By Caden Pearson
The third volume of the so-called “Twitter files” was released on Friday by journalist Matt Taibbi, revealing the social media platform’s censorship and deplatforming of former President Donald Trump, its plans to ban future presidents, and its relationship with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Taibbi and Bari Weiss, editor of The Free Press website, have been working with Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk and to disclose internal Twitter information regarding censorship.
In the latest disclosure, Taibbi said he, journalist Bari Weiss, and author Michael Shellenberger would publish three volumes specifically related to the censorship of Trump on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on Twitter.
Taibbi stated that their findings would show “the erosion of standards” at Twitter as well as actions taken by high-level executives that breached their own policies in the months preceding the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, prompting the social media site to ban Trump indefinitely.
Internal Twitter information disclosed by Taibbi revealed that as soon as executives at the social media company banned Trump, they began planning to ban future presidents—while noting that then-incoming President Joe Biden’s administration “will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary.”
At this time, engagement between Twitter executives and federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies increased, according to internal Slack communications revealed by Taibbi.
“The world knows much of the story of what happened between riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and the removal of President Donald Trump from Twitter on January 8th,” Taibbi wrote.
“As soon as they finished banning Trump, Twitter execs started processing new power. They prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses—perhaps even Joe Biden,” Taibbi wrote.
Taibbi also revealed that following Jan. 6, 2021, Twitter “executives were also clearly liaising with federal enforcement and intelligence agencies about moderation of election-related content.”
“After J6, internal Slacks show Twitter executives getting a kick out of intensified relationships with federal agencies. Here’s Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth, lamenting a lack of ‘generic enough’ calendar descriptions to concealing his ‘very interesting’ meeting partners,” Taibbi wrote.
Taibbi’s report on Friday is the first in a series of three that will be released in the next three days.
Shellenberger’s report on Saturday “will detail the chaos inside Twitter” on Jan. 7, 2021—the day Twitter deplatformed Trump—while Weiss’s report on Sunday will “reveal the secret internal communications from the key date” of Jan. 8, 2021.
“Whatever your opinion on the decision to remove Trump that day, the internal communications at Twitter between January 6th-January 8th have clear historical import,” Taibbi wrote. “Even Twitter’s employees understood in the moment it was a landmark moment in the annals of speech.”
This is a developing story.
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