Right Wing “writer” Bari Weiss was tapped for “Twitter Files 2” 007 super secret, “LOOK AT HOW TRUSTWORTHY ELON MUSK IS” Twitter blow job data dump last night, and it was pure comedy.
Like, I'll be honest, I had actually *expected* a lot more. Someone somewhere must have said something stupid. But, so far… um… nothing. I mean, honestly, if someone leaked my own internal discussion about *fighting spam* on @techdirt I think it would look WAY more damning.
— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) December 9, 2022
First, Bari Weiss is not a journalist. She’s a substack promoter and hardcore alt-right influencer who pretends to occupy the middle like Matt Taibbi and Anti-trans activist Abigail Schrier who Elon gave access to internal emails and documents. Bari occupies whatever space keeps her relevant and pays her. She’s a chameleon of sorts and delivered quite the performance for Elon.
Let’s dive in! Bari set the tone for Twittergate with all caps. Killer touch.
This Tweet thread about the "Twitter Files 2" is comedy. So Twitter prevented assholes and anti-vax dickheads who threatened the lives of your kids from trending. @bariweiss is an Elon proxy, and I think she's angling to have Elon's 15th kid. https://t.co/71cnuXR9DA
— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) December 9, 2022
The Evidence that Wasn’t
Let’s preface Bari’s ENTIRE thread with Elon’s tweet from three weeks ago, where he said he planned on shadow-banning accounts. It seems prescient if “Twittergate” is about shadowbanning/account supression.
Bari starts by calling internal digital deliberation of hate speech and disinformation a “secret” digital suppression of free speech (hate speech and disinformation).
Let’s stop here.
Twitter was a living entity that required responsible moderation. f you have a Twitter or ANY social media account, you ticked a “Terms of Service” box. Those terms of service dictate the platform’s ability to nuke you, your account, and your “speech” anytime they want. You know those stories about Elon walking around Twitter HQ saying, “I am the law?” Same/same.
Like Jan 6 insurrectionist/anti-trans/anti-abortion/evangelical extremist Charlie Kirk, who Bari painted as a victim of free speech (hate speech) on an app that doesn’t allow free speech (hate speech) with MULTIPLE account violations.
Alt-right election denier/insurrectionist Dan Bongino? Same thing. Bari presents Dan as another victim of free speech (hate speech and disinformation) whose human rights have been violated on an app that doesn’t allow free speech (hate speech).
The Most Frightening Problem We all Face Using Twitter
Now let’s look at Bari’s support for the Evangelical dickhead behind “Libs of TikTok.” According to this screenshot, Bari Wiess has access to the DMs of random Twitter users granted to her by Elon Musk. Not only is that a MAJOR invasion of privacy it’s 100% illegal. Yes, Elon’s hand-picked “reporters” have access to your DMs.
As noted here, there are watermarks in the screenshot that indicate that it is Ella Irwin's account being used. https://t.co/0Hi5H2zIHY
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) December 9, 2022
America’s “Stored Communications Act strictly prohibits the accessing and sharing personal or private information without the consent of the users. Not only did Bari spend the entire night accessing confidential information, but her entire team (Taibbi and Schrier) has also been doing the same. Including sharing classified internal emails and addresses of those employees. You know, Doxxing.
Elon: I have a great new idea: we will diminish visibility of bad stuff. "No freedom of reach."
Bari Weiss: Look at how EVIL Twitter was: they limited the reach of some nonsense purveyors.
Elon fans: OMG, thank you Elon for saving us!
— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) December 9, 2022
The rest of Bari’s thread re-ups other former employees doing their jobs as bad actors who simply crushed free speech on the right, for fun, or out of loyalty to left-wing ideology.
Professor Scott Galloway put a bullet in that bullshit narrative this week.
Peer-reviewed quantitative research has found that #Twitter’s algorithms amplify right-wing content. Facebook is similarly favorable terrain for the right. It’s not intentional: Right-wing content just turns out to be better uranium for the rage fission reaction #nomercynomalice pic.twitter.com/2MiE7JPIZF
— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) December 7, 2022
Rage Farming Is Big Business
According to every significant analytic, twitter’s algorithm caters to RW accounts. It’s an emotion/rage hack, and the dark right is good at it, and they have money. That being said, we’re someone on the receiving end of a bizarro story where the billionaire INCEL owner of twitter and his compromised friends are trying to tell you a different story for performance points. Again, Elon said three weeks ago that he planned on continuing the Twitter tradition of blocklisting/deboosted/demonetizing hate speech, which kills the Idea of Bari Weiss or Matt Taibbi on to anything other than Elon’s dick.
For comparison, below is how the current Twitter CEO is running the joint (& FWIW also not telling us how he makes decisions, prolly a Magic 8 Ball) AKA shadowbanning AKA terms of service AKA content moderation AKA minding the store AKA HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A RULES SIGN AT A POOL pic.twitter.com/7xJNeS1wi1
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) December 9, 2022
Elon’s no hero.
Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi are not “reporting.” They are licking Elon’s knob through a garden hose, and it’s a hot look.
I can’t wait for ‘Twitter Files 3: The search for anything dumb people can feel good about.”
DB
