Chapter 172
Chapter 178
Overview
Musk invites journalist Matt Taibbi to investigate Twitter's content moderation practices, leading to the "Twitter Files" revelations about the company's suppression of certain viewpoints and collaboration with government agencies. Bari Weiss joins the effort, and together they uncover evidence of political bias in content moderation, including visibility filtering and the blacklisting of accounts.
Summary
Musk asks Taibbi to examine Twitter's old files, emails, and Slack messages regarding content moderation decisions. Taibbi's initial report reveals how Twitter created special systems allowing the FBI and intelligence agencies to flag content for deletion, and documents the 2020 debate over blocking links to the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story. The revelations show Twitter staff scrambling to justify censoring the story with weak rationales like claims of hacked material or Russian disinformation. Musk subsequently invites journalist Bari Weiss to San Francisco to continue investigating. Weiss discovers Twitter engaged in "visibility filtering"—suppressing certain tweets and users from appearing in searches or trending lists—often with political bias against right-wing accounts. She finds that Twitter over-suppressed legitimate COVID-related debate, including suppressing Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya's work on lockdown harms. When Weiss learns that FBI general counsel Jim Baker is involved in overseeing privacy searches, she protests to Musk, who fires Baker. The chapter examines how Twitter became an unofficial collaborator with government agencies and how traditional journalists shifted from post-Watergate skepticism toward government to greater cooperation with intelligence officials after 9/11, a pattern replicated at tech companies.
Characters
- Matt TaibbiJournalist invited by Musk to investigate Twitter's content moderation practices; publishes the initial Twitter Files revelations about government and agency access to Twitter
- Elon MuskTwitter owner who grants journalists access to company files and Slack messages; promotes the Twitter Files investigation while meeting with government officials
- Bari WeissIndependent journalist called in by Musk to help with the Twitter Files investigation; uncovers evidence of political bias in visibility filtering and suppression of COVID-related debate
- David SacksMusk's fellow anti-woke associate who suggests he contact Taibbi
- Yoel RothTwitter content moderator whose internal messages are examined; had expressed honest assessments about Russian bot allegations and participated in Hunter Biden laptop story decision
- Jack DorseyFormer Twitter leader who later concedes that suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story was a mistake
- Nellie BowlesBari Weiss's wife who accompanies her to San Francisco and assists with the Twitter Files investigation
- James MuskMusk's associate ('musketeer') who helps show access tools to Weiss and Bowles
- Ross NordeenMusk's associate ('musketeer') who assists with digital search tools and provides his laptop to Weiss and Bowles for accessing Slack messages
- Jim BakerDeputy general counsel of Twitter and former FBI general counsel; dismissed by Musk over disagreements about privacy consent decrees
- Jay BhattacharyaStanford professor whose tweets about COVID lockdowns were suppressed by Twitter; later meets with Musk at Twitter headquarters
- Marc AndreessenMusk's investor who suggests bringing Bari Weiss into the Twitter Files investigation
- Emmanuel MacronFrench president who meets with Musk to discuss Twitter's compliance with Europe's hate-speech regulations