FBI Didn’t Turn Over Communications About Twitter Censorship
Jose Nino
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In December, for the Twitter Files, journalist Matt Taibbi released several emails between FBI officials and Twitter that demonstrated how the FBI, on multiple occasions, contacted Twitter to flag alleged misinformation. The FBI’s National Election Command Post (NECP) and the Foreign Influence Task Force maintained close contact with Twitter with respect to election misinformation, per the emails Taibbi was able to get his hands on.
After Twitter Files revelations became widely disseminated, watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all records of correspondence between the FBI and Twitter from January 2020 up until November 2022.
The FBI did not respond to the request, asserting it “will neither confirm nor deny the existence” of the records.
“The mere acknowledgment of the existence of FBI records on third-party individuals could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” the FBI said to Protect the Public’s Trust.
“The FBI’s response to these requests is nothing short of bizarre,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said to the Washington Examiner. “They twisted the substance of the requests and then asserted the right to deny acknowledging if records even exist based upon their mangled interpretation, and even though they have already admitted that the records exist.”
Chamberlain continued by noting that the lack of transparency from the FBI raises “suspicion about what the agency’s officials may have been involved in.”
The watchdog has plans of appealing the FBI’s decision, contending that there is “tremendous public interest in knowing how the FBI interacted with Twitter, particularly with respect to suppressing speech by American citizens.”
“There is no substantial privacy interest in the entirety of the requested records,” the watchdog organization highlighted in the appeal.
There is no separation between the private and public sector. In fact, any major private sector entity is going to inevitably pact with the state.
For that reason, a serious nationalist political movement would do everything possible to crack down on both the state and private sector when they act out of line with regard to our civil liberties. Bad political behavior has to be punished severely.
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