Twitter Files Sensationally Announced “pchiit”
Elon Musk promised it, he did it: the serialization of email exchanges and Slack’s Twitter moderation groups, and only on Twitter. All this turns out to be disappointing, but dangerous. We take part.
“Society has the right to know”, “suffocation of freedom of speech”, “it will be very nice”. If you can follow Elon Musk’s tweets, you’re probably familiar with the event Twitter Files. In case you missed it, here’s a quick summary of the case and why it matters.
what are Twitter Files ?
what is called Twitter Files, which are archives of Twitter moderation groups’ emails and exchanges on Slack – recently moved by loss and accident. In order to justify this violent expulsion of his troops, Elon Musk has been tweeting for weeks that the contents of these archives will prove that free speech on the platform is manipulated and that the Republican and reactionary camp is more censored than the Democratic camp. or progressive. Therefore, we expected to discover a scandal. Above all, we discovered a new form of journalism.
Twitter is becoming a medium
To publish these revelations, Elon Musk chose to work with a single journalist, Matt Taibbi, a feather who cut his teeth for a music magazine. RollingStone. As French journalist Olivier Tesquet noted in a comprehensive thread, this is the first time an information professional has given a scoop to the social platform. Indeed Twitter Files published exclusively as a topic de facto a form of politically oriented editorial policy, far from the image of neutrality it had previously adorned the network with.
The Hunter Biden case: nothing new under the sun
The first episode of these Twitter Files – there must be several – dedicated to the discovery of the personal emails of Hunter Biden, an American businessman and the son of American President Joe Biden. In October 2020, Hunter took his laptop to a repairman, who copied his hard drive and leaked the contents of his correspondence to a conservative tabloid. New York Post. We uncovered compromising photos of Hunter Biden with prostitutes using crack. With three weeks left in the US presidential campaign, many thought the revelations were a disinformation operation from Russia. A number of progressive media outlets have deleted articles and photos shared on Twitter and Facebook platforms, calling out fake news. Finally, the photos were real, and the case – a little disgusting – was finally covered in several media outlets. But the removal of articles for the conservative camp NY Post Attacks on freedom of expression are epitomized on Twitter. emails Twitter Files It revealed that the moderators believed the footage could have been caused by the hacking of Hunter Biden’s laptop, causing it to be shared in violation of the platform’s terms of use. At this stage, it is difficult to find an attack on democracy in these exchanges and free speech Denounced by Elon Musk.
No revelations, but negative consequences
On the other hand, it can get rid of a job Twitter Files Journalist Matt Taibbi’s publication revealed Jack Dorsey’s personal email, as well as Democratic Party member Ro Khanna’s personal email, as well as the names of several Twitter employees involved in the case. All are potentially subject to acts of aggression and violence. As for the alleged censorship organized by the Democrats, the journalist recalls that the withdrawal of tweets was requested during the presidential campaign of both camps. Elon Musk might swear that progressives are more often successful in moderating stories, but several studies from MIT, Yale, and the University of Exeter have found that if conservatives are censored more often, it’s because they more often get things right. they talk
