On Friday evening, Elon Musk started counting down minutes, not for some SpaceX launch but for an expose on Twitter, which he dubbed Twitter Files, writes Danny D’Cruze .
Twitter’s secrets are pouring out. Thanks to its new owner Elon Musk
Twitter has long been considered to be a powerful platform, despite its smaller size compared to other giants like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The micro-blogging platform reached a new high in terms of engagement after Elon Musk acquired it in October. The billionaire has now taken up the responsibility of releasing Twitter of its past burdens and secrets. Twitter Files is one way he is trying to achieve this.
On Friday evening, Elon Musk started counting down minutes, not for some SpaceX launch but for an expose on Twitter, which he dubbed Twitter Files. He tweeted a link to Matt Taibbi’s official Twitter account who is officially the author of Part 1 of Twitter Files.
Twitter: A can of worms
Twitter Files Part 1 has revealed the internal communications within Twitter, between some top-level executives. The chats that were highlighted happened in the year 2020, during the peak of campaigning for the US presidential elections. Joe Biden was the primary Democratic candidate against the then US President Donald Trump. The New York Post shared a story revealing details about Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and his abandoned laptop. Matt Taibbi highlighted how Twitter decided to flag the story as “unsafe” and even suppressed related tweets and DMs.
22. 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…
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022
Taibbi claimed that Twitter had taken ‘extraordinary steps’ to suppress the story. It removed related links and posted warnings for users. Twitter even blocked the transmission of the related subject via direct messages. The platform locked out some prominent users like Kaleigh McEnany from her account for tweeting about the story.
Internal Conflicts
Not all Twitter employees were in the favour of limiting the reach of the story. Caroline Strom, one of the few executives that are still employed with Twitter, had raised concerns about the reasoning behind the strict actions. She was informed by Vijaya Gadde, the former policy head of Twitter that the actions are being taken due to the company’s policy around “hacking materials”. Yoel Roth, the former head of safety at Twitter explained the rationale behind Twitter’s decision.
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Roth said, “The policy basis is hacked materials – though, as discussed, this is an emerging situation where the facts remain unclear. Given the SEVERE risks here and lessons of 2016, we’re erring on the side of including a warning and preventing this content from being amplified.”
Vijaya Gadde Played a ‘Key Role’
Twitter Files part 1 author, Taibbi made some bold claims against former policy head Vijaya Gadde. He claimed she played a key role in the decision-making process. Ironically, Taibbi hints that a lot of the decisions were made without the knowledge of the then-CEO, Jack Dorsey.
Twitter Files Part 2
Elon Musk has promised that this is just the first part of a long series. Part 2 of the Twitter Files will be revealed on Sunday. There’s no way to be certain what’s in the next part. Vijaya Gadde hasn’t come forward with her side of the story. (Source: business Today)