A new installment of Twitter Files this Saturday night revealed the eagerness of former Twitter executives to silence Donald Trump's message in 2021.
Deplatforming the President (cont.) https://t.co/Q51Ala4SNz
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022
This time, it is freelance writer and journalist Michael Shellenberger who details in a Twitter thread the steps the company's top executives took to cancel and permanently ban the former president.
1. TWITTER FILES, PART 4
The Removal of Donald Trump: January 7
As the pressure builds, Twitter executives build the case for a permanent ban
- Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 10, 2022
The files expose the chaos at the Big Tech Company on Jan. 7, the day after the Capitol riots. Michael Shellenberger details how "Twitter executives build the case for a permanent ban."
On Jan 7, senior Twitter execs:
- create justifications to ban Trump
- seek a change of policy for Trump alone, distinct from other political leaders
- express no concern for the free speech or democracy implications of a ban
This #TwitterFiles is reported with @lwoodhouse
- Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 10, 2022
The journalist details how after the riots on Capitol Hill, "internal and external pressure" increased against former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to enact the ban against the 45th president.
In this regard, Shellenberger notes that on January 7, 2021, Dorsey sent an email to employees saying that "Twitter needs to remain consistent in its policies, including the right of users to return to Twitter after a temporary suspension." However, hours later that same day, Dorsey approved a "repeat offender for civic integrity" policy. This was a new system in which five strikes would result in permanent suspension. An ad hoc formula to oust Donald Trump forever.
Trump was banned from the platform the next day due to what Twitter said was an alleged "risk of further incitement to violence."
No internal opposition to censorship
Shellenberger's thread reflects how Twitter employees went from being initially hesitant about Trump's ban on the platform to actively participating in it. During the events revealed by the journalist (Jan. 7, 2021), Jack Dorsey was on vacation and delegated much of the responsibility to senior executives, including former head of Twitter security Yoel Roth and head of legal Vijaya Gadde, known for her censorship policies on the platform.
The only opposition seemed to come from a junior company employee, who pointed out that making "ad hoc decisions like this that don’t appear rooted in policy are a slippery slope."
The *only* serious concern we found expressed within Twitter over the implications for free speech and democracy of banning Trump came from a junior person in the organization. It was tucked away in a lower-level Slack channel known as "site-integrity-auto." pic.twitter.com/6CWiz5MXfu
- Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 11, 2022
