Twitter Files — a collection of internal documents that provide an inside look into the inner workings of one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. (summarization of the twitter file release from Matt Taibbi)
When Twitter first came on the scene, it was a game-changer. It allowed for instant mass communication and made real-time global conversation possible for the first time. But like all good things, Twitter’s innocence was short-lived. As the platform grew, so did the need for tools to control speech on the platform. Spam and financial fraudsters were among the first to be targeted, but before long, Twitter staff and executives found more and more uses for these tools.
As if that wasn’t enough, Twitter also began receiving requests from outside parties to manipulate speech on the platform. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets had become routine. And let’s be real, no one wants to see a tweet from their aunt’s neighbor’s cousin’s dog’s account. But here’s the thing, both political parties had access to these tools. The Trump White House and the Biden campaign both made requests to have tweets removed. But here’s the kicker, the system wasn’t balanced. It was based on contacts and because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels and more ways to complain open to one side than the other. This led to a slant in content moderation decisions, which is visible in the Twitter Files documents.
One specific incident that the Twitter Files highlight is when Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress a story published by the New York Post in October of 2020. The story, based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, was removed for violation of the company’s “hacked materials” policy. But the decision was made without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey and several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams and the safety/trust teams.
So what does all this mean? Well, it means that Twitter has the power to shape public opinion and silence dissenting voices by controlling the speech on its platform. And that, my friends, is a bit concerning. Especially when the decisions are made by a select group of individuals with a specific political orientation and the process is not transparent. It’s like the Wild West of content moderation. But instead of gunslingers, we have keyboard warriors and instead of a saloon, we have a website.
In summary, the Twitter Files reveal that the mechanisms and policies that control speech on the social media platform were not as transparent and neutral as they may have appeared on the surface. They suggest that these tools were used to benefit specific political parties, and that this lack of transparency can lead to a slant in content moderation decisions.