(PM.) A faction of the US State Department used its influence to get Americans banned from Twitter under its last ownership, journalist Matt Taibbi reports.
In a new batch of Twitter Files released on Thursday, Taibbi said that the taxpayer-funded Global Engagement Center, whose mission is to “coordinate US Federal Government efforts” to tackle “disinformation,” was actually helping snuff out users that belonged to “state-sponsored blacklists.”
Taibbi shows evidence that the GEC sent Twitter various reports on several topics that used a guilt-by-association, or “ecosystem” concept.
The GEC report on France “attributes membership in the yellow vest movement as being Russia-aligned,” Twitter’s Aaron Rodericks described.
20.GEC sent Twitter a series of reports on a series of topics, often employing the “ecosystem” concept.
Its report on France “attributes membership in the yellow vest movement as being Russia-aligned,” is how Twitter’s Aaron Rodericks put it. pic.twitter.com/iDBZbr7GWg
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
GEC’s report on China was “more entertainment value than anything,” said Rodericks. “It equates anything pro-China, but also anything against China in Italy, as part of Russia’s strategy.”
Taibbi revealed how the GEC would send journalists these blacklists, which would then give the journalist a reason to go to Twitter’s door and “demand to know why this or that ‘ecosystem’ isn’t obliterated.”
23.GEC’s game: create an alarmist report, send it to the slower animals in journalism’s herd, and wait as reporters bang on Twitter’s door, demanding to know why this or that “ecosystem” isn’t obliterated.
Twitter emails ooze frustration at such queries. UGGG! reads one. pic.twitter.com/Xkw7fOKZXL
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
Twitter would end up disagreeing with the GEC’s notifications on some occasions, including when it resisted calls regarding Russian “disinfo” in South America.
27. Roth was referring to the fact that the ASD created Hamilton 68, another guilt-by-association scheme detailed in Twitter Files #15. The Hamilton “dashboard” claimed to track accounts linked to “Russian influence activities,” but the list was largely made up of Americans. pic.twitter.com/VEKokQsdHx
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
Twitter’s Yoel Roth was one of the staff that pointed out that the group Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) was “back at their old tricks,” referring to ASD’s creation of created Hamilton 68, “another guilt-by-association scheme detailed in Twitter Files #15. The Hamilton ‘dashboard’ claimed to track accounts linked to ‘Russian influence activities,’ but the list was largely made up of Americans,” Matt Taibbi reports.
