This is a developing story and article will be updated with new information as it comes in…
The second installment of Elon Musk’s so-called “Twitter Files” shed light on the company’s practices of secretly “blacklisting” certain tweets and users.
“A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users,” journalist Bari Weiss began her thread on Thursday.
“Twitter once had a mission ‘to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.’ Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected,” Weiss wrote.
She pointed to Stanford University’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a longstanding opponent of COVID groupthink during the pandemic expressing opposition to lockdowns.
“Twitter secretly placed him on a ‘Trends Blacklist,’ which prevented his tweets from trending,” Weiss reported.
Weiss highlighted that Fox News host Dan Bongino was placed on a “Search Blacklist” and had Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk on “Do Not Amplify.”
“Twitter denied that it does such things,” Weiss wrote. “In 2018, Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde (then Head of Legal Policy and Trust) and Kayvon Beykpour (Head of Product) said: ‘We do not shadow ban.’ They added: ‘And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.’
The first installment, shared Friday by Substack writer Matt Taibbi, offered insight as to what led to Twitter’s suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 presidential election.
Musk had been vocal about being transparent when it comes to Twitter’s past and present actions it takes when it comes to curating content on the platform, including censored content.
Twitter famously blocked its users from sharing the New York Post’s reporting of Hunter Biden’s laptop in tweets and in direct messages.
At the time, Twitter Safety alleged that the articles were in violation of its “hacked materials policy.” Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey admitted his companies actions were a mistake.
Many critics believe the suppression of the Hunter Biden scandal by Big Tech and the media at large was enough to sway the election in favor of his father.
