Docs show Facebook and Twitter closely collaborating w/ Dept of Homeland Security, FBI to police “disinfo.” Plans to expand censorship on topics like withdrawal from Afghanistan, origins of COVID, info that undermines trust in financial institutions. interc.pt/3Dq6TDB
FBI agent Laura Dehmlow was in communications w Facebook that led to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 over the false allegation that it was “disinfo.” This year, she met w/ Twitter/DHS to stress “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.”
Facebook and Twitter created special portals for the government to rapidly request takedowns of content. The portals, along with NGO partners used to censor a wide range of content, including obvious parody accounts and content disagreeing w gov pandemic policy.
The emails and documents show close collaboration b/w DHS & private sector. Twitter's Vijaya Gadde (fired by @elonmusk last week) met monthly with DHS to discuss censorship plans. Microsoft exec texted DHS: "Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov't"
How does DHS justify its evolving mission from countering foreign terror groups to policing domestic "disinfo" on social media? Leaked planning docs show the agency argues false information is a source of radicalization & violence.
Earlier this year, DHS launched a widely panned "Disinfo Governance Board" which it later shuttered following criticism. But the same agenda lives on w/ DHS sub-agency "CISA" which argues disinfo is a threat to American "critical infrastructure" #dhsleaksdocumentcloud.org/documents/2313…
Draft DHS quad review, which plans agency policy, leaked to us shows growing focus on MDM (misinfo, disinfo, malinfo) to protect homeland against spread of “toxic narratives.” How the agency defines false info and what narratives are prioritized isn’t clear.
DHS official working on disinfo noted, during an internal strategy discussion, that the agency should use third party nonprofits as a “clearing house for information to avoid the appearance of government propaganda.”
Senator Hawley demands answers about our reporting from DHS Secretary Mayorkas. Asks why the federal government plans to police “disinfo” about US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
US & NATO have 12x Russia's defense budget, yet Russia produces 3x the artillery munitions vital for the Ukraine war. How is America so easily outpaced by Russia, which has a fraction of our economy & defense spending? It's partially a story of corporate consolidation 🧵
155mm artillery casings are made at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, which was converted during the Korean war. The plant was acquired by General Dynamics in 2006 during a mergers & acquisition spree, w/ GD buying other artillery munition firms to nearly corner the market.
General Dynamics, after buying out competitors, starting consolidating and closing plants. The Scranton plant had rounds of layoffs in 2010 and another in 2012, removing skilled machinist workers.
U.S. foreign aid money is flowing into Ukraine to fund a network of anti-disinfo watchdogs and journalists, who are helