definitely didn't have access to private DMs https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
this is a great catch. Bari Weiss' Twitter Files pics all have the same watermark on them. either she was provided a login to a specific employees account or she is physically standing over the Twitter employee told to give her this access snapping pics https://twitter.com/...
@themaxburns Max Burns on x
The guy who was supposedly worried about Big Tech snooping on people has given Bari Weiss access to your DMs. https://twitter.com/...
@wilson__valdez @wilson__valdez on x
Bari Weiss, anti-cancel culture warrior, combing through people's private communications in order to find something to ‘cancel’ them with, is just too too on point. https://twitter.com/...
@pattymo Patrick Monahan on x
Seems like a fair question, in the interest of transparency or whatever the Dork Squad is pretending this is about https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
No wonder every C-level executive responsible for privacy and compliance resigned. When under an FTC consent decree, it's not even appropriate for all employees to have access to such screens let alone random outsiders who're given access for clout. https://twitter.com/...
@jolyonmaugham Jo Maugham on x
It would be a brave decision to continue to use Twitter DMs to send confidential information... https://twitter.com/...
@rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
Everything Bari Weiss is tweeting about was already widely known. Furthermore, Elon Musk literally just publicly announced 5 days ago the same policy she's presenting as a secret in her 2nd tweet. https://twitter.com/...
@joshuatopolsky Joshua Topolsky on x
The actual scandal is these two creeps and who knows who else seem to have unfettered access to your Twitter account at the behest and encouragement of the company's CEO https://twitter.com/...
@ariehkovler Arieh Kovler on x
A couple of weeks ago, Musk and his team were boasting about how Twitter under his leadership would aggressively deamplify hate speech. So this whole kerfuffle isn't about the principle of deamplification. It's just about who gets deamplified and who gets to decide.
@donmoyn Don Moynihan on x
Weiss is an opinion writer/activist, not an investigative journalist. Her whole MO is to look for stories that might be generally unrepresentative, but reflect her worldview, and not do any additional digging that challenges that worldview. View the scoops that follow accordingly…
@izzykamikaze @izzykamikaze on x
It looks like selected right-wing churnalists are being given privileged access to all your personal data on Twitter, including your DMs. Hopefully The Mother of All Data Protection cases is pending, but anybody who isn't far right should be thinking of abandoning Twitter ASAP. h…
@ted_scheinman Ted Scheinman on x
“Taibbi's willingness to caper about while Musk clapped his hands, in itself, instantly recreated the very power structure that his reporting was supposedly meant to assail....” — @ToLey88: https://defector.com/... via @DefectorMedia https://twitter.com/...
@stevanzetti @stevanzetti on x
The Bari Weiss version of the Twitter Files basically is that a social media company has moderation tools that are not entirely public in nature and that a leadership committee talked to each other about high profile moderation decisions — but told like it's Watergate.
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Prof. Kerr confirms my hunch that Twitter would face liability under the SCA if they do give anybody access to DMs or release them publicly: https://twitter.com/...
@golikehellmachi @golikehellmachi on x
musk let weiss and taibbi direct several more existential asteroids at twitter on the same day musk's creditors started considering whether they should start taking bites out of tesla as collateral https://twitter.com/...
@hannahgais Hannah Gais on x
the current head of twitter trust and safety just verified that she's the source of the photos of a screen that bari weiss posted showing twitter's backend. https://twitter.com/...
@spdustin @spdustin on x
@44 @emptywheel In other words, Ella Irwin (who took over Trust and Safety from @yoyoel) is likely the logged in account for those screenshots. https://twitter.com/...
@jaredlholt Jared Holt on x
If Bari isn't taking money from Elon already she might as well just do it since that seems to be the only tangible thing separating her from other Twitter employees in this charade. If you're gonna be a billionaire's minion might as well get in on the take https://twitter.com/...
@srirachachau Mr. Chau on x
This is the opposite of a ban...what are you talking about https://twitter.com/...
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART TWO. TWITTER'S SECRET BLACKLISTS.
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
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.
@ashleyfeinberg Ashley Feinberg on x
this has literally been on twitter's help page since at least 2018 https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@DavidSacks As @bariweiss clearly describes, the rules were enforced against the right, but not against the left
@whstancil Will Stancil on x
Bari Weiss is literally in the middle of a breathless “Twitter Files” thread describing Twitter implementing the exact policy that Elon Musk said he was going to institute three weeks ago. https://twitter.com/...
