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The '''Twitter Files''' were released in December 2022 by [[Twitter]] CEO [[Elon Musk]] shortly after Musk's purchase of the company, exposing constitutional law violations on the part of the [[United States Government]] to interfere in elections. Musk declared Twitter offices a "crime scene". While a private entity does not have to respect free speech, the [[First Amendment]] to the [[Constitution]] prohibits the United States Government from silencing free speech. Twitter, under Jack Dorsey, prohibited free political speech at the behest of the United States Government.
The '''Twitter Files''' were released in December 2022 by [[Twitter]] CEO [[Elon Musk]] shortly after Musk's purchase of the company, exposing constitutional law violations on the part of the [[United States Government]] to interfere in elections. Musk declared Twitter offices a "crime scene". While a private entity does not have to respect free speech, the [[First Amendment]] to the [[Constitution]] prohibits the United States Government from silencing free speech. Twitter, under Jack Dorsey, prohibited free political speech at the behest of the United States Government.
==Background==
On December 2, 2022 journalist Matt Taibbi of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine began releasing the #TwitterFiles,<ref>[https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/03/peter-roff-musks-twitter-files-confirm-everything-we-already-knew-opinion/ PETER ROFF: Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Confirm Everything We Already Knew], ''Daily Caller'', Dec 3, 2022.<br><font size=1><i>A former UPI political writer and U.S. News and World Report columnist, Peter Roff is a Trans-Atlantic Leadership Network media fellow</i></font></ref><ref>Jonathan Turley [https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/media-hunter-biden-collusion-twitter-files-dump-defense-attacking-messenger Media's Hunter Biden collusion: 'Twitter files' dump has them on defense, attacking the messenger], ''Fox News'', Dec 4, 2022.<br><i>Media is too invested in suppression of Hunter Biden story to acknowledge extent of the scandal</i></ref> otherwise known as Twitter’s internal communications related to [[censorship]], targeting, and political interference. Twitter was working in conjunction with then-Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden’s team, removing tweets that team Biden wanted deleted. According to Andrew Kerr of the ''Washington Free Beacon'', those tweets were either drug-related photos of Hunter Biden or pornographic photos of him.<ref>https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-releases-hunter-biden-files-tweets-deleted-at-behest-of-team-biden-exec-was-key-behind-censorship-decision</ref>
On December 2, 2022 journalist Matt Taibbi of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine began releasing the #TwitterFiles,<ref>[https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/03/peter-roff-musks-twitter-files-confirm-everything-we-already-knew-opinion/ PETER ROFF: Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Confirm Everything We Already Knew], ''Daily Caller'', Dec 3, 2022.<br><font size=1><i>A former UPI political writer and U.S. News and World Report columnist, Peter Roff is a Trans-Atlantic Leadership Network media fellow</i></font></ref><ref>Jonathan Turley [https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/media-hunter-biden-collusion-twitter-files-dump-defense-attacking-messenger Media's Hunter Biden collusion: 'Twitter files' dump has them on defense, attacking the messenger], ''Fox News'', Dec 4, 2022.<br><i>Media is too invested in suppression of Hunter Biden story to acknowledge extent of the scandal</i></ref> otherwise known as Twitter’s internal communications related to [[censorship]], targeting, and political interference. Twitter was working in conjunction with then-Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden’s team, removing tweets that team Biden wanted deleted. According to Andrew Kerr of the ''Washington Free Beacon'', those tweets were either drug-related photos of Hunter Biden or pornographic photos of him.<ref>https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-releases-hunter-biden-files-tweets-deleted-at-behest-of-team-biden-exec-was-key-behind-censorship-decision</ref>
