If A Legitimate Free Press Existed, The Twitter Files Wouldn’t

 The Twitter Files

• Twitter management knew immediately they had bombed big time when the tech giant censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, internal communications published by Matt Taibbi reveal.
• Elon Musk promised to release evidence of the company’s “free speech suppression” in what he branded “The Twitter Files.”
• The public deserves to know what really happened

Twitter and Facebook Deprecated the story

• The social media giants prevented the algorithm code from allowing the story to be amplified
• Twitter banned the sharing of the story both in tweets and direct messages
• At the time, "Twitter representatives pointed press to the company's hacked material policy, which prohibits sharing links to or images of hacked content. Twitter's guidelines for blocking URLs, which were updated this July, also include provisions for hacked material and content that 'interferes with civic and election integrity.'"

The Post article discussed email exchanges concerning a business venture Hunter was negotiating with CEFC China Energy.

• One email included the subject line "Expectations."
• The email detailed the "remuneration packages" planned for six individuals "involved in an unspecified business venture" and floated as a suggested share the name of "H for the big guy."

Twitter's Response

• Twitter's then-Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker framed the censorship decision as based on "caution."
• "There are some facts that indicate that the materials may have been hacked, while there are others indicating that the computer was either abandoned and/or the owner consented to allow the repair shop to access it for a least some purposes," Baker wrote in an internal email.
• While still blocking the story, Twitter insiders questioned the legitimacy of Twitter's censorship decision.

Taibbi highlighted these emails and others; he also revealed details from interviews he had with Twitter sources.

• Had journalists from legacy outlets approached the story with the seriousness it deserved, it seems unlikely Twitter would have dared censor the story.
• Such censorship, had it occurred, would have been futile because journalists would be falling over themselves to report the latest details in a political scandal that suggested the Democrat candidate for president had participated in a pay-to-play enterprise with his son while vice president.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/12/05/if-a-legitimate-free-press-existed-the-twitter-files-wouldnt/