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
28. The authors have broad and expanding access to Twitter's files. The only condition we agreed to was that the material would first be published on Twitter.
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
So we've now had two long threads, presented as if they were revealing some big conspiracy, that basically, just... confirmed a bunch of things the company had already said publicly, and showed pretty standard (boring) trust & safety work. What a world.
@jeffreyasachs Jeffrey Sachs on x
“Our team”? https://twitter.com/...
@bradmossesq Bradley P. Moss on x
I look forward to the expose by the next owner of Twitter on how Elon cherry-picked this stuff. https://twitter.com/...
@libsoftiktok @libsoftiktok on x
This screenshot is current. Notice date on the right side. I'm still on a “trends blacklist.” When will this be fixed @elonmusk? https://twitter.com/...
@dbongino Dan Bongino on x
We ALWAYS knew we were a target of the Twitter suppression machine. ALWAYS. Yet liberals insisted it was another “conspiracy theory.” Tonight is vindication, yet I expect no apologies from liberals. They live to abuse power and they'll make no apologies for doing so.
@abigailshrier Abigail Shrier on x
Our team was given extensive, unfiltered access to Twitter's internal communication and systems. One of the things we wanted to know was whether Twitter systemically suppressed political speech. Here's what we found: https://twitter.com/...
@rep … Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 on x
Oversight is coming. https://twitter.com/...
@bariweiss Bari Weiss on x
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.
@mattwalshblog Matt Walsh on x
Please give us every name and trending topic that was on the blacklist https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@libsoftiktok You're welcome. Twitter won't be perfect in the future, but it will be *much* better.
@hodgetwins @hodgetwins on x
And I guarantee this same thing happens at Facebook, IG, YouTube, etc https://twitter.com/...
@david_j_roth David Roth on x
Savvy move by Musk here. Giving Bari Slack access has been proven to be one of the best ways to motivate employees to think about quitting. https://twitter.com/...
@normcharlatan Norm Charlatan on x
Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi are the white Diamond and Silk.
@junlper @junlper on x
this new twitter files thread is so funny when you realize elons musk current policy is exactly what this one is complaining about https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mrandyngo @mrandyngo on x
Exclusive: Bari doesn't name too many names but the head of Twitter's Strategic Response Team when secret actions were taken to stifle conservative accounts happened under Jeff Carlton, who worked for both CIA & FBI. He just deleted his LinkedIn. But I have an archive. @elonmusk …
@timcast Tim Pool on x
this style of reporting is bad, the slow rolling of documents is bad they are drowning the potential for a big story by slow rolling it. This desensitizes people who gradually stop caring. https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
just need to point out that apparently Bari Weiss does not know how to take screenshots? she's taking photos of her computer screen lol https://twitter.com/...
@bborrman Brandon on x
@ashleyfeinberg Why it's even the current guy's policy. https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Elon: I have a great new idea: we will diminish visibility of bad stuff. “No freedom of reach.” Bari Weiss: Look at how EVIL Twitter was: they limited the reach of some nonsense purveyors. Elon fans: OMG, thank you Elon for saving us!
@nickmartin Nick Martin on x
The biggest takeaway from that Bari Weiss thread is that Twitter spent years finding new and creative ways to keep large conservative and right-wing accounts on the site despite some pretty egregious behavior. But that was always obvious to anyone paying attention.
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
these guys don't seem to understand that Elon Musk owns Twitter now. those former Twitter employees aren't legally responsible for this stuff. if you want to sue someone over the Twitter Files...your lawsuit would be against Twitter and Elon Musk lol https://twitter.com/...
@jason @jason on x
On top of all this twitter leadership claimed it wasn't happening, which is just peak gaslighting Social networks need to be transparent and fair in policing their services, letting Americans make their own decisions on who to follow or block.
@tomscocca Tom Scocca on x
I don't understand what L*bs of T*ktok was doing wrong, also I had to quit the New York Times because my coworkers used mean emoji, or at least it felt to me like they were using mean emoji
@ashleyfeinberg Ashley Feinberg on x
lmao “secret group”—you're telling me the company's highest-ranking people would talk to each other before making decisions that could have particularly sensitive consequences?? and they didn't inform ME about it?? https://twitter.com/...
