New Twitter Files Produces New Revelations: 'The Other Government Agencies'

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

Matt Taibbi, who released the original Twitter files, has dropped a continuation of his deep dive into the censorship regime under the company’s old leadership.

Past drops have shown us that the FBI was intimately involved in policing free speech on the platform, including having 80 agents assigned to deciding what was or wasn’t “disinformation.” Lines of communication were set up so that agents could tell Twitter’s decision-makers what to censor. The relationship was so intimate that the FBI even reimbursed the company millions of dollars for their cooperation.

But according to Taibbi, the FBI wasn’t the only government agency influencing the social media giant.

Yes, you read that right. Twitter was holding conference calls with FBI agents and CIA operatives. Taibbi was able to use the names and statements in the emails to ascertain that “OGA” (other government agency) actually stands for the US spy agency. Remember, the CIA isn’t supposed to operate on domestic soil, and I’m pretty sure a company operated out of San Francisco qualifies as that. But hey, when have rules applied throughout any of this saga?

All of this government interference at Twitter was carried out under the guise of a “foreign interference task force” (FITF in the emails). Yet, as Taibbi notes, most of the reports being forwarded contained information that originated domestically from American citizens, meaning the CIA was involved in quashing speech on US soil. Twitter, as it did with its relationship with the FBI, was dutiful to follow any “recommendations.” The company’s obedience was a constant in the correspondence, with its executives making themselves dependent on the government-to-private sector pipeline that had been set up.

Keep in mind that we haven’t even gotten the documents yet showing how Twitter was coordinating with the CDC regarding COVID-19. That will be the real bombshell when it drops given that was the company’s most long-standing and aggressive censorship campaign.

I’d love for someone to explain what the boundaries are here. We’ve long been told that it’s unconstitutional for the government to violate rights via proxy. That is exactly what happened here, with the FBI, CIA, and other agencies pressuring a private company to quash free speech. But because we live in such ridiculously partisan times, the press won’t even report on this stuff, much less demand real answers. Certainly, the DOJ isn’t going to do anything. The only hope is that lawsuits like the one filed in Missouri produce some fruit down the road.