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Republican lawmakers react to ‘Twitter Files’ part 3: ‘It’s even worse than we thought’

December 10, 2022 | | Print Article

The “Twitter Files” Part 3 dropped on Friday, exploding across social media, detailing the communications surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and what led up to Twitter banning then-President Trump, as GOP lawmakers vowed to hold Big Tech accountable.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

The information released also showed how Twitter colluded with the FBI to censor conservatives with executives ruthlessly suppressing engagement for tweets they did not agree with or claimed were false. The leftist media has steadfastly refused to cover the “Twitter Files.”

“It’s even worse than we thought,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MI) tweeted on Friday.

As the “Twitter Files” have revealed beyond a doubt, the suspicion that Twitter was creating blacklists, suspending, and shadowbanning users was demonstrably true despite what executives had testified to before Congress.

“It is hard to count the number of lies Twitter executives told under oath to Congress,” Hawley commented.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wants those who lied prosecuted and said as much a few days ago.

“Everyone at Twitter who lied to the Federal Election Commission needs to retain lawyers. Those folks are in real civil and real criminal jeopardy right now. #TwitterFiles,” he tweeted.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) slammed Twitter’s reported censorship, “The same communist censorship that has been exposed by Twitter files is happening on @facebook and @YouTube. It’s been going on for years and there is nothing stopping it. Republicans have to end it.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) bluntly called out Twitter executives for lying as well, “They told us Twitter didn’t shadow ban. False.”

Jordan has just been selected to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee as Republicans retake the House in January. He echoed Hawley saying it was worse than anyone thought.

“What’s worse,” Jordan asked, “Former Twitter executives lying about shadow banning [or] the media ignoring the story or promoting those lies?”

“Big Tech will be held accountable for their flagrant bias,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) declared.

The first part of the third installment of the “Twitter Files” was released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday acting as an immense promotion for Musk’s Twitter while enthralling conservatives as it exposes the corruption between Democrats, social media, intelligence agencies, and Big Tech.

Taibbi tweeted that internal documents dated between October 2020 and January 2021, show “the erosion of standards within the company in months before J6, decisions by high-ranking executives to violate their own policies, and more, against the backdrop of ongoing, documented interaction with federal agencies.”

“Whatever your opinion on the decision to remove Trump that day, the internal communications at Twitter between January 6th-January 8th have clear historical import. Even Twitter’s employees understood in the moment it was a landmark moment in the annals of speech,” he contended.

According to Taibbi, Twitter executives “started processing new power” following their decision to ban Trump. They indicated they were “prepared to ban future presidents and White Houses – perhaps even Joe Biden. The ‘new administration,’ says one exec, ‘will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary.’”

The files allegedly show that the FBI and other federal agencies colluded with Twitter executives in their censorship efforts.

Just as Musk defended former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after telling congress there was no shadowbanning, he came to the defense of the FBI.

“With rare exception, the FBI seems to want to do the right thing, but there is no question that Twitter operated as a Democratic Party activist machine,” he tweeted.

Part 2 of the “Twitter Files” showed that the company was creating blacklists of conservatives.

“A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of 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,” journalist Bari Weiss said in a thread.

“In 2018, Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde (then Head of Legal Policy and Trust) and Kayvon Beykpour (Head of Product) said: ‘We do not shadow ban.’ They added: ‘And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology,’” she noted.

It was revealed that executives were engaging in word games, claiming there was no shadowbanning, instead calling it “visibility filtering.”

“Think about visibility filtering as being a way for us to suppress what people see to different levels. It’s a very powerful tool,” Weiss tweeted.

Much more is still to come via the “Twitter Files.” It’s acting as a political earthquake that is unhinging the left and shifting the landscape under lawmakers.

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