On Dec 6, 2022, Musk announced, James Baker, former FBI counsel, was fired from Twitter after Hunter laptop revelations.<ref>[https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-elon-musk-confirms-james-baker-former-fbi-counsel-out-at-twitter-after-censorship-revelations BREAKING: Elon Musk confirms James Baker, former FBI counsel, FIRED from Twitter after Hunter laptop revelations], The PM, Dec 6, 2022.<blockquote>
On Dec 6, 2022, Musk announced, James Baker, former FBI counsel, was fired from Twitter after Hunter laptop revelations.<ref>[https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-elon-musk-confirms-james-baker-former-fbi-counsel-out-at-twitter-after-censorship-revelations BREAKING: Elon Musk confirms James Baker, former FBI counsel, FIRED from Twitter after Hunter laptop revelations], The PM, Dec 6, 2022.<blockquote>
On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that attorney Jim Baker had been "exited" from the company following recent revelations that he played a role in facilitating censorship on the platform.</blockquote></ref><ref>Paul Farrell, [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11512265/Oh-tangled-web-weave-Elon-Musk-gets-poetic-firing-Twitter-lawyer-James-Baker.html 'Oh, what a tangled web they weave': Elon Musk gets poetic after dramatically firing his Twitter lawyer for 'secretly vetting files on Hunter Biden's laptop' that delayed second tranche of revelations expected from ex-NY Times reporter Bari Weiss], ''Daily Mail'', 07 Dec 2022.</ref>
On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that attorney Jim Baker had been "exited" from the company following recent revelations that he played a role in facilitating censorship on the platform.</blockquote></ref><ref>Paul Farrell, [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11512265/Oh-tangled-web-weave-Elon-Musk-gets-poetic-firing-Twitter-lawyer-James-Baker.html 'Oh, what a tangled web they weave': Elon Musk gets poetic after dramatically firing his Twitter lawyer for 'secretly vetting files on Hunter Biden's laptop' that delayed second tranche of revelations expected from ex-NY Times reporter Bari Weiss], ''Daily Mail'', 07 Dec 2022.</ref>
===2020 Presidential election interference===
{{See also|2020 Presidential election}}
Twitter imposed new [[draco]]ian censorship measures aimed at [[conservative]] users in October 2020.<ref>https://markzuckerberg.news/2020-09-30-doj-targets-big-tech-censorship-election-meddling-racketeering.html</ref> One example is labeling criticism of mail-in balloting as ‘misinformation’. [[James Woods]] commented the new labeling is clear:
{{quotebox-float|“They are closing down conservative voices completely now. Be prepared that you will no longer be able to see most of my communications, if indeed my account remains open at all. Sorry, folks, but it’s over. And they couldn’t care less what you think. This is the face of [[tyranny]].”<ref>https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/10/12/twitters-new-policy-sparks-sad-warning-from-james-woods-sorry-folks-but-its-over-983577</ref>}}
For the first time in [[American history]] social media companies took [[direct action]] against a major U.S. publisher,<ref>https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-and-facebooks-assault-on-freedom-of-the-press_3540670.html</ref> ''[[The New York Post]]'' when it published a story on [[Biden-Burisma]] scandal.<ref>*https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/<br>*https://youtu.be/r4Kcc7a114I<br>*https://youtu.be/89ByR-vrnc4</ref> ''The Post'' is among the top five newspapers by circulation in the United States. Twitter locked the account of the ''New York Post'', banning the paper from posting any content at all. ''The Post's'' remained locked out of its account for 16 days. account remained locked.<ref>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-capitulates-reinstates-nypost-account-after-16-day-suspension</ref> These actions raised serious questions about many social media platforms future [[Section 230]] immunity status.
