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The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

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Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#111
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened for a few hours when the story was flagged as hacked materials (just like they’d do for, say, someone’s non-consensual nudes). Twitter did that on their own and removed it shortly later after their internal discussion agreed that it wasn’t a violation (they took down the tweets reposting actual nudes, not the media coverage).

Sorry, wasn’t NY Post suspended on Twitter for almost two weeks? The impact wasn’t just for a few hours and the final acknowledgement of validity of those files came long after the election. This is textbook gaslighting.0

I was referring specifically to the URL block we were talking about. They used their existing system for hacked material until confirming that it was not appropriate:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/technology/twitter-new-yo...

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#112
post #9

I’ve been trying to read these Twitter files threads thoughtfully, and maybe it’s just a sign of the current average level of comfort with government involvement with social media platforms, but I’m generally not seeing much issue with the stuff being revealed. the worst thing about this particular thread seems like the govt agencies talking to Twitter about foreign influence are overreaching a bit (eg asking them to…

Did you miss [1]? The US govt. used its influence over Twitter to help sell its foreign policy (military interventions included) to the US and global audience. The only way you could not take issue with it, is if you're fine with govt. psyops/undisclosed propaganda.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34111071

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#113
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The middle step is "it's not a big deal/it doesn't affect you"

The final stage is always "Yes, $GovernmentAgency did actually do $BadThing, and that's a good thing (TM)"

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#114
post #9

I’ve been trying to read these Twitter files threads thoughtfully, and maybe it’s just a sign of the current average level of comfort with government involvement with social media platforms, but I’m generally not seeing much issue with the stuff being revealed. the worst thing about this particular thread seems like the govt agencies talking to Twitter about foreign influence are overreaching a bit (eg asking them to…

The Hunter Biden laptop story was real. The FBI knew it was real. The FBI lied to corporations like Twitter to stop accounts from legitimate publications from reporting on it right before an election where it certainly could have impacted the outcome. Twitter went even further and prevented people from exchanging the story with each other in DMs. I honestly don't see how you could be comfortable with this, unless you…

Revenge porn is not a “real story”

Figures like Rudy Giuliani had direct and personal access to the laptop and yet what bombshell evidence do we have today?

This story is so damning that the tweets people on the right keep spreading are literally just revenge porn.

Some “real story”.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#115
post #37
post #9

I’ve been trying to read these Twitter files threads thoughtfully, and maybe it’s just a sign of the current average level of comfort with government involvement with social media platforms, but I’m generally not seeing much issue with the stuff being revealed. the worst thing about this particular thread seems like the govt agencies talking to Twitter about foreign influence are overreaching a bit (eg asking them to…

Except the meetings between the US government and Twitter were the influence campaign.

You can say that about basically any interaction between any government and social media including anti child porn or other law enforcement activity. The question is if the interaction is unacceptably not if it exists.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Even if flagged, isn't that just a -1? I've seen grey posts return to dark after an upvote before.

Well it's dead now and it was a very reasonable post. This site is full of bias.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#117
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened for a few hours when the story was flagged as hacked materials (just like they’d do for, say, someone’s non-consensual nudes). Twitter did that on their own and removed it shortly later after their internal discussion agreed that it wasn’t a violation (they took down the tweets reposting actual nudes, not the media coverage).

Sorry, wasn’t NY Post suspended on Twitter for almost two weeks? The impact wasn’t just for a few hours and the final acknowledgement of validity of those files came long after the election. This is textbook gaslighting.0

I feel like the memory of democracy nowadays is exactly 18 hours long.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#118
post #67
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people completely agree with heavy-handed information control.

"A well-armed and informed populace governing itself" is a pipe dream by indigenous uncontacted people and certain very intelligent dissenters. The majority of "civilized" people in the world are very happy to live in an authoritarian information-sanitized nation so long as the people in power cater to their own in-group.

I’d like to think this site of all places might be populated with very intermittent dissenters willing to be or at least support activists trying to change that, with the internet and technology as their tool.

It’s always jarring to discover the extent to which it’s not.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#119
post #57

You can downplay this all you want - but remember: stuff like this is a microcosm of a larger issue. Sections of your government worked directly with Twitter to control what information you saw. Much bigger organizations - Facebook comes to mind - must be doing the same thing every.single.day. And no one finds this even a little bit alarming?

A lot of people completely agree with heavy-handed information control.

And a whole lot more people don't want to think too hard - especially about complex & unhappy stuff, where they can't just wait 'till the end of the movie for "happily ever after", nor ask their doctor for the latest pill to fix it.

Re: The FBI was the primary link between the intelligence community and Twitter

#120
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BREAKING: tech companies usually cooperate with law enforcement and government when requested. Data shows they are more than 100 times more likely to continue to respond to requests when paid.

Companies should cooperate when compelled so by law, not just cause. This gets into the space where many here knock Chinese companies as they are regularly directed partially by the CCP. The real question is, when does laws that apply only to the government, like the first amendment, start applying to private companies when the private companies are being directed by the government?

Companies should cooperate when they want to, and tell the government to !@#$ off when they don’t want to.

Twitter, for me, is a great example of free speech. The government asks them to do things apparently all the time. Sometimes they do it, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they even have a discussion about it internally. That is INCREDIBLE.

Ultimately, Twitter became the primary communications vehicle of the President of the United States. They !@#$ing ban him. Power move. I’m sure many demands were made by all sorts of agencies to reinstate Trump’s account and they said, “No. !$@# off.” You want to talk about China and the CCP? Well, here’s a concrete example of something that, had it happened in China with Weibo, you know would have gotten dozens of people “disappeared”. But Twitter did it with zero recourse from the government. As the kids say these day, “Based.”

Greatest example of free speech in action my life time.

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