The OOTIKOF, an internationally renowned society of flamers since 1998, invites you to join in the fun. Clicking on Casual Banter will get you to all the sections.
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:22 pm
I thought we knew why twitter supressed the laptop story ... The article goes from numerous posts from somebody about the laptop, to stuff about Apple's advertising, to posts from that Vidman fool ... I didn't see any lid blown off anything
The Wise And Powerful Admin
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 100 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sat Dec 03, 2022 3:49 pm
Grackle wrote:
I thought we knew why twitter supressed the laptop story ... The article goes from numerous posts from somebody about the laptop, to stuff about Apple's advertising, to posts from that Vidman fool ... I didn't see any lid blown off anything
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sat Dec 03, 2022 5:26 pm
Still, i thought it was a given.. I've never known twitter to be exempt from left wing censoring .. I think most of social media as well as the media suppressed the Hunter laptop story.. Even the FBI lied and called it Russian disinformation ... Supposedly told Zuckerburg to "be vigilant" about it ...they told congress they *lost* the friggin laptop...or didn't know where it was...some shit. .. It should come as no surprise that twitter covered it up along with all the others to spare Biden the embarrassment right before the election
The Wise And Powerful Admin
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 100 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:50 am
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 100 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:53 am
Former Top FBI Official Who Became Twitter Counsel Approved of Suppressing Hunter Biden laptop Story Carmine Sabia, December 3, 2022
A former top attorney for the FBI who went to work for Twitter was one of the people who approved suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story on the platform.
The former FBI official, James Baker, appeared to agree with the decision to squash the New York Post’s story on the Biden laptop, journalist Matt Taibbi said in a long Twitter thread about why the story was suppressed.
“I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked. At this stage, however, it is reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted,” he said to other Twitter employees in an email discussing how to handle the matter.
“There are some facts that indicate the materials may have been hacked, while there are others indicating that the computer was either abandoned and-or the owner consented to allow the repair shop to access it for at least some purposes,” he said. “We simply need more information.”
28. To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because “caution is warranted”: pic.twitter.com/tg4D0gLWI6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 3, 2022
It was part of a longer thread that gives the details on the company’s decision to crush the story.
“What you’re about to read is the first installment in a series, based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter,” the journalist said.
“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,” he said before unleashing a torrent of information.
And what is more interesting is the CEO said more would be unveiled on Saturday.
“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.”
“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.
“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.
“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.”
“Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the behest of a political party:
“Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However:
“This system wasn’t balanced. It was based on contacts.
“Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right.
The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives.
“On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published BIDEN SECRET EMAILS, an expose based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop:
“Twitter took extraordinary steps to suppress the story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be ‘unsafe.’ They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography.
“White House spokeswoman Kaleigh McEnany was locked out of her account for tweeting about the story, prompting a furious letter from Trump campaign staffer Mike Hahn, who seethed: ‘At least pretend to care for the next 20 days.’
“This led public policy executive Caroline Strom to send out a polite WTF query. Several employees noted that there was tension between the comms/policy teams, who had little/less control over moderation, and the safety/trust teams:
“Strom’s note returned the answer that the laptop story had been removed for violation of the company’s ‘hacked materials’ policy:
“Although several sources recalled hearing about a ‘general’ warning from federal law enforcement that summer about possible foreign hacks, there’s no evidence – that I’ve seen – of any government involvement in the laptop story. In fact, that might have been the problem…
“The decision was made at the highest levels of the company, but without the knowledge of CEO Jack Dorsey, with former head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde playing a key role.
“’They just freelanced it,’ is how one former employee characterized the decision. “Hacking was the excuse, but within a few hours, pretty much everyone realized that wasn’t going to hold. But no one had the guts to reverse it.”
“You can see the confusion in the following lengthy exchange, which ends up including Gadde and former Trust and safety chief Yoel Roth. Comms official Trenton Kennedy writes, ‘I’m struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe’
“By this point ‘everyone knew this was f***ed,’ said one former employee, but the response was essentially to err on the side of… continuing to err.
“Former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman asks, ‘Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?’
“To which former Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker again seems to advise staying the non-course, because ‘caution is warranted.’
1. Thread: THE TWITTER FILES
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 2, 2022
“A fundamental problem with tech companies and content moderation: many people in charge of speech know/care little about speech, and have to be told the basics by outsiders. To wit.
