Part 21 of the “Twitter Files” by Paul D. Thacker was posted on 17 May 2023.
This part is about how lamestream reporters had privileged access to Twitter. Basically, it comes across as the journalistic version of the circle jerk commonly found in academic circles.
An interesting observation on my part from post #16 regarding Alex Pfieffer (Fox News) who was the producer for Tucker Carlson:
…he always appreciates our responsiveness and that it's important to him and the team that Tucker at least has our side of the story “in front of him”.
Setting aside my curiosity about what Mr Carlson thought of those instances, I got nothing against people making sure people hear “their side of the story” but if only journalists did their best to hear everyone else’s side of the story. I guess that’s asking for too much.
Part 22 was posted on 18 May 2023 and is about crybully Taylor Lorenz getting people banned.
The text from the tweets is reproduced for your convenience. Please note that not all images (exhibits) are reproduced.
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Twitter Files – Part 21
1. New internal internal #TwitterFiles help explain why privileged reporter hate @elonmusk and Twitter 2.0. Musk denied access to Twitter's formerly "trusted reporters" and allowed inside entree to more independent journalists.
2. During my trip to Twitter's HQ in San Francisco, I uncovered several documents that explain why reporters now hate Twitter 2.0 Musk fired their friends and cut off their privileged access.
3. For years, Twitter provided favoured access to "disinformation" reporters, giving them access to new products and silencing accounts.
4. Musk ended this access and brought in new reporters to go through the company's documents--something no CEO has ever done before.
5. When Twitter rolled out Birdwatch to label "misinformation" they gave NBC News Ben Collins @oneunderscore__ a demo and exclusive access. Collins was actually part of the feature's "product development."
6. Collins was really loved inside Twitter, even suggesting him to moderate one of their panels. When they met w/ reporters in NYC, he admitted that Twitter helped propel his professional profile and helped him get on NPR and TV.
7. Musk has now unveiled "community notes" which allows more users to comment than Birdwatch. This hasn't worked out for "fact checkers" like Glenn Kessler at The Washington Post.
8. Reporters apparently also help Twitter by flipping them bills under consideration. "Our DC-based tech reporters have gotten advance copies of at least five bills .... that would give more power to regulators."
9. Twitter dealt with bills to moderate them from suspending conservatives by ducking behind trade associations "to do the heavy lifting ... as engaging or commenting ... would give them more attention."
10. Twitter met w/ NYC reporters to "solidify key relationships, encourage intel sharing ... reinforce comm's network of trusted reporters." (I was not invited)
11. One "trusted reporter" was Makena Kelly of Vox "She'll be reporting out of a deep red state--will mis disinformation resonate?" This implied Twitter & Makena knew the "disinformation" paradigm doesn't translate outside liberal talking circle.
12. Kelly showed no interest in Democratic Party "misinformation" "Looking into 'Republican Party Hype House' on TikTok--tied to Turning Point USA?"
13. CNN glad hander Brian Stelter: "Willing to come to San Francisco, wherever to meet 1:1 with spokespeople even for introductory conversations." CNN's Oliver Darcy: "Would love to hear pitches from us."
14. CNN also asked if Twitter could create a "read only mode" to protect their reporters from "harassment." (How often to reporters ask a company they cover to modify company policies?)
15. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan: "Always interested in account enforcement such as Rep Marjorie Taylor Green." Other Twitter Files show "disinformation" reporters obsessed with this Congresswoman.
16. Fox News producer for Dana Perino: "Is really eager to get us on the show .... Dana would be fair and not any more tough than the nicest person to question us in Congress." (I laughed when I first read this)
17. Fox News tech reporter Brook Singman: "I think we have a good opportunity to influence this coverage and potentially the reputations of congressional newcomers."
18. Many thanks to @TexasLindsay_ for helping collect and organise these #TwitterFiles. We read and read until our eyes bled.
19. More here at @DisInfoChron https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/twitter-files-internal-company-emails
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Twitter Files – Part 22
1. Twitter Provided Privileged Access to Banning Queen, Taylor Lorenz #TwitterFiles Twitter engineer walking me through their reporting system, "Wow! She's a heavy user."
2. Shortly after @elonmusk bought Twitter, @TaylorLorenz got apoplectic, writing that Twitter was "opening the gates of hell" by letting banned accounts back. (Take a wild guess what Taylor did the month prior....)
3. The month prior, Taylor Lorenz got this tiny account banned. Surprise! The account detailed Lorenz as a Manhattan rich girl, who attended Swiss boarding school, and whose uncle owns Internet Archive, thus erasing her past.
4. But did @fearthefloof violate Twitter's rules? Nope. No ban evasion, abuse, harassment toward Taylor Lorenz, platform manipulation, or the sharing of personal information. “The account was generally healthy and mostly conversational or commentary in nature.”
5. Nonetheless, Twitter suspended the account because it "violates the Twitter Media Policy." The account then deactivated.
6. A month prior to that, Lorenz went after @DrJBhattacharya for tweeting an email by her friend and itinerant blogger @WalkerBragman. Bhattacharya tweeted a harassing email Bragman sent him and it had Bragman's contact info.
7. Bragman played this all up on Twitter of course to call attention to himself, retweeting Bhattcharya's tweet, before people made fun of him for "doxing himself." Manhattan rich kids playing at journalist are easily bruised, it seems.
8. Bragman's game is to constantly accuse people of being "Koch funded." FYI: Soros funded me to give the plenary talk at a 2019 BMJ conference on investigative journalism, but that does not make me a "Soros funded" journalist.
9. Several of Lorenz's past reporting targets tell me she seems to work in concert with her sources. After Lorenz doxed @libsoftiktok in the Post, Alejandra Caraballo sent Twitter a "private letter" to remove Libs of TikTok. Lorenz quoted Caraballo in the Post that next month.
10. The letter was sent by Caraballo and several groups including the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a favored source in Lorenz essays on banning.
11. I asked Caraballo what came of the meeting w/ Twitter and to see the letter they sent. But got no response. I also don't know if Libs of TikTok was successful in getting Caraballo suspended for harassment.
12. It's hard to understand Lorenz's concerns about doxxing when she has done this so many times herself. Here's one allegation in a defamation lawsuit by @littlemissjacob against Lorenz that is still working it's way through the courts.
13. Lorenz had more than special reporting access to get accounts banned. When Tucker Carlson did a piece ridiculing her, Twitter put out an alert-"We need to be careful with her." I couldn't evidence that Twitter provided this support to other reporters. I never got it.
14. Taylor also provided special support to a source in stories she wrote for the Atlantic, NY Times, and recently for the Post. When Jackson Weimer's account was suspended, Lorenz put this in front of Twitter.
15. Lorenz has incredibly unorthodox (is that the right word?) reporting tactics. Here's an affidavit signed by someone she quoted in the article about @littlemissjacob FYI: this person was a minor.
16. Here's an affidavit signed by a Lorenz source for a NY Times story about Arya Toufanian
17. Toufanian told me he sued Lorenz over the article, and she then began sending messages to gin up a DOJ investigation against him. This email Lorenz is sending around is for an Assistant US Attorney in NY.
18. Toufanian later received a subpoena from the Southern District that reads like a rip and read of Lorenz's article. The investigation dragged on for 3 years. He recently received this email to pick up his laptop that was confiscated. "I was never charged."
19. Neither Lorenz nor Cameron Barr with the Post responded to questions. Thanks so much to @TexasLindsay_ for helping to collect/organize these #TwitterFiles.
20. Read more at @DisInfoChron including source documents beyond #TwitterFiles. https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/twitter-files-twitter-provided-privileged
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