Reports of censorship during pandemic

[Emily]

https://openvaet.org/twitter_thought...entLanguage=en

Twitter's Thought Police
Censored Voices

We feature here the confirmed cases of censorship, of qualified scientists or members of the public; whose accounts have been terminated by Twitter on the sole motive that they shared facts, jokes or opinions with the public, which were diverging from the authorised dogma.

Such an inventory became necessary following the increase, always more systematic & blind, of the weight of the censorship and of the propaganda on Twitter; a state of affairs which is a direct consequence of the collusion between the US's "Health" Institutions and the main social networks.

We exclusively focused, on this first version, on the inventory of the accounts banned definitely by Twitter. We haven't cared at this stage about the countless accounts whose audience is artificialy limited by various means (false "Adult content" warnings, impossibility to "retweet", false "Misleading" warnings totaly ignorant of the state of the science's knowledge, forced followers removal, etc.).

[Pathfinder]

Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
1. Thread: THE TWITTER FILES
5:34 PM · Dec 2, 2022
125.6K
Retweets
24.3K
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Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
Replying to
@mtaibbi
2. What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter.
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
3. The “Twitter Files” tell an incredible story from inside one of the world’s largest and most influential social media platforms. It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer.
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
4. Twitter in its conception was a brilliant tool for enabling instant mass communication, making a true real-time global conversation possible for the first time.
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
5. In an early conception, Twitter more than lived up to its mission statement, giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
6. As time progressed, however, the company was slowly forced to add those barriers. Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters.
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
7. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly.
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
·
Dec 2
8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.”
...
https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598822959866683394

----------------------------------------------------

OPINION>JUDICIARY
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Censorship by surrogate: Why Musk’s document dump could be a game changer

BY JONATHAN TURLEY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 12/03/22 10:30 AM ET
...
The internal company documents released by Musk reinforce what we have seen previously in other instances of Twitter censorship. A recent federal filing revealed a 2021 email between Twitter executives and Carol Crawford, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s digital media chief. Crawford’s back-channel communication sought to censor other “unapproved opinions” on social media; Twitter replied that “with our CEO testifying before Congress this week [it] is tricky.”

At the time, Twitter’s Dorsey and other tech CEOs were about to appear at a House hearing to discuss “misinformation” on social media and their “content modification” policies. I had just testified on private censorship in circumventing the First Amendment as a type of censorship by surrogate. Dorsey and the other CEOs were asked about my warning of a “‘little brother’ problem, a problem which private entities do for the government that which it cannot legally do for itself.” In response, Dorsey insisted that “we don’t have a censoring department.”

The implications of these documents becomes more serious once the Biden campaign became the Biden administration. These documents show a back channel existed with President Biden’s campaign officials, but those same back channels appear to have continued to be used by Biden administration officials. If so, that would be when Twitter may have gone from a campaign ally to a surrogate for state censorship. As I have previously written, the administration cannot censor critics and cannot use agents for that purpose under the First Amendment.

That is precisely what Musk is now alleging. As the documents were being released, he tweeted, “Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is.”
...
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciar...-game-changer/

[Pathfinder]

Court Orders Federal Government to Produce Records from Top White House, HHS Officials in Missouri AG’s Lawsuit

Sep 6, 2022, 15:18 PM by AG Schmitt

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced today that, in his lawsuit against top-ranking Biden Administration officials for allegedly colluding to suppress freedom of speech, the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted Missouri and Louisiana’s request to compel the federal government to produce records from top-ranking White House and Health and Human Services (HHS) officials. This ruling specifically allows the attorneys general to collect the communications between key White House and Department of Health and Senior Services officials, like Dr. Anthony Fauci and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Twitter, Meta, and others.

“Up until this point, the Department of Justice has refused to cooperate with our requests for discovery from top officials in the Biden Administration under the guise of ‘executive privilege.’ Today, the Court entered an order that requires that the federal government turn over the records we’ve long requested,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “The American people deserve answers on how the federal government has colluded with social media companies to censor free speech on these major platforms. We will continue to fight to uncover more of this vast censorship enterprise.”

The original lawsuit was filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry on May 5, 2022. Missouri and Louisiana filed a Motion for Expedited Preliminary Injunction-Related Discovery on June 17, 2022, and that motion was granted on July 12, 2022, clearing the way for Missouri and Louisiana to gather discovery and documents from Biden Administration officials and social media companies.

The attorneys general filed a Joint Statement on Discovery Disputes, asking the federal District Court to compel the Department of Justice to turn over communications between high-ranking Biden Administration officials from the White House, HHS, and others and major social media companies. That request was granted today, specifically for the communications of Dr. Anthony Fauci and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with social-media platforms.

