Second 'Twitter Files' Drop Shows Filtering of Conservative Accounts
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The latest "Twitter Files" installment shows how Twitter moved to limit the reach of certain accounts belonging to conservatives, COVID-19 lockdown skeptics, and others.
Key Quotes: The release reveals that Twitter employees "build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users," Weiss tweeted Thursday.
The Details: Weiss published screenshots showing how Twitter assigned labels like "Search Blacklist" and "Do Not Amplify" to accounts of conservative commentators Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk, and Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya, a leading promoter of the COVID-19 herd immunity theory. Weiss described how "multiple high-level sources" at Twitter confirmed the use of "visibility filtering" to "suppress what people see to different levels." The tweets also showed how the @LibsOfTikTok account was suspended several times for "hateful conduct," despite an internal memo saying the account "has not directly engaged in behavior violative of the Hateful Conduct policy."
Background: The "Twitter Files" are new boss Elon Musk's transparency initiative regarding Twitter's controversial content moderation decisions, like the move to censor the New York Post's (Lean Right bias) Hunter Biden laptop story.
How the Media Covered It: Right-rated outlets covered the release prominently, and many framed it as evidence that Twitter moved to secretly censor conservative accounts. Left- and center-rated sources covered the news much less. A Bloomberg article focused less on the details while highlighting concerns about Musk "giving outside writers unprecedented access to internal Twitter Inc. information."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Latest ‘Twitter Files’ reveal secret suppression of right-wing commentators
The second installment of Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” dropped Thursday night and reveals how the social media giant was secretly “blacklisting” conservative tweets and users.
Independent journalist Bari Weiss detailed in a series of posts how Twitter used so-called “shadow banning” to limit the visibility of tweets coming from far-right users.
Conservative talk show host Dan Bongino, Stanford University’s anti-COVID lockdown advocate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk were among the users targeted for suppression by Twitter, according to Weiss.
The former New York Times and Wall Street Journal writer said that the...
From the Left
Musk Twitter Leak Raises Concern About Outside Data Access
Elon Musk is giving outside writers unprecedented access to internal Twitter Inc. information, instructing the current head of trust and safety to provide screenshots of users’ accounts.
Screenshots showing internal systems restricted to a relatively small number of people in charge of moderating content were shared by journalist Bari Weiss on Thursday. The images carry a watermark — a translucent label — indicating they were taken from the employee view of Twitter’s trust and safety head, Ella Irwin.
The watermarked screenshots, taken since December 7, 2022, raised concerns about whether Weiss had...
From the Left
Musk's second "Twitter Files" claims "secret blacklists" 
Outside journalists working with Twitter owner Elon Musk posted a new batch of internal communications from the company Thursday night with what they said was evidence the firm's employees "build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts."
Why it matters: Musk has framed the "Twitter Files" as an effort to show that his predecessors at Twitter engaged in censorship. Others, including experts in online platforms, say the documents just depict Twitter executives imperfectly but conscientiously struggling to apply complex policies in difficult cases.
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