In the latest Twitter Files revelations, the microblogging platform is said to have received millions of dollars from the US government to censor information from the public, specifically on Hunter Biden — the son of US President Joe Biden — and his foreign dealings “after and before” media reports revealed the content of his laptop in October 2020.
For those unaware, Twitter Files is a series of internal company documents that are shared on the platform itself by CEO Elon Musk along with journalists Matt Taibbi, Lee Fang, Bari Weiss, and author Michael Shellenberger. The Twitter Files intends to expose questionable content moderation practices at Twitter (before Musk took over with his $44-billion bid).
The Twitter Files are being released in a series, with Musk and others sharing their own thoughts on the same. “Government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public,” Musk said on December 20 as he retweeted Shellenberger’s post, which talked about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US intelligence community “discredited factual information” regarding Hunter Biden’s overseas affairs.
Musk went on to tag US Representative Adam Schiff in a further comment on the thread, asking the former Chair of House Intelligence, did he approve the censorship which as in “direct violation” of the US Constitution.
Shellenberger noted that there was evidence of an organised effort by intelligence representatives, aimed at news firms and social media companies, to discredit leaked information around Hunter Biden.
In another Twitter Files reveal, Fang tweeted that Twitter “quietly” aided the Pentagon’s covert psychological operations (PsyOps) — or propaganda — campaign.
Fang noted that Twitter gave approval as well as special protection to the US military’s PsyOps. “Despite knowledge that Pentagon propaganda accounts used covert identities, Twitter did not suspend many for around 2 years or more. Some remain active,” the tweet thread read.