On Monday afternoon, the founder of the publication ‘The Free Press,’ Bari Weiss, released the fifth installment of the groundbreaking “Twitter Files,” which went into further detail regarding the decision to suspend President Donald Trump from the platform.
The Twitter Files, an ongoing series of documents leaked to various journalists by new Twitter owner Elon Musk detailing the company’s collusion with Democrats during and after the 2020 election cycle, are the first concrete proof that big tech companies collude with Democrats that has been made public. The fifth installment largely seems to be a follow up to the third, published several days prior by freelance journalist Matt Taibbi, which also made public discussions about the decision to suspend President Trump from Twitter.
8. But voices like that one appear to have been a distinct minority within the company. Across Slack channels, many Twitter employees were upset that Trump hadn’t been banned earlier.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
In the wake of the January 6th protest in DC, the majority of Twitter employees came out in favor of permanently banning the President. Prior to this, Twitter had resisted calls from its employees and various pressure groups to ban the President, citing the necessity of “protecting the public’s right to hear from their leaders.”
One Twitter employee noted that it’s “pretty obvious he’s going to try to thread the needle of incitement without violating the rules,” seemingly acknowledging that the President had done nothing to actually violate Twitter’s terms of service. “I think we’d have a hard time saying this is incitement,” another wrote. However, other employees accused Trump of acting in “bad faith.”
Weiss then goes on to note that Twitter has never banned other world leaders, even ones who have made statements which do violate Twitter rules, including leaders of Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and India.
28. Things escalate from there.
Members of that team came to “view him as the leader of a terrorist group responsible for violence/deaths comparable to Christchurch shooter or Hitler and on that basis and on the totality of his Tweets, he should be de-platformed.” pic.twitter.com/QD4DvrUEhO
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022
Despite numerous Twitter employees agreeing that Trump’s tweets were not in violation, Twitter’s Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust Vijaya Gadde, seemingly caved to calls for Trump’s removal from the platform, making the dubious argument that Trump encouraging ‘American Patriots’ was a “coded incitement to violence.” Members of her staff go on to compare the President to the 2019 Christchurch shooter or Adolf Hitler.
After an all-staff meeting, Twitter leadership finally caved and officially banned the President from Twitter, appeasing the overwhelming liberal Twitter workforce.
President Trump’s suspension from Twitter has been a point of contention for many, including Musk, who argue that the public square should not be so easily manipulated by a private company with clear bias.
You can read the fifth installment of the Twitter Files in their entirety here.