“In one humorous exchange on day 1, Democratic congressman Ro Khanna reaches out to Gadde to gently suggest she hop on the phone to talk about the ‘backlash re speech.’ Khanna was the only Democratic official I could find in the files who expressed concern.
“Gadde replies quickly, immediately diving into the weeds of Twitter policy, unaware Khanna is more worried about the Bill of Rights.
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:05 pm
12-4-2022
Journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday published new details about Twitter's content moderation decisions.
Fox News pundits and Elon Musk described the decisions as violations of the First Amendment. You may think Twitter was wrong to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story but it wasn't a violation of the First Amendment
Twitter, as a private company and not the government, can choose what it does and does not publish.
Twitter's suppression of a story about Hunter Biden's laptop has come under increased scrutiny in the two years since it was published, especially as additional news outlets have verified some of the laptop's contents. But whether or not the decision was wrong, it wasn't a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
On October 14, 2020, one month before the election, the New York Post published a story that claimed to include materials taken from a laptop that belonged to Joe Biden's son Hunter. Twitter quickly suppressed the distribution of the story, initially blocking users from sharing the link, citing concerns it could be the result of hacking or a foreign disinformation campaign.
You may think Twitter was wrong to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story but it wasn't a violation of the First Amendment as Musk claims.
After taking over Twitter in October, Elon Musk promised to release details about the company's handling of the story. On Friday, Matt Taibbi, journalist, published a lengthy Twitter thread that included internal communications about the decision-making process.
Taibbi also reported that Twitter received and granted requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign to remove content.
At least some of the posts the Biden campaign requested be removed included nude photos that would have violated Twitter's terms of service under its non-consensual nudity policy.
"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," Musk wrote, despite the fact that the Biden campaign was a private entity, and therefore not the government.
But regardless of what Musk or pundits on Fox News assert — or whether or not the decision to suppress the story was right or ethical — Twitter's actions were not a violation of the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law
"The clear answer, the 100 percent clear answer, is no," Doron Kalir, a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, told Insider. "Twitter is not a state actor and the First Amendment applies only to state actors."
The actual text of the amendment states it plainly: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
Congress. Which courts have established extends to the government at all federal, state, and local levels. So whether or not Twitter could violate the First Amendment, depends on whether or not it can be considered the government.
But courts across the US have ruled that sites like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are not state entities. They are independent companies.
"Federal courts in the United State have ruled time and again, and as recently as 2020, that those digital platforms are not state actors, therefore they are not the government, and the government cannot restrict them in any way,"
Kalir said, referencing the 2020 case Prager University v. Google LLC, in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled YouTube was not a state actor.
Which means rather than Twitter violating the First Amendment, the private platform was actually expressing its First Amendment rights by making its own decisions about what to publish.
Media outlets have discretion to grant or refuse requests from the government.
As for the requests to remove specific content, as far as we know, they were exactly that: requests.
"Both the state, the Trump White House, and the Biden team were asking Twitter, and Twitter was under no obligation to either oblige or refuse those requests," Kalir said.
Unlike the Biden team, the White House was a state actor. But Kalir noted that cooperation between media and government is about as old as government itself. Journalists and news outlets often rely on the government, sometimes through leaks or anonymous sources.
That cooperation may also include requests from a state actor to postpone publishing a story or even to withhold names or other information for national security concerns or other reasons. __ And again, outlets have the discretion to agree or not agree to such requests.
"At some point, when the news outlet sheds its independent features and becomes a funnel for government information or disinformation, then it's no longer a private publication and you could claim that the First Amendment should be implicated," Kalir explained, but added that the Twitter case "does not even come close to the line."
He said he knew of no precedent in the US in which a court ruled a newspaper or media outlet was acting as an arm of the government.
It was "routine" for Twitter to grant content removal requests. Those requests came from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign during the election cycle.
_________________
Grackle
Posts : 2495 Join date : 2017-09-09
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:44 pm
(-snipped all the bullshit)
Quote :
Twitter is not a state actor and the First Amendment applies only to state actors.
Really!?! ... So the first amendment doesn't apply to any of us lowly citizens
If that's the case, then what about the FBI? .. They're "state actors" right? .. Aren't they the ones that lied and claimed the laptop was Russian disinformation to begin with? .. And didn't twitter and/or the FBI first claim they were hacked?