Twitter and Facebook interfered in the [[2020 presidential election]] by blocking links to the article.<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/14/election-interference-facebook-suppressing-new-york-post-bombshell-story-of-damaging-hunter-biden-emails/</ref><ref>https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/10/14/bookmark-todays-date-big-tech-has-crossed-the-event-horizon-to-protect-joe-biden/</ref> Twitter and Facebook both had many foreign stockholders.<ref>"Finalized January of 2011, the transaction included a $450 million investment from Goldman Sachs, $50 million from DST, and $1 billion from unnamed foreign investors." http://whoownsfacebook.com/#Goldman<br>*https://qz.com/519388/this-saudi-prince-now-owns-more-of-twitter-than-jack-dorsey-does/</ref> Twitter banned people who posted ''The New York Post'' story,<ref>https://www.wnd.com/2020/10/twitter-now-banning-users-posting-ny-post-story-hunter-biden/</ref> including [[White House]] Press Secretary [[Kayleigh McEnany]] for sharing the article,<ref>https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/15/twitter-bans-white-house-press-secretary-for-sharing-hunter-and-joe-biden-corruption-article/</ref> locked the Trump Campaign account less than 3 weeks before the 2020 Presidential election.<ref>https://creativedestructionmedia.com/news/politics/2020/10/15/twitter-locks-trump-campaign-account-less-than-3-weeks-before-presidential-election/</ref> Rep. Jim Jordan posted the Biden-Burisma story on a federal government website after Twitter censored the House Judiciary GOP, at which point the link was promptly censored by Twitter.<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/15/jim-jordan-posts-hunter-biden-burisma-story-twitter-censors-house-judiciary-gop/</ref> [[Wikipedia]] editors censored the [[Hunter Biden]] bombshell, and called the ''New York Post'' an ‘unreliable’ source.<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/15/wikipedia-editors-censor-hunter-biden-bombshell-call-new-york-post-unreliable-source/</ref> [[Google]] also was reported to be meddling in [[U.S. Senate]] elections.<ref>https://patriotdailypress.org/2020/10/13/google-researcher-warns-google-may-be-shifting-power-to-flip-senate/</ref> The [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] announced that Twitter CEO [[Jack Dorsey]] would be [[subpoena]]ed to explain the meddling.<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/15/senate-judiciary-committee-will-subpoena-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-over-ny-post-censorship/</ref> Former [[James Comey]] general counsel [[James A. Baker (DOJ)]], who was complicit in the [[Obamagate timeline|Obamagate]] and [[FISA abuse]] scandals, is Twitter's lead counsel.<ref>https://nypost.com/2020/06/16/twitter-hires-former-fbi-chief-counsel-as-deputy-lawyer/</ref> The [[RNC]] made a formal complaint to the [[Federal Elections Commission]] which reads in part,
{{quotebox-float|"Respondent’s feud with President Trump is well known, as are its frequent efforts to censor the President’s tweets and the “shadow banning” of prominent Republicans, including RNC’s Chair, [[Ronna McDaniel]], and several Republican Members of Congress. Respondent’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, and other senior executives are prolific donors to the Democrat party and other left-wing causes, with 98.7% of the company’s total political contributions going to Democrats. In addition, there appears to be a revolving door between the Biden campaign and the company, with Respondent’s Public Policy Director recently leaving to join the Biden transition team and [[Senator Kamala Harris]]’s former Press Secretary now serving as Respondent’s Senior Communications Manager."<ref>https://www.scribd.com/document/480341244/RNC-Complaint-Against-Twitter-Inc-Web#from_embed</ref>}}
Twitter failed to act on a viral message posted on its platform containing a doctored image purporting to be a text message between [[Rudy Giuliani]] and [[Ivanka Trump]].<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/21/twitter-allows-rachel-maddow-and-an-army-of-leftists-to-spread-rudy-giuliani-misinformation/</ref> The ''New York Post'', [[Gateway Pundit]]'', and Big League Politics all were placed on Twitter's suspension hit list the final week before election day.<ref>https://bigleaguepolitics.com/big-league-politics-gateway-pundit-new-york-post-among-news-outlets-placed-on-twitter-suspension-weeks-before-election/</ref>
====Laptop from Hell====
{{See also|Laptop from Hell}}
Twitter justified blocking the ''New York Post's'' scoop on the Biden Burisma scandal claiming it violated Twitter's "Hacked Material Policy." The policy “prohibits the use of our service to distribute content obtained without authorization” because, they said, they “don’t want to incentivize hacking by allowing Twitter to be used as distribution for possibly illegally obtained materials.” That standard would result in the banning from the platform the ''[[Pentagon Papers]]'' which ultimately toppled [[Richard Nixon]], the [[Snowden]] reporting, the [[Panama Papers]], the [[DNC]] and [[John Podesta|Podesta emails]] that exposed corruption and forced the 2016 resignation of the top five officials of the [[Democratic National Committee]], and President Trump's tax returns.
====Shadowbanning====
====Shadowbanning====