The full ruling can be read here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs/doc-72---order-re-discovery-disputes.pdf?sfvrsn=af653b4f_2


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https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2022/09...i-ag-s-lawsuit

Eric Schmitt@Eric_Schmitt

BREAKING: Here is the full transcript of the Anthony Fauci deposition:

https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/135885afauci112322_full_redacted.pdf?sfvrsn=35f4a4 25_2…



1:47 PM · Dec 5, 2022

[Pathfinder]

Louisiana, Missouri Release Full Fauci Deposition Transcript

BATON ROUGE, LA – Today, Louisiana and Missouri are releasing the full transcript for the deposition of Dr. Anthony Fauci, which was taken on November 23rd, 2022. The deposition was taken as part of Louisiana and Missouri's landmark lawsuit against the federal government and the Biden Administration for colluding with social media companies to censor speech.

“Fauci’s recent deposition only confirmed what we already knew: federal bureaucrats in collusion with social media companies want to control not only what you think, but especially what you say,” said Attorney General Landry. “During no time in human history was this more obvious than during the COVID-19 crisis where social engineering tactics were used against the American public, not to limit your exposure to a virus, but to limit your exposure to information that did not fit within a government sanctioned narrative.”

“Missouri and Louisiana are leading the way in exposing how the federal government and the Biden Administration worked with social media to censor speech. In our deposition with Dr. Fauci, it became clear that when Dr. Fauci speaks, social media censors,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “I invite everyone to read the deposition transcript and see exactly how Dr. Fauci operates, and exactly how the COVID tyranny that ruined lives and destroyed businesses was born.”

According to the transcript, Dr. Fauci said “I don’t recall” 174 times, including when asked about emails that he sent, interviews that he gave, and other important documents.
...
https://agjefflandry.com/Article/13094

[Pathfinder]

jack@jack
·
11h
Replying to
@elonmusk
If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves? Including all discussions around current and future actions? Make everything public now. #TwitterFiles


Elon Musk@elonmusk
·
3h
Replying to
@jack
Most important data was hidden (from you too) and some may have been deleted, but everything we find will be released

[Pathfinder]

Thread
Bari Weiss
@bariweiss
·6m
THREAD: THE TWITTER FILES PART TWO.

TWITTER’S SECRET BLACKLISTS.
Bari Weiss
@bariweiss
1. 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.
6:20 PM · Dec 8, 2022
...
https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status...08766861815808

[Pathfinder]

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya thinks it was his pinned tweet linking to The Great Barrington Declaration twitter account that triggered the blacklist.

The Great Barrington Declaration was discussed here on FT:

Controversy - The Great Barrington Declaration

https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/...on-declaration

------------------------

Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya
Professor Stanford School of Medicine. MD, PhD. Health policy: infectious diseases, covid, health economics. Scientific freedom. Stanford, CA, USA Joined August 2021

-------------------------

Thread

Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya

I spent the afternoon yesterday at Twitter HQ at the invitation of @elonmusk to find out more about the trend "blacklist" that twitter placed on me & more. A short thread on what I found out
follows.

1/4
3:29 PM · Dec 11, 2022
...
Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya
·
17h
Replying to @DrJBhattacharya

Twitter 1.0 placed me on the blacklist on the first day I joined in August 2021. I think it was my pinned tweet linking to the @gbdeclaration that triggered the blacklist based on unspecified complaints Twitter received.
2/4

Jay Bhattacharya
@DrJBhattacharya
·
17h
Twitter 1.0 rejected requests for verification by me and @MartinKulldorff. Each time the reasoning (never conveyed to us) was that we were not notable enough. They should have asked Francis Collins -- he would have vouched for our standing as "fringe epidemiologists."
3/4

Jay Bhattacharya
@DrJBhattacharya
·
17h
It will take some time to find out more about what led Twitter 1.0 to act so imperiously, but I am grateful to @elonmusk, who has promised access to help find out. I will report the results on Twitter 2.0, where transparency and free speech rule.
4/4

https://twitter.com/DrJBhattacharya/...52936921939968

[Pathfinder]

Missouri Attorney General Releases More Documents Exposing White House's Social Media Censorship Scheme

Jan 9, 2023, 17:26 PM by AG Bailey

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - In order to protect the constitutional liberties of all Americans, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey continues to pursue litigation in Missouri v. Biden, a civil case demonstrating that top officials in the federal government colluded with Big tech social media companies to violate Americans’ right to free speech under the First Amendment. Today’s documents display White House Digital Director Robert Flaherty and his team’s efforts to censor opposing viewpoints on major social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

“I want to protect Missourians and the freedoms they enjoy, which is why as Attorney General, I will always defend the Constitution. This case is about the Biden Administration’s blatant disregard for the First Amendment and its collusion with Big Tech social media companies to suppress speech it disagrees with,” said Attorney General Bailey. “I will always fight back against unelected bureaucrats who seek indoctrinate the people of this state by violating our constitutional right to free and open debate.”