@maxkennerly Max Kennerly on x
As expected “Twitter Files 2” is drivel. This supposedly damning evidence is from yesterday. Literally “2022-12-07,” over a month after Musk took over. Who knows what it was like before—but they currently get preferential treatment, the “SIP-PES” consult before action is taken. h…
@eliothiggins Eliot Higgins on x
Elon is going to have so much fun explaining to EU why Twitter shouldn't be regulated after all this. https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Was it not Alexander Hamilton who said all tweets MUST be amplified under the little known 56th amendment that this Meta/Facebook board member is apparently and darkly referring to? https://twitter.com/...
@karengeier @karengeier on x
What am I supposed to be outraged at by that twitter files thing? Is it that they have a moderation policy? Is it that the examples were cherry picked and did not include anyone who was moderated for their leftist views? Is it that Bari Weiss doesn't know how to take screenshots?
@mehdirhasan Mehdi Hasan on x
This entire thread from Weiss, and supposed exposé on Twitter's ‘secret blacklists,’ is exactly what @elonmusk says his current content moderation policy for Twitter is! https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@hawleymo Josh Hawley on x
Yet how many times did I hear @jack say, including to Congress, that Twitter never targeted conservatives. And how many “reporters” repeated this lie over and over and over and over https://twitter.com/...
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
we actually did learn something from Twitter Files 2: 1) Libs of TikTok received special treatment from Twitter, regular mods weren't allowed to take action on her account 2) Libs of TikTok was doxed under owner Elon Musk, the tweet was allowed to stay up https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Randomly: kudos to (former?) security folks at Twitter who apparently put in place (built?) a system so that people with access to high level, extremely powerful tools (e.g. to look at other people's DMs) have watermarks on their screens in case someone, you know, takes a photo.
@tedlieu Ted Lieu on x
This post by @elonmusk assumes the right and the left are somehow the same. We are not. Folks on the right said COVID was a hoax. Folks on the left said it was not. Twitter absolutely had the right to enforce rules against COVID deniers, who were disproportionally on the right. h…
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
I discovered this secret document (the publicly available terms of service) that says Twitter sometimes limits the distribution or visibility of content. https://twitter.com/...
@alexstamos Alex Stamos on x
Well, I finally got a response to my proposal that Musk address his concern for political interference by publishing a database of moderation actions and communications with government actors. I just literally don't know what it means. Proposal: https://twitter.com/... https://tw…
@kimdotcom Kim Dotcom on x
🧵 Twitter files Part 2 🧵 Here are my views about the recent revelations. First of all I'm glad this information is now available to the public and I'm angry because of what was done to censor and control public discourse about important issues like corruption and Govt crimes.
@cernovich @cernovich on x
Rolling out these twitter files in waves is exactly the way to do it.
@ericfrohnhoefer @ericfrohnhoefer on x
“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” - @elonmusk 😱 OMG Twitter was already doing that shame on them. A whole lot of nothing once again. https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
What? Bari Weiss misrepresenting stuff to fanboys to make a big conspiracy out of something that is clearly not a big conspiracy? How... not surprising. https://twitter.com/...
@radleybalko Radley Balko on x
The Twitter Files is a good lesson in how you can report out the goings on of any decent sized organization, and if you use the right tone, cite “documents,” and make it seem like you're breaking news, you can make even the most mundane shit seem scandalous to the right audience.
@jason @jason on x
The problem with these enforcements is threefold: 1. There was no transparency, 2 they were not evenly enforced, & 3. Shadow-banning/search banning feels underhanded (just block folks & say why). Citizens should block & mute who they want in my opinion — not the Stasi. https://tw…
@theplumlinegs Greg Sargent on x
Yeah, the level of grift here is just stunning, but the problem is that tweeting debunkings also fuels the grift. https://twitter.com/...
@edburmila Ed Burmila on x
The replies to every tweet about Elon Musk offer valuable insight into how Jonestown happened https://twitter.com/...
@kt_so_it_goes @kt_so_it_goes on x
it's me. I'm the twitter files lady. I used to do other real weird shit until I saw taibbi & greenwald & said hey I gotta get in on that action. I'm the twitter files lady now. soon I'll be posting their sewer bill saying HMMM MAKES YOU THINK. anyway. I'm the twitter files lady. …
@robferdman Roberto Aram Ferdman on x
The Twitter Files are one of the best examples out there of why editors are so important in journalism
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
New narrative: they weren't shadowbanning political opponents. They were just enforcing the spam policy. https://twitter.com/...
