The latest Twitter File drop shows the U.S. government used Twitter to rig the conversation surrounding covid and its treatment.
On Monday, Twitter revealed its latest drops centered around what took place at the company while the U.S. government worked behind the scenes to suppress free speech.
David Zweig said in his first thread that Twitter rigged the Covid debate:
-By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt policy
-By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed
-By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDC’s *own data*
He went on to recap what the Twitter files have focused on so far, and “how the company functioned as a kind of subsidiary of the FBI; and how execs rewrote the platform’s rules to accommodate their own political desires.”
2. So far the Twitter Files have focused on evidence of Twitter’s secret blacklists; how the company functioned as a kind of subsidiary of the FBI; and how execs rewrote the platform’s rules to accommodate their own political desires.
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
This Twitter File drop focused on another “piece of that important story.”
Zweig pointed towards the government directing Twitter and platforms on how they wanted the narrative scripted;
“The United States government pressured Twitter and other social media platforms to elevate certain content and suppress other content about Covid-19.”
4. The United States government pressured Twitter and other social media platforms to elevate certain content and suppress other content about Covid-19.
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
Apparently, both The Trump and Biden administrations reached out for help from Twitter, pressuring the executives “to moderate the platforms pandemic content.”
Trump’s administration was concerned about panic buying.
6. At the onset of the pandemic, according to meeting notes, the Trump admin was especially concerned about panic buying. They came looking for “help from the tech companies to combat misinformation” about “runs on grocery stores.” But . . . there were runs on grocery stores. pic.twitter.com/duzk2I1Y7T
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
The White House met with social media giants under both administrations. When Biden took over, the focus shifted from ensuring there was not a run on food to silencing vaccine questions and hesitancy. Especially in regards to silencing “anti-vaxxer” accounts, like Alex Berenson.
8. When the Biden admin took over, one of their first meeting requests with Twitter executives was on Covid. The focus was on “anti-vaxxer accounts.” Especially Alex Berenson: pic.twitter.com/yBNeF2YbD3
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
Zweig details how President Biden began blaming companies for people’s deaths in 2021 when he claimed social media companies were “killing people” for allowing vaccine misinformation.
As a result, Alex Berenson was kicked off Twitter but sued and settled with the company. “Twitter was compelled to release certain internal communications, which showed direct White House pressure on the company to take action on Berenson.”
10. Berenson sued (and then settled with) Twitter. In the legal process Twitter was compelled to release certain internal communications, which showed direct White House pressure on the company to take action on Berenson.
https://t.co/CHt0s7ZqfQ pic.twitter.com/dFgRmyRB3z
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
A December 2022 summary of the meetings between Twitter and the White House adds more evidence of the pressure Twitter received.
The Biden team was described as “very angry” that Twitter was not more aggressively censoring accounts.
12. Culbertson wrote that the Biden team was “very angry” that Twitter had not been more aggressive in deplatforming multiple accounts. They wanted Twitter to do more. pic.twitter.com/lZTQV3yKeZ
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
Internal communications show that Twitter employees debated the issue in extensive back-and-forth conversations on censoring information. Yet Twitter still opted to silence health professionals if their positions did not align with the White House narrative.
Zweig outlined how Twitter moderated content and three serious problems in their process:
- They used bots for much of their content moderation.
- They used contractors to moderate who were not subject experts from places like the Philippines.
- High-level executives decided how content should be moderated from their own individual biases.
15. There were three serious problems with Twitter’s process:
First, much of the content moderation was conducted by bots, trained on machine learning and AI – impressive in their engineering, yet still too crude for such nuanced work.
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
17 Third, most importantly, the buck stopped with higher level employees at Twitter who chose the inputs for the bots and decision trees, and subjectively decided escalated cases and suspensions. As it is with all people and institutions, there was individual and collective bias
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
“Dissident yet legitimate content was labeled misinformation.” So accurate information put out by Doctors was removed, and their accounts were suspended.
Dr. Martin Kulldorff serves as an example. He said thinking everyone should be vaccinated was scientifically flawed and that those who had covid did not need the vaccine. “Kulldroff, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, tweeted views at odds with US public health authorities and the American left, the political affiliation of nearly the entire staff at Twitter.”
20. Exhibit A: Dr. Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, tweeted views at odds with US public health authorities and the American left, the political affiliation of nearly the entire staff at Twitter. pic.twitter.com/K3kwQIdzHG
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
Twitter censored Dr. Kulldorff, as internal emails show. Moderators said his tweet violated the company’s misinformation policy. They claimed he shared “false information.”
Because Dr. Kulldorff’s tweet was at odds with White House propaganda, it was censored. However, Dr. “Kulldorff’s statement was an expert opinion-one which happened to be in line with vaccine policies in numerous other countries.”
22. But Kulldorff’s statement was an expert’s opinion—one which also happened to be in line with vaccine policies in numerous other countries. Yet it was deemed “false information” by Twitter moderators merely because it differed from CDC guidelines.
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
Twitter’s action stopped people from being able to see and share Kulldorff’s tweet.
This type of action taken by Twitter was found to be a constant at the company, according to Zweig’s review of internal files. He gave multiple examples in the Twitter Files of the suppression of medical free speech.
24. In my review of internal files, I found countless instances of tweets labeled as “misleading” or taken down entirely, sometimes triggering account suspensions, simply because they veered from CDC guidance or differed from establishment views.
— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022
The entire situation was summed up well by TJ Moe, who tweeted;
“They told us to ‘trust the experts’ while censoring and trying to ruin the careers of the real experts who told the truth. They actively removed inconvenient information on the tax so they could try to mandate it for all. And both parties did it. Our prisons should be full.”
So they told us to “trust the experts”, while censoring and trying to ruin the careers of the real experts who told the truth. They actively removed “inconvenient” information on the vax so they could try to mandate it for all. And both parties did it. Our prisons should be full.
— T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) December 26, 2022