So what "removal requests" came from the Trump white house and why aren't they being revealed? .. Did they effect the election?
"odd" how the "removal requests" and bannings are now exposed while the 1st amendment remains the same
Grackle
Posts : 2495 Join date : 2017-09-09
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:20 pm
Since the democrats colluding with left wingnut twitter employees has been exposed, Temple is now a supporter of censorship and banning
Obi isn't a "state actor" .. How'd it be if he removed ALL your tripe off this board? .. He should start with the idiotic, nauseating shit you just posted, blaming right wingers for shooting up a substation or some shit, using the slack-jawed drivel of Rachel Madow to make your point, since you're unable to make one of your own
... Shit, you wouldn't mind if he banned you, right? .. You'd prolly support his choice to do so... as long as it wouldn't violate the 1st amendment, so you'd be good with it
The Wise And Powerful Admin
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 100 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Wed Dec 07, 2022 10:54 pm
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:35 am
The Wise And Powerful wrote:
Youtube video
I admittedly only watched half of that video ...i watched another/different one earlier... They sounded about the same
So Fbi agent was involved in colluding with twitter employees to stifle evidence of the laptop..or on the laptop, by deleting posts/tweets that pertained to it ..also banning posters i believe
I *think* it was the FBI that first claimed it was a hack .. Nobody believed that but nobody would say as much .. The story about the laptop - or the contents of it was changed to Russian disinformation...propaganda, whatever
The FBI agent (who took part in the lying and cover up) leaves the FBI and gets a job as a twitter employee .. I think i have all that right so far ..it's confusing after all the bullshit about it ... Anyway
Musk promises another post dump with more evidence .. It didn't happen when he promised because he found that the twitter employee that was vetting the posts was an FBI agent that took part in the stifling ..and he fired him
I think most of the country already knew that evidence of crimes committed by the Bidens (including head-sniffing Joe) is on the laptop) only the democrats were colluding with twitter and big tech to stifle the proof ... Musk buying twitter is a huge threat to their well known secret
Musk says he suspects they're gonna assasinate him...at least attempt it
I don't think the left wingnuts even really know why they're so angry and up in arms, claiming they're gonna leave twitter over Musk buying it .. Democrats are telling them how fuk'd up it is now and they Just feed into it .. Gonna be like the KKK in nazi Germany ...nothin but hate speech ....words are violence and all that
They can get their bobblehead mouth pieces to relay their rhetoric through their media that what they've been doing doesn't violate the 1st amendment because of some loophole in the law...and even claim there's nothing wrong with anything they've been doing ...But it doesn't matter .. Once the truth comes out with the proof of it they can all just suck shit and slobber some more about the constitution and how everything they don't like is a threat to democracy ..Millions more people won't care about their self righteous bullshit anymore ..Just people like Temple that will always believe their shit and keep preaching it to anyone they think will listen .. I think things are gonna come to a head and pop like a pimple next year when the dems don't have total control over every fuk'n thing anymore
The Wise And Powerful Admin
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 100 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: Elon Musk Blows Lid Off Hunter Biden Laptop Story Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:36 pm
elsewhere, Herman wrote:
Reaction to the Hunter laptop story perfectly illustrates how the elite media Have given up doing their job.
In years past, when journalism was trusted by consumers much more than it is today, The New York Post might have been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting about Hunter Biden’s laptop. New Twitter owner Elon Musk might have also won awards for his revelations of collusion between Twitter, intelligence officials who claimed the story was Russian disinformation and leading Democrats who were in touch with social-media owners to suppress stories that might have harmed Joe Biden’s election as president. Just days ago and long after even some major media reluctantly “verified” the laptop and its contents, even CBS acknowledged its existence. All of this had implications for the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and the continued decline of public trust in the major media. As for the election, The Post reported, “Nearly four of five Americans who’ve been following the Hunter Biden laptop scandal believe that ‘truthful’ coverage would have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, according to a new poll. A similar percentage also said they’re convinced that information on the computer is real, with just 11% saying they thought it was ‘created by Russia,’ according to the survey conducted by the New Jersey-based Technometrica Institute of Policy and Politics.” Have any of those responsible for covering up the laptop story apologized for failing to do their job and verify the story when it mattered? Nope. Have the more than 50 former senior intelligence officials who signed a letter saying the laptop story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” issued a corrective statement, admitting their error? Again, no.
Home 
