NEW TWITTER FILES DROP: How Platform ‘Let the Intelligence Community In’

SHARE
TWEET
NEW TWITTER FILES DROP: How Platform 'Let the Intelligence Community In'

Journalist Matt Taibbi released the next edition of the ever explosive Twitter files on Tuesday, titled, ‘How Twitter let the Intelligence community in…’

[UPDATES WILL BE ADDED AS THE THREAD ROLLS OUT]

  1. In August 2017, when Facebook decided to suspend 300 accounts with “suspected Russian origin,” Twitter wasn’t worried. Its leaders were sure they didn’t have a Russia problem.
  1. “We did not see a big correlation.”
    “No larger patterns.”
    “FB may take action on hundreds of accounts, and we may take action on ~25.”
  1. “KEEP THE FOCUS ON FB”: Twitter was so sure they had no Russia problem, execs agreed the best PR strategy was to say nothing on record, and quietly hurl reporters at Facebook:
  1. “Twitter is not the focus of inquiry into Russian election meddling right now – the spotlight is on FB,” wrote Public Policy VP Colin Crowell:
  1. In September, 2017, after a cursory review, Twitter informed the Senate it suspended 22 possible Russian accounts, and 179 others with “possible links” to those accounts, amid a larger set of roughly 2700 suspects manually examined.
  1. Receiving these meager results, a furious Senator Mark Warner of Virginia – ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee – held an immediate press conference to denounce Twitter’s report as “frankly inadequate on every level.”
  1. #Irony,” mused Crowell the day after Warner’s presser, after receiving an e-circular from Warner’s re-election campaign, asking for “$5 or whatever you can spare.”

“LOL,” replied General Counsel Sean Edgett.

  1. “KEEP PRODUCING MATERIAL” After meeting with congressional leaders, Crowell wrote: “Warner has political incentive to keep this issue at top of the news, maintain pressure on us and rest of industry to keep producing material for them.”
  1. “TAKING THEIR CUES FROM HILLARY CLINTON” Crowell added Dems were taking cues from Hillary Clinton, who that week said: “It’s time for Twitter to stop dragging its heels and live up to the fact that its platform is being used as a tool for cyber-warfare.”
  1. In growing anxiety over its PR problems, Twitter formed a “Russia Task Force” to proactively self-investigate.

RELATED: Elon Musk Drops Bombshell on Google: They “Frequently Makes Links Disappear”

  1. The “Russia Task Force” started mainly with data shared from counterparts at Facebook, centered around accounts supposedly tied to Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA). But the search for Russian perfidy was a dud:

13. OCT 13 2017: “No evidence of a coordinated approach, all of the accounts found seem to be lone-wolf type activity (different timing, spend, targeting, <$10k in ad spend).”

14. OCT 18 2017: “First round of RU investigation… 15 high risk accounts, 3 of which have connections with Russia, although 2 are RT.”

  1. OCT 20 2017: “Built new version of the model that is lower precision but higher recall which allows to catch more items. We aren’t seeing substantially more suspicious accounts. We expect to find ~20 with a small amount of spend.”
  1. OCT 23 2017: “Finished with investigation… 2500 full manual account reviews, we think this is exhaustive… 32 suspicious accounts and only 17 of those are connected with Russia, only 2 of those have significant spend one of which is Russia Today…remaining
  2. Twitter’s search finding “only 2” significant accounts, “one of which is Russia Today,” was based on the same data that later inspired panic headlines like “Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone”:
  1. The failure of the “Russia task force” to produce “material” worsened the company’s PR crisis.
  1. In the weeks after Warner’s presser, a torrent of stories sourced to the Intel Committee poured into the news, an example being Politico’s October 13, “Twitter deleted data potentially crucial to Russia probes.”

SHARE THIS:

SHARE
TWEET
Telegram
Email
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Breaking

Trending

Obama Takes to Twitter to Call for More Gun Control It Doesn-t End Well
Obama Takes to Twitter to Call for More Gun Control; It Doesn’t End Well
Former president Barack Obama received massive pushback on Twitter after he called for more gun control...
Biden to Host Largest Pride Celebration In History as Economy Teeters on the Brink of Collapse
Biden to Host Largest Pride Celebration "In History" as Economy Teeters on the Brink of Collapse
Joe Biden is to host the White House’s largest Pride celebration “in history” as Americans...
Republican Anna Paulina Luna Adam Schiff Is a CRIMINAL He Will Be Held Accountable
Republican Anna Paulina Luna: “Adam Schiff Is a CRIMINAL, He Will Be Held Accountable”
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna vowed to hold “criminal” Democrat Adam Schiff accountable...
Dan Bongino Liberals Obsessed with Talking to Kids about Sex
Dan Bongino: Liberals “Obsessed” with Talking to Kids about Sex
Conservative commentator Dan Bongino noted how liberals are totally “obsessed” with speaking...
Irish Gvt to Slaughter 200-000 Farting Cows to Fight Climate Change
Irish Gvt to Slaughter 200,000 “Farting” Cows to Fight “Climate Change”
Lawmakers in Ireland plan to slaughter “farting” 200,000 cows to tackle climate change and...
Arnold Schwarzenegger Christians Who Claim Heaven Is Real Are Liars
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Christians Who Claim Heaven Is Real Are “F**ing Liars”
Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted Christianity and faith in God, saying there is no heaven and that “anyone...
Zelensky Admits He-s Petrified of Trump Returning to the White House
Zelensky Admits He’s Petrified of Trump Returning to the White House
President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted he is afraid of Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election...
Top Trump Donor-s Entire Family Killed in Plane Crash
Top Trump Donor's "Entire Family" Killed in Plane Crash
A prominent Trump donor’s family members were killed in a plane crash on Sunday when their private...
John Kerry Vows to Fix Population Growth Problem: 10 Billion Humans Is Unsustainable
John Kerry Vows to "Fix" Population Growth Problem: 10 Billion Humans Is "Unsustainable"
U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry declared that 10 billion humans on the planet is “unsustainable”...
CNN CEO Chris Licht to Leave Network after Just 16 Months
CNN CEO Chris Licht to Leave Network after Just 16 Months
CNN CEO Chris Licht will leave the network just 16 months after being picked to save the embattled media...
0
What are your thoughts? Click to commentx
()
x

JOIN THE FIGHT!

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE BREAKING NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX! 

We don’t spam! Read our Privacy Policy for more info.