zlacker

Why are they contacting Twitter as the FBI in a backchannel to report potentially ToS offending tweets as opposed to the way we all report tweets to Twitter? Or indeed at all when they're not illegal tweets.

Imagine Trump is in charge of the FBI.

>>scifib+(OP)
Because more important users get special treatment? If you are a user that are of special importance to the business (like politicians, news outlets, or major Twitter users), then of course their requests are going to get escalated more quickly. Twitter isn’t a democracy; some users matter a lot more to them than others, and it’s not really based on political lines.

>>scifib+(OP)
It's not a backchannel... every social media company has a dedicated response team that handles requests from law enforcement, partners, big media companies, etc. Do you think Disney just hits the report button on YouTube? This is an official method of reporting content. Literally every major company does this and the reasons why have been explained for years.

>>cmdli+q
That's the point of the Twitter Files (tm). Shining a light on how that process worked.

It is of course tied up with partisan politics, who won or lost this week from some particular story, but more transparency is good.

>>scifib+(OP)
Think of it as a priority queue in terms of software. Does it make more sense now?

If the FBI had to go through the same queue as Joe Average then their requests may well end up at the head of the queue too late for action. The same goes for celebrities, advertisers and so on. All of these have different contact points. And because law enforcement contact is one step away from the company doing something that is potentially illegal their messages are given a higher priority.

>>scifib+(OP)
Trump was in charge of the FBI when this happened, and its director (Wray) was appointed by him.

>>devind+z
It is a back channel, you’re/we’re just accustomed to bootlicking behaviors in business

>>wahnfr+75
IDK if you understand what back channel means... This was an official of communication for the FBI. Back channel would be using personal devices and emails.

>>scifib+(OP)
Thsi is completely normal for any business. If you are ‘important’, like an authority or a large customer, you have priority channels to go through. When Tesla wants to contact the Department of Transportation, do you think they go to their website, fill in the public contact form and wait two months for a response?

>>thebyt+n8
The phone companies give federal agencies their very own server rooms!

>>scifib+(OP)
I think there is a strong argument that if you are working for the FBI you are not allowed to even click the report button as part of your duties for 1A protected speech.

You can imagine how this could be weaponised. For example FBI agents could be tasked to report tweets from people who hold disfavoured opinions. This interpretation is also inline with the court’s finding over Trump’s use of the block button: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/05/trump-twitte...

>>etchal+H2
"The Government" in these revelations is the Donald J. Trump Administration.

>>scifib+(OP)
Umm, during the run-up to the 2020 election Trump was the president. He appointed Christopher Wray as head of the FBI. So whatever is in this tweets was done by a Trump appointee

>>canuck+5B
And done under threat of "these companies had 'better behave' or were gonna change section 230."

>>wooooo+K
Transparency would be full and open disclosure. Cherry-picking for right-wing writers to base stories on is pretty different, as evidenced by all of the people who think there was anything new revealed this week. This showed some of the internal conversations but the story matched what we already knew from statements at the time and subsequent testimony before the Congress. From a transparency win that seems small to non-existent but it’s clearly been successful at giving partisans more ammunition.