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The Twitter Files, Part Six

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Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#431
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an earlier release they also mention regular meetings (weekly?). That was not the only guy being contacted by the FBI either. Regardless, while you may call this “underwhelming” it’s actually hard proof of illegal activity. The FBI cannot censor people, period. That’s fascism and illegal in the US, per multiple Supreme Court rulings. This effectively gives trump, et al a direct path to a lawsuit against the federa…

> Regardless, while you may call this “underwhelming” it’s actually hard proof of illegal activity. The FBI cannot censor people, period. That’s not even remotely true. > That’s fascism May I suggest looking up fascism?

Is fascism closer to free speech or is it closer to censorship?

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#432
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem was that it was entirely one way. This was not about dangerous misinformation. Many of the accounts they wanted suppressed were low-follower accounts making jokes. A ton of FBI agents paid to sway an election. Even if you are comfortable with the outcome of the election, what about future elections when they decide to back a candidate you do not support?

> The problem was that it was entirely one way. No, government should not be policing speech on private platforms, period. At most, they should concern themselves with clearly illegal things—threats of violence, child pornongraphy, etc. It doesn't matter whether or not they are being "balanced".

I agree. The ease of it all and for frivolous things.

And to think the gov tried to have a department of disinformation.

That’s how you divide the country even further.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#433

The wildest part of the Twitter files is the unhinged framing that they are presented under. 1. Anyone who has been in a tech company knows that there is internal lingo that refers to features we devs make. But it's presented as being an "Orwellian language" 2. Based on the emails he posts, the agencies give links to review based on tips they receive or their own intel and twitter then decides if it violates ToS or n…

Why are they contacting Twitter as the FBI in a backchannel to report potentially ToS offending tweets as opposed to the way we all report tweets to Twitter? Or indeed at all when they're not illegal tweets.

Imagine Trump is in charge of the FBI.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#434
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait till folks realize how much contact government agencies have with nearly every company (leaking stories, spin, etc.). It's weird that it's turned into some sort of naive left vs right issue. I'd be asking what the goal is, but apparently it's that. Point fingers, suggest no solutions beyond vote for us.

The goal seems to be to distract from Musk selling off Tesla at breakneck speed. Every time there is a big hoopla around Musk the first thing I do is check the stock price and sure enough it seems to be dropping like a stone in tandem with the news releases.

Also I think the idea is to try and attract conservatives from other apps e.g. TruthSocial.

Good idea in theory except that many of those users aren't as well-behaved so to speak.

And so the overall quality of the discourse has noticeably dropped since Musk took over.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#435

The revelations I have read so far have been extremely underwhelming. Content moderation of any kind is hard. The easy cases don’t take up most of your time or energy. These emails read like people doing their best. Maybe my decision would have been different but maybe not.

Tellingly, none of these journalists have actually released the full set of emails on which their conclusions are based.

Weiss goes into it on her site, but it's more complicated than just emails. She says they are using some lawyer SW that is meant for speeding up discovery in legal battles.

Seems like she should be a real tech person and just learn how to use grep. Her explanations all just feel like a first year journalism student trying to explain the hot new program she just learned about and everyone else has been just suffering through for a decade.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are just trying to achieve concensus on facts here, not strategize on our plan to prosecute the FBI. This is a pseudo anonymous forum, not a law firm or activist group. We can talk about all of these things at once, despite your protestations.

Yes, and my free speech as protected by the First Amendment gives me the right to call this as plainly falling into the FBI's distraction trap, not to mention the whole giving cover to the sell-off of TSLA stock thing.

So how about describing the FBI's dasterdly distraction plan rather than dropping random sketchy details every couple comments as an argumentation tool?

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#437

3. Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary. 4. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth. How is this constant? This is just 1 request every 7 days . I figured it would be more. Also, it's called the FBI. Their job is to investigate federal matters, which includes content on socia…

> Also, it's called the FBI. Their job is to investigate federal matters, which includes content on social social media their job is not to interfere with the 1st amemndment.

Their job is to investigate, prevent and prosecute criminal behaviour.

That includes content that isn't protected by free speech e.g. child pornography.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#438

The wildest part of the Twitter files is the unhinged framing that they are presented under. 1. Anyone who has been in a tech company knows that there is internal lingo that refers to features we devs make. But it's presented as being an "Orwellian language" 2. Based on the emails he posts, the agencies give links to review based on tips they receive or their own intel and twitter then decides if it violates ToS or n…

Why are they contacting Twitter as the FBI in a backchannel to report potentially ToS offending tweets as opposed to the way we all report tweets to Twitter? Or indeed at all when they're not illegal tweets. Imagine Trump is in charge of the FBI.

Because more important users get special treatment? If you are a user that are of special importance to the business (like politicians, news outlets, or major Twitter users), then of course their requests are going to get escalated more quickly. Twitter isn’t a democracy; some users matter a lot more to them than others, and it’s not really based on political lines.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and my free speech as protected by the First Amendment gives me the right to call this as plainly falling into the FBI's distraction trap, not to mention the whole giving cover to the sell-off of TSLA stock thing.

So how about describing the FBI's dasterdly distraction plan rather than dropping random sketchy details every couple comments as an argumentation tool?

You're posting in it. We're all here while those other threads remain low in replies. I'd say their plan has succeeded, wouldn't you? The proof is, as they say, in the pudding.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#440

The wildest part of the Twitter files is the unhinged framing that they are presented under. 1. Anyone who has been in a tech company knows that there is internal lingo that refers to features we devs make. But it's presented as being an "Orwellian language" 2. Based on the emails he posts, the agencies give links to review based on tips they receive or their own intel and twitter then decides if it violates ToS or n…

Why are they contacting Twitter as the FBI in a backchannel to report potentially ToS offending tweets as opposed to the way we all report tweets to Twitter? Or indeed at all when they're not illegal tweets. Imagine Trump is in charge of the FBI.

It's not a backchannel... every social media company has a dedicated response team that handles requests from law enforcement, partners, big media companies, etc. Do you think Disney just hits the report button on YouTube? This is an official method of reporting content. Literally every major company does this and the reasons why have been explained for years.
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