Exhibits include:

• The White House asks Twitter to censor Robert Kennedy, Jr., a known critic of the White House’s COVID-19 narrative
• The White House directs Facebook to shut down conservative voices Tucker Carlson and Tomi Lahren
• White House Digital Director Flaherty scolds Facebook, saying that he “really couldn’t care less about products unless they’re having measureable impact” at suppressing speech
• Flaherty informs Facebook that “misinformation around the vaccine” is “a concern shared at the highest (and I mean highest) level of the WH”
• Flaherty demands that Facebook to step up its operations of “removing bad information” on vaccines
• In regard to “anti-vax” posts, Flaherty tells Facebook that “slowing it down seems reasonable”
• Facebook assures Flaherty that “in addition to removing vaccine misinformation, we have been focused on reducing the virality of content discouraging vaccines that does not contain actionable misinformation,” including “often-true content”
• Flaherty vehemently disagrees with Facebook’s decision not to take down a Tucker Carlson video on COVID-19 vaccines, stating “not for nothing but last time we did this dance, it ended in an insurrection”
• Flaherty tells Twitter that “if your product is appending misinformation to our tweets that seems like a pretty fundamental issue”
• Facebook assures Flaherty that they “remove claims public health authorities tell us have been debunked or are unsupported by evidence”
• Flaherty accuses Twitter of “Total Calvinball” and “bending over backwards” to tolerate disfavored speech after Twitter refuses to comply with White House demands to censor a video

Missouri v. Biden was filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana on May 5, 2022. They filed for a Motion for Expedited Preliminary Injunction-Related Discovery on June 17, 2022, and that motion was granted on July 12, 2022, clearing the way for Missouri and Louisiana to gather discovery and documents from Biden Administration and social media companies.

The request for depositions was filed on October 10, 2022, and that motion was granted on October 21, 2022, allowing Missouri and Louisiana to depose top-ranking officials in the federal government under oath. So far, Missouri and Louisiana have deposed Dr. Anthony Fauci, FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan, Eric Waldo of the Surgeon General’s Office, Carol Crawford of the CDC, and Daniel Kimmage of the State Department. Depositions continue.

###

https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2023/01...sorship-scheme

[Emily]

https://rumble.com/v25depn-exclusive...update-22.html
Glenn Greenwald
Streamed on: Jan 13, 7:00 pm EST
EXCLUSIVE: EXTREME ESCALATION OF BRAZIL'S CENSORSHIP REGIME | SYSTEM UPDATE #22

[Emily]

https://rumble.com/v269v5c-wef-need-...-informat.html
WEF need to starve social media platforms of revenue if they allow information that contradicts

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ve/ar-AA16yWoV

Elon Musk Fires Back at a Top Executive
Story by Luc Olinga • 2h ago
Source: TheStreet

Richard Edelman, CEO of one of the world's largest communications agencies, spoke out against Twitter at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
...

Edelman this week participated in a roundtable at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The king of communication was asked his opinion about social networks and the spread of disinformation:

"So I think the first thing, because I mostly work with business, that business needs to do is deprive platforms that spread this information of oxygen," Edelman said. "Stop advertising, pull your promotion money, make sure that they understand that they have a consequential impact on society.

"And the boycott of Twitter for several months has had a modest, modest impact but I think the Facebook one failed," he added. "But the necessity of getting it right in the platforms that are probably primary source information for a third to 40% of people is urgent."

The clip of Edelman's response was posted on Twitter and Musk did not hold back.

"Edelman is a despicable human being," the entrepreneur, who owns almost 80% of Twitter, said. "His job is literally being a professional liar!"...

And so it goes...

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen....html?page=all

Edelman names Pfizer exec head of new public affairs group
Anne Stych, Staff Writer, Bizwomen
Jan 13, 2020, 10:00am EST
Pfizer executive Kirsty Graham has been named CEO of Edelman Public Affairs, the newly created standalone public affairs practice at Chicago-based communications firm Edelman.

She will lead a 200-plus member team located in Washington, New York, London, Ottawa, Delhi and Brussels, per The Holmes Report.
...

She also previously worked for New Zealand’s Foreign Service and was the country’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.