As social media ingrained itself into the collective consciousness of technology users in the first decade of this century, it increasingly seemed like a game-changing and life-saving tool for billions of people around the world. Not just because you could see what your friends were doing or cooking, but because it amplified the voices of the underprivileged and oppressed in the most repressed parts of the world.
Nowhere has this been seen more in the last decade than during the Arab Spring movements, which temporarily threatened authoritarian regimes with the instantaneous mass communication enabled by social media platforms. They also informed viewers of the realities and specifics of ongoing conflicts, such as the civil war in Syria and the more recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Social media platforms have also served as an amazing tool to counter misinformation from many media outlets and inform other outlets of the reality of certain situations. A prominent example is what happened in Afghanistan during and after the Taliban takeover last year, when a series of disinformation campaigns against the group were countered with videos and local testimonies.
Another more recent example is the war in Ukraine, where massive amounts of Russian propaganda were countered through leaked video and translations, such as the glorified state of Russian troops and their condition, shown in translated video recorded by the soldiers themselves, their assault rifles rustybad armor qualityuniforms incompleteinadequate food supplies and miserable living conditions.
Social media platforms have also been instrumental in showing the world the effects of China’s “zero coercion” policies and the brutality of the government and security forces in enforcing them, providing an escape from strict restrictions on social networks and by the big firewall caused by the limited reach of Chinese social networks. The same happened with the persecution of Uyghurs in the country and with the numerous “re-education” camps in which they are detained.
If social media and the ability to freely share information didn’t exist, one could only imagine the limited knowledge we would have of any world event relying solely on traditional media channels and newspapers for our information.
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When it comes to the reach of this type of information and reporting, foremost among social media platforms is Twitter, which initially made it its mission: “Empower everyone to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers”. However, in recent years, it seems to have fallen short. Indeed, barriers have been erected and voices suppressed and censored at a rate we may never know.
However, it wasn’t until business and tech mogul Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in October that the true depth of the situation really began to reveal itself. In recent weeks, Musk – through journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss – has allowed the publication of secret internal communications and negotiations of former staff and Twitter address before Musk. The results were surprising, but not surprising.
The Twitter archives
Dubbed the “Twitter Files,” the internal communications were made public in multiple parts, the first of which concerned Twitter’s censorship of Hunter Biden’s laptop story. On October 14, 2020 the New York Post published a story about “Biden’s secret emails,” which revealed the contents of the abandoned laptop of Hunter Biden, son of current president and former vice president, Joe Biden.
In addition to bringing to light his chaotic lifestyle of drugs and prostitutes, the report specifically revealed how the youngest Biden introduced his father – then the vice president of the United States – to a less senior Ukrainian energy executive. from a year ago. before the old Biden will press Ukrainian government officials – under threat of withholding a $1 billion US loan guarantee – to fire a prosecutor who was investigating the company.
It was that incident, and subsequent dealings with a Chinese energy company, that highlighted not only the use of Biden’s public position to serve the interests of a foreign company, but also the Biden family’s broader lead since the decades of ‘current president in politics and the relationships built into it.
Twitter, however, went to great lengths to suppress the story at the time, removing links to it, displaying warnings that it was “unsafe,” and blocking direct broadcasting of messages. Facebook has taken similar steps, and this year it was revealed that the takedown was ordered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US national intelligence agency.
The second part of Twitter files it consisted of the platform creating secret blacklists of conservative or right-wing figures, an outright attempt to censor them despite former Twitter executives repeatedly denying that they were doing so. That censure also included criticism of lockdowns and measures to curb COVID-19 during the pandemic.
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Part three, four, and five of Twitter’s archives focused on removing Donald Trump from Twitter, despite former site staffers privately agreeing with each other that the then-incumbent president had done nothing to justify official expulsion.
In all of these cases, one theme was common and enduring: the direct involvement of US intelligence agencies. Former Twitter security chief Yoel Roth met weekly with the FBI -especially around the 2020 election-, as well as with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Not only did they meet, but these agencies had a say in what Twitter could and could not allow on their site, and exerted direct pressure on the platform’s policies and moderation, leading to potential meddling in elections and further influence over the system. politic. If there’s one thing that confirms widespread suspicions that American intelligence — or the “Deep State” as some conservative commentators call it — supports and serves one side of the political spectrum, this is it.
What else Elon?
Naturally, many major outlets and media ignored the revelations or dismissed them as unimportant or revealing. This media response, probably also under the influence of national intelligence, is not surprising.
The only question that remains, for now, is what other dark secrets lurk in the dusty, dark depths of the Twitter underworld, which for years has been run by a seemingly corrupt executive team in direct coordination with the intelligence and security services. . What other deals have been made to compromise users and undermine their voices?
One likely response could be the involvement of other governments and their intelligence agencies, especially after revelations in recent years that pre-Musk Twitter had been infiltrated by agents working for various foreign governments.
According to former Twitter security chief, who speak before the US Congress in a rare complaint three months ago, there was “at least one agent” of the Chinese intelligence services on the site’s payroll, and the site knowingly allowed India to infiltrate agents into the company. A former Twitter employee also stated guilty this year of spying on Saudi dissidents using his internal access to the platform, passing his personal information to a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Such penetrations into the popular platform by nations and their security services have potentially jeopardized the personal data and safety of countless users.
Those governments and others may continue to attempt to infiltrate the social media society, but it seems likely they will find it more difficult to do so with Musk at the helm and maintaining a tight grip. It remains to be seen whether Musk will live up to his self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” and keep Twitter from drifting off course again, especially since the influences remain, such as the Saudis who are in second place. investors from the platform.
The world awaits the appearance of successive versions of the Twitter Archives and their content.
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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of East Monitor.
