Elon Musk’s Hyped Up Exposé Unveils ‘Secret Blacklists’ And ‘Shadow Banning’ —Which Seem Very Similar To His Own Policies

Topline

Twitter built “secret blacklists” and ran a clandestine operation to cut the visibility of targeted tweets, accounts and topics, according to the second tranche of Elon Musk’s hyped “Twitter Files” released on Thursday, framing widely known and widely acknowledged practices as revelations that sound similar to Musk’s own policies that have nevertheless sparked fierce backlash among conservatives.

Elon Musk took over Twitter in October.

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Key Facts

Former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss released part two of the Twitter Files in a 30-part Twitter thread that claimed the platform had teams of employees building blacklists, preventing targeted tweets from trending and limiting the visibility of entire accounts or topics.

This was done “all without users’ knowledge,” said Weiss, a conservative commentator who, alongside newsletter writer Matt Taibbi, Musk has given unspecified access to Twitter’s internal documents.

Weiss singled out a number of accounts that Twitter employees had allegedly blacklisted, including Stanford health policy professor Jay Bhattacharya, high-profile conservatives Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk and Libs of TikTok, a popular, influential and controversial right-wing account.

Weiss did not explain why the blacklisted accounts had been targeted, whether they had broken any rules or who made the final decision to throttle them, though she said the group deciding what users to throttle—the Strategic Response Team – Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET—often “handled up to 200 ‘cases’ a day,” citing internal documents.

Politically sensitive decisions, Weiss listed Libs of TikTok as an example, would be handed to a different team—Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support, or SIP-PES—made up of top executives like then-CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, the head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde and global head of trust and safety Yoel Roth.

Contra

Weiss’ tweets characterized Twitter’s downranking operation as secretive and nefarious acts of censorship. What she described was similar to Musk’s own moderation policies for Twitter, which he described as “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” The tweets were somewhat misleading about Twitter’s past comments and work in the area. The platform has been relatively open—though far from transparent or ideal—about efforts to downrank tweets, throttle reach and reduce visibility for certain users and topics to safeguard the platform from bad actors and abuse. Weiss highlighted Twitter’s history of strident denials surrounding shadow banning—the act of blocking or hiding a user from the platform without their knowledge—in contrast with the behavior revealed by the Twitter Files. Though technically correct, this is misleading and Weiss’ evidence does not strictly conflict with Twitter’s past claims. The firm has denied shadow banning but its objections primarily come from the use of the term “shadow banning” itself, which it says it rejects as tweets were still visible, just less visible.

What To Watch For

Following Twitter Files part two dropping, Musk said Twitter is working on a software update that will clearly show users whether they’ve been shadow banned, the reason why and how to appeal. The feature was one of a number teased by the billionaire Thursday night. Tweets will also show view counts within a few weeks, Musk said, with the feature being similar to how videos on the platform already show view counts. Some 1.5 billion account names will also be freed up in the near future, Musk said, “obvious account deletions with no tweets” or log ins for years.

Crucial Quote

Musk’s high-profile criticism over content moderation at Twitter before his arrival has struck a chord with Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey. Dorsey, formerly CEO, has maintained a relatively low profile since Musk took over. In his first public reaction to the release of the first set of Twitter files, Dorsey asked Musk why he wouldn’t just make “everything public now” if his goal was transparency and establishing trust. “Why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves?”

What We Don’t Know

It is not clear exactly how the “Twitter Files” investigation works or what freedoms and access the journalists involved have. Musk has framed the effort as a way of highlighting censorship at the company before he took over and is supportive. It is not clear what rules Weiss and Taibbi have agreed to abide by in order to gain access. Weiss said the group are only “just getting started” and that they have “broad and expanding access,” their only condition being that material is first published on the platform. Both journalists are billed as independent from Twitter and Musk. Insider reported that Weiss, though not Taibbi, has been given access to Twitter’s employee systems, added to its Slack and given a company laptop, though is not thought to be an employee. Musk, when asked on Twitter, said there were political candidates subject to shadow bans while running for election or reelection. It is not clear what politicians were targeted or whether they were in the U.S. or elsewhere.

Chief Critic

Republicans and conservatives have long criticized Twitter’s moderation practices, which they class as overbearing and biased, and are lining up behind Musk and his less restrictive approach. Predictably, the story presented in part two of the Twitter Files also sparked fierce responses. Bongino, named by Weiss, described the news as “some Soviet-style bullshit” and the Libs of TikTok account said they felt “vindicated” and called on Musk to name all the political candidates who had been shadow banned. Bhattacharya, the Stanford academic, said the revelation “will keep me up tonight” and wondered—without presenting evidence—whether the government played a role in the “suppression of covid policy discussion.”

Key Background

Taibbi released the first round of Twitter Files in early December. They centered around Twitter’s efforts to suppress an October 2020 New York Post story that claimed unsavory ties between then Vice President Joe Biden and a Ukrainian energy company that paid money to his son, Hunter. That Twitter moved to suppress the story is well known and Dorsey has apologized for the way the firm handled the matter, including in a senate hearing to Congress. Despite the rehashing of a well-worn story, the release was treated by many as if it were a bombshell revelation and widely condemned by conservatives. Taibbi will reportedly be dropping the third Twitter Files installment, Weiss said, though she did not provide a timeline for when this might happen. The second installment came out after more than a week of delays. The release of internal documents comes as part of Musk’s Twitter revamp and focus on free speech. His overhaul has already slashed Twitter’s headcount and worried regulators the firm will be unable to properly moderate content and safeguard users.

Forbes Valuation

$185 billion. That’s Musk’s estimated net worth, according to Forbes’ real-time tracker. He is currently the world’s second richest person and after being overtaken by French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault on Wednesday. Arnault, who has jostled with Musk for the top ranking over the last few days and repeatedly swapped places, is worth an estimated $187.5 billion. He is best known for the LVMH empire of some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.