Elon Musk Leaks Twitter Files! The Chaos at Twitter Exposed

Musk leaks Twitter files to show how the content moderation was well against the published policies

Taking on the content moderation and the thought process behind it, Elon Musk on Saturday revealed a few deets from the internal communication transacted amongst the Twitter team members. In a sting-op-like move, Elon Musk leaks Twitter files by retweeting a lengthy Twitter thread retweeted by investigative journalist Matt Taibbi. Matt Taibbi, who got hold of internal communication was trying to expose how favoritism and rule flouting were rampant at Twitter during the 2020 US Presidential elections. "The "Twitter Files" tells an incredible story from inside one of the world's largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out of the control of its designer", tweeted Taibbi.

Just before the 2020 presidential elections, New York Post published a story on the contents retrieved from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden. As per the NYP's report, the laptop had mails Biden arranging for a meeting between his father Joe Biden, who was serving as the vice president at that time, and a businessman from Ukraine and some of his private pictures. Matt Taibbi through his tweets tries to establish how Twitter had disregarded the site's stated content moderation policy at Twitter by blocking the article. Two days later Jack Dorsey reversed the decision to censor the decision.

Why "Twitter Files" Matters?

The 37-tweet thread put up by Matt Taibbi explains how a significant issue was put under the warps during a crucial moment all because the team was unsure about the moderation rules. The fact that the NYP's story is based on the facts collected from hacked material, and therefore cannot be spread widely. But the tweets posted by Taibbi reveal apparent decoherence between the teams. Taibbi in one of his tweets says "Several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams, who had little/less control over moderation, and the safety/trust teams." He reveals the communication transacted between Brandon Borrman, former VP of Global Communication, and Deputy General Counsel, Jim Baker. When the former asks if they can claim that this is part of the policy, the former asks to follow caution, apparently suggesting that the story should remain blocked. However, with public outrage, the file was opened and a key public interest issue was brought into focus.

A Hunt for Redemption:

After Taibbi tweeted his first Twitter File, Elon Musk teased the users with version 2 within a few days, later asking for more time. "Tune in for Episode 2 of The Twitter Files tomorrow!", Elon's timeline says. Clearly, retweeting "Twitter Files" had the purpose of throwing light on how much Elon Musk wants himself to be seen as a free speech supporter. No wonder, given all the criticism that he was being subjected to, this was an absolute opportunity for him to establish his seriousness in building Twitter as a platform for free speech. And as a secondary but immediate priority, he might have done it to make up for the lost credibility and hence the ad money on Twitter. Ever since Twitter was taken over by Elon Musk advertisers have flocked away over trust issues. Or is it a subtle hint towards the further Republicanisation of Elon Musk!!