The seventh installment of the Elon Musk-endorsed “Twitter Files” was released Monday morning, showing there was an “organized effort” by federal law enforcement agents to target social media and news companies that reported on the explosive 2020 Hunter Biden laptop report.
“In Twitter Files #7, we present evidence pointing to an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community (IC), aimed at senior executives at news and social media companies, to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published,” wrote author Michael Shellenberger, who released screenshots that purport to be of message exchanges between top Twitter officials and the FBI in October 2020.
At one point, screenshots of emails posted by Shellenberger show that the FBI was increasingly putting more and more pressure on Twitter in the leadup to the 2020 election, as officials with the bureau frequently messaged the firm for reports on alleged evidence of foreign influence. Those emails, according to him, repeatedly requested “information from Twitter that Twitter has already made clear it will not share outside of normal legal channels.” The FBI had asked the firm for evidence of foreign interference but Twitter said they haven’t found anything of note.
“We haven’t yet identified activity that we’d typically refer to you (or even flag as interesting in the foreign influence context),” one email from a Twitter staffer read. And another, written by former trust and safety chief Yoel Roth said that “we have seen a sustained (If uncoordinated) effort by the IC [intelligence community] to push us to share more info & change our API policies. They are probing & pushing everywhere they can (including by whispering to congressional staff).”
Meanwhile, Roth had apparently attempted to resist the FBI in its attempts to get Twitter to share data that went “outside of the normal search warrant process,” a post said. Roth departed the company last month, coming weeks after Musk’s takeover.
More Details
On Oct. 13, a day before the New York Post released its report on Hunter Biden’s laptop, lawyer George Mesires emailed Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac that both the younger Biden and Mesires learned from the NY Post that its story on the laptop would be published the next day. Mac Isaac has said that a man who appeared to be Hunter Biden left the laptop at his shop before the FBI recouped it in December 2019, according to interviews he’s given.
About two hours after Mesires emailed Mac Isaac, FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan sent 10 documents to Twitter’s then-chief of site security, Yoel Roth, through a one-way communications channel from the FBI to Twitter, according to a screenshot Shellenberger posted Monday.
Hours after the New York Post ran its bombshell story the next day, Twitter and Facebook moved to limit the reach of the story, even going so far as to block Twitter users from sharing or direct messaging it. Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in August confirmed to podcaster Joe Rogan that the FBI approached Facebook and warned about Russian disinformation ahead of the election.
Later, according to an email screenshot, Roth conceded that the Hunter Biden story “isn’t clearly violative of our Hacked Materials Policy, nor is it clearly in violation of anything else,” but he added that “this feels a lot like a somewhat subtle leak operation.”
It came weeks after Chan and Roth set up a messaging network in September 2020 so that FBI and Twitter employees could communicate with one another. They also agreed to set up a “virtual war room” for the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, a message shows.
Neither Roth nor the FBI have responded to the latest claims. The Epoch Times has contacted the bureau for comment.
Other Installments
Journalist Matt Taibbi, who was re-tweeted and endorsed by Musk, released the first batch of the “Twitter Files” focusing on the company’s internal discussions that led it to it blocking the NY Post’s story about Hunter Biden. Screenshots of messages that were posted showed officials attempting to explain how the story violated its “hacked materials” policy as the laptop was left with a computer repair shop.
Around the same time, it was revealed by Musk and Taibbi that the files were vetted by then-Twitter counsel James Baker, a former FBI lawyer, before they were given to Taibbi and the other journalists. Musk wrote later that he “exited” Baker from the company in early December, although it’s not clear why Baker was still working there in the first place.
The second installment detailed how Twitter kept a secret “blacklist” of prominent accounts to prevent their tweets from trending or their accounts from being searched by other others. They included Turning Point USA head Charlie Kirk, Stanford University professor Jay Bhattacharya, Libs of TikTok, podcaster Dan Bongino, and more
Later installments focused on the ban of former President Donald Trump’s account in early January, revealing internal Slack messages showing that a growing number of Twitter employees were calling for Trump’s ban. Some top Twitter executives pushed back on the ban before then-Twitter legal head Vijaya Gadde and others took over. Hours later, Trump’s account was banned over two messages that he posted on Jan. 8, 2021
This is a developing story. More details will be published when they are available.
Just more proof positive that in America these days there is no Democrat Party, there is no Republican party, just an evil establishment of ghost shadow rulers who control BOTH entities to keep their positions of wealth and power control intact, but allowing the parties to exchange control of the political arms of real power they have surreptitiously seized control of under the table, and as puppet masters pull the strings of power, who will do anything to insure the power stays in the hand that now control it, even if guys like Jeffrey Epstein, Vice Foster, Jack and Bobby Kennedy have to be eliminated first, then covered up with phony investigations. It was no coincidence Bush Senior was a former CIA director. Trump was lucky they only tried to impeach him. The names, faces, and party affiliations of our Presidents, Senators and Congressman change, but the puppet masters hidden behind the curtains remain the same, and by the flaunting of our border security, and emptying of our national treasury with obvious sell-out Presidents, Speakers, and Senate leaders, the controllers are no longer of the American stripe, but have worldwide ambitions for ultimate planet control. They do allow the parties to change leadership periodically, but only to fool THE PEOPLE that this is an imagined democracy. This will not end well if not stopped before it is too late. Technology has given them previously unimaged tools to fool masses and steal elections.
George Bush of the CIA has been out of the presidency for 30 years next month and the CIA longer than that. Now he’s dead.
Who are the Republicans currently involved in both the intelligence agencies and executive branch? Who were the ones involved in the Russia accusations against Trump and the censorship efforts to silence conservatives? To my knowledge they are all Democrats but I’m willing to be educated. Do they even publicly reveal their party?
HOW much more proof do we need, that the ENTIRE BLOODY FBI is rotten and it needs to be gotten rid of?
You know, I grew up when patriotism was king. We pledged allegiance to the flag in school—God was honored. Fourths of July and Memorial Days and Veterans’ Days were all celebrated with a sincere appreciation of America and all of those who made—and make—it possible. There were fireworks and songs that stirred the heart like “America The Beautiful”, The Star Spangled Banner, “My Country Tis Of Thee”.
Now, at 69 years of age, I see news like this. I see uncontrolled rioting and protesting with property destruction and our flag being burned, the weaponization of various government agencies, Presidents who do not love the country nor its people, crooked political maneuvers being pulled on the people to silence their voices. It is a hard pill to swallow that this is the same country.
The FBI was paying Twitter to censor conservatives.
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1604908670063906817
@ElonMusk
@Twitter
files show FBI “reimbursed” Twitter $3.4 million for helping the agency censor and spy on Americans.
Is anyone on this forum the least bit surprised by this story. The gubment thugs are hard at work to push their agenda, their program. Just look at the COVID response. The FBI, CIA, NSA, CDC all equal the KGB, Stasi, Gestapo. Shameful comment but I think true.