Twitter Files 10: US gov. & Twitter manipulated free speech on Covid

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Under "How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate", David Zweig revealed how Twitter operated in order to suppress health information and authorities that were not fully aligned with the US government's narrative regarding COVID-19.

This thread comes in the latest series of Twitter Files, aimed to reveal what was really going on behind the scenes with regard to censorship and policy the giant social media app pursued during its previous administration, where decisions were made in accordance with political views of its senior staff and governmental pressure.

Read more: Twitter, Fb, TikTok, more are run by the FBI, CIA, and NATO

"The United States government pressured Twitter and other social media platforms to elevate certain content and suppress other content about COVID-19," Zweig stated on his Twitter account on Monday.

"Whether by humans or algorithms, content that was contrarian but true was still subject to getting flagged or suppressed."

1. THREAD:

THE TWITTER FILES: HOW TWITTER RIGGED THE COVID DEBATE

– By censoring info that was true but inconvenient to U.S. govt. policy
– By discrediting doctors and other experts who disagreed
– By suppressing ordinary users, including some sharing the CDC’s *own data*

— David Zweig (@davidzweig) December 26, 2022

According to the author, both Trump's and Biden's administrations directly pressured the media app to censor and moderate content about the pandemic that does not promote the US government's views.

In several cases, the social media giant suppressed, "ordinary users, including some sharing the CDC’s own data," he added.

Information regarding the possible harm of the Covid vaccines or the virus's actual danger was suppressed, Zweig stated.  

Zweig noted, however, that the app did not always fulfill the government's demands, highlighting that the app's employees frequently debated "moderation cases" with greater concern toward free speech than the US government.

The author listed three problems with regard to Twitter's moderation scheme that challenged its staff's attempts to perform better regulations on cases suspected of violation of policies.

According to Zweig, the first problem was that most of the app's moderation was done via bots, the second was that contractual employees in foreign countries that were assigned to take part in the moderation process were operating outside their area of expertise, and last being the high level of bias introduced by senior staff on the operations of both the bots and contractors.

Part nine of the Twitter Files showed Twitter's deep connections to CIA & DoD operations. While part eight showed how the platform "directly assisted the U.S. military’s influence operations.