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[return to "The Twitter Files, Part Six"]
1. angelb+S61[view] [source] 2022-12-17 05:07:21
>>GavCo+(OP)
The wildest part of the Twitter files is the unhinged framing that they are presented under.

1. Anyone who has been in a tech company knows that there is internal lingo that refers to features we devs make. But it's presented as being an "Orwellian language"

2. Based on the emails he posts, the agencies give links to review based on tips they receive or their own intel and twitter then decides if it violates ToS or not (and they sometimes did not act or simply temporarily suspended). But it's presented as a "deep state"-like collusion where the agencies control if twitter act on them or not.

3. The people in the company discuss internal matters and are sometimes critical of potential decisions. But they are presented mostly stripped of context and the focus is on anonymized employees snarky comments to make it seem like decisions were arbitrary, partisan, and without any regard to logic or context.

I could go for hours listing these.

Most quote tweets are people thinking this confirms a suspected malicious intent from twitter and that they intentionally dramatically shifted the outcomes while colluding with one side.

If anything, this confirms that Twitter acted (outside of a couple isolated occurences) in a way tamer way than I ever imagined them acting while handling the issues at hand.

EDIT: Formatting

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2. benmmu+nj1[view] [source] 2022-12-17 07:38:53
>>angelb+S61
The Tweets the FBI were asking to be removed were speech protected under the first amendment. It is very likely that this is unconstitutional but at a minimum this violates a strong norm in the US that the State does not interfere with people’s speech. When it comes to twitter a court had previously found that Trump could not even block people from his personal Twitter account (a final ruling was never made because trump left office: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/05/trump-twitte... )and now people are going to seriously argue that it’s ok for government officials to advise that Tweets or people should be banned.
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3. refurb+1m1[view] [source] 2022-12-17 08:11:37
>>benmmu+nj1
Precisely.

There is no issue with the FBI investigating crimes using the Twitter platform. I would hope that Twitter tells the FBI to “come back with a warrant” if they want non-public information.

But the FBI flagging content for removal. Including “disinformation”?

That goes well beyond the remit of the FBI and violates numerous norms of law enforcement influence over public speech.

A good analogy would be a debate club being held in a private bar and the police coming by and saying "yeah, that guy you invited to debate, you think you can "handle" that for us?".

It’s frankly shocking how many people on HN are like “meh…what’s the big deal?”

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4. Apocry+9p1[view] [source] 2022-12-17 08:48:49
>>refurb+1m1
The FBI already does this IRL even pre-Twitter, and no one batted an eye.

https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/sca...

> Intentionally deceiving qualified voters to prevent them from voting is voter suppression—and it is a federal crime.

> Bad actors use various methods to spread disinformation about voting, such as social media platforms, texting, or peer-to-peer messaging applications on smartphones. They may provide misleading information about the time, manner, or place of voting. This can include inaccurate election dates or false claims about voting qualifications or methods, such as false information suggesting that one may vote by text, which is not allowed in any jurisdiction.

If that debate club guy was spreading voter misinformation, the FBI would come by and investigate him, too.

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5. refurb+dr1[view] [source] 2022-12-17 09:13:12
>>Apocry+9p1
Right, investigate them for committing a crime. That’s the FBI’s job. If they see voter suppression on Twitter they can get a warrant forcing Twitter to turn over the account identity (and prosecute them) and take down the tweet.

But that’s not what’s happening here is it? The FBI is asking Twitter to take down tweets (some of them obvious jokes) without a warrant or evidence of any crime being committed.

That’s what’s happening.

No different than your local cops coming to the bar you like and asking for you to be kicked out.

Would that be ok?

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