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
She's uncovered the scandal of {reduce remove inform} as the triad of content moderation that's existed since these features launched. Even Elon says there is no freedom of reach. This is just winding up a thirsty audience who will swallow sand to feel heated by conspiracy. https…
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Btw, yes, it is dripping with irony that this dude who sits atop a fortune built on OPD (other people's data) used by Facebook — KGB to Twitter's Stasi in his labored and historically ignorant metaphor — is typing this kind of dark nonsense.
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@bariweiss @libsoftiktok Former head of censorship at Twitter was perhaps not entirely unbiased ... https://twitter.com/...
@jamesmelville James Melville on x
What the latest #TwitterFiles prove is that many influential accounts who questioned lockdowns were suppressed and many pro-lockdown influencers were amplified - often to vilify and orchestrate pile ons against those who were suppressed. Musk has unearthed this rather grim truth.
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
wait what? November 21, 2022? you mean this happened when Elon Musk was running the platform? https://twitter.com/...
@jeremylittau Jeremy Littau on x
I guess it's Galaxy Brain Variety Hour again on the bird app. The. New. Owner. Said. In. November. He. Would. Do. The. Same. Thing. You. Think. Is. A. Scandal. https://twitter.com/...
@kylenabecker Kyle Becker on x
This was the Twitter CEO before @ElonMusk misleading users by telling them “we don't shadowban.” #TwitterFiles https://twitter.com/...
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
Literally the only thing Elon has managed to launch is a gamergate retread
@billym2k Shibetoshi Nakamoto on x
it'll be interesting when some people learn they aren't actually shadowbanned, it's just that they don't say anything worth reading
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you've been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal
@normative Julian Sanchez on x
Also it would be very weird to deny Twitter does deamplification given that they've openly said they do it for years, and it's been widely reported on in the mainstream press. Whether they do it in a biased way is another question. https://twitter.com/...
@kevinmkruse Kevin M. Kruse on x
“Shadowbanning” means making a user's tweets visible only to the user themselves, and no one else. “De-amplifying” is not the same thing, no matter how much people want to move the goalposts now. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@miltonwolfmd Milton Wolf on x
Why would anyone need to appeal to @Twitter to eliminate their shadow ban, @elonmusk? Especially since Twitter claimed it didn't happen in the first place. Shouldn't Twitter just eliminate all shadow bans (and inform those affected)? https://twitter.com/...
@tedlieu Ted Lieu on x
Dear MAGA folks: This is Twitter asserting its right to ban you. Or not. Or to promote cute cat videos over posts by @bariweiss. Or to have “Twitter files”. Or to accelerate posts about the Browns. Or decelerate posts about kale. Twitter is a business. Get it? https://twitter.com…
@hkanji Hussein Kanji on x
This happened to me at Facebook three or four times so I deleted the app and switched to Twitter https://twitter.com/...
@seanmdav Sean Davis on x
So we are going to have to “appeal” to the same bureaucracy responsible for improperly shadow-banning us (and then lying about it for years)? How about running a single line of code that just removes the shadow-bans immediately? Justice delayed is justice denied... https://twitte…
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
The second instalment of ‘the Twitter Files’ was largely more hand-wavy misrepresentation of normal moderation processes with no evidence of the ideological bias that it clearly wanted to show... but this sounds like a good feature. https://twitter.com/...
@lexfridman Lex Fridman on x
@elonmusk This is amazing. Increased transparency is great for everyone.
@steventdennis Steven Dennis on x
Hundreds of millions of users and a couple thousand workers. Who is going to handle these appeals? https://twitter.com/...
@sanjeevsanyal Sanjeev Sanyal on x
In other words, shadow banning is real....... https://twitter.com/...
@shefvaidya Shefali Vaidya. on x
Much needed. My reach used to be in 1000s of RTs, it has been down to tens now, follower count has been reducing, despite new follower notifications every day. Vijaya Gadde and Co were toxic haters! @elonmusk https://twitter.com/...

Chronicles

Twitter Trust and Safety VP Ella Irwin says she took the screenshots of internal systems that Bari Weiss shared and that “reporters were not accessing user DMs”

Related Coverage

Discussion