SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has not been short of controversies. Adding to the list is now the saga of ‘Twitter Files.’ While to a layperson it may seem like a big expose related to the social media platform, interestingly, it is one that has been heralded by the Chief Twit himself.
For the unversed, Twitter Files have caused a stir on the social media platform as old chapters like some controversial decisions taken by the company during the US Presidential elections, have come back in the limelight. From what is known so far, some exclusive emails showing internal discussions at the social media giant have been dubbed Twitter Files.
These Twitter Files, as published on the social media platform, show some stirring decisions taken by some Twitter executives with regards to censoring a story published by the New York Post. The tabloid’s story had information it obtained from a laptop purportedly owned by the current US President’s son, Hunter Biden. Since the US Presidential elections time was as it is sensitive due to many reasons, the revelation of exclusive emails in the form of Twitter Files, adds to the fire.
Supporting the release of Twitter Files, the new owner Elon Musk also tweeted about it by saying, “What really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression by Twitter will be published on Twitter at 5pm ET! This will be awesome 🍿”
While some also speculated that Musk himself would publish some unknown information about the so-called reality of the Hunter Biden story, it did not happen. The revelations, dubbed as Twitter Files part 1 were shared by a Substack writer Matt Taibbi as a Twitter thread.
Taibbi writes, “What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter. The “Twitter Files” tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer.”
Twitter Files By Matt Taibbi – Here Is All You Need To Know
The Twitter Files, as released by Taibbi shows, are a series of emails in the form of screenshots that show internal discussions done to censor the Hunter Biden story on the platform. The story, as reported by the New York Post, had claims about Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine. Some claims even suggested that the son made some people meet his father at an occasion, though some points could not be clarified.
However, back then, since it was believed that the US Presidential elections time is rather sensitive, Twitter reportedly censored the story in different ways. As per the thread on Twitter Files, a user’s account was also pulled up for sharing the story, about which some email internal email discussions took place at the social media giant.
While the alleged screenshots of internal emails have come to light now, back then, Twitter argued that it censored the story as it violated its ‘hacked materials’ policy. As per Taibbi’s thread on Twitter Files, “Although several sources recalled hearing about a “general” warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there’s no evidence - that I've seen - of any government involvement in the laptop story. In fact, that might have been the problem... The decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role.”
In addition to this, in one of the threads, as shown by Taibbi, Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s Chief of Communications was also shown questioning the senior leadership on the suppression of the Hunter Biden story. He wrote, “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?”
While these Twitter Files have come as a surprise for some, many are not taken aback as it is not clear that why the company decided to censor the story; it only shows how the company arrived at the decision. In addition to this, from those screenshots, it can’t be inferred for sure if any of the decisions were taken due to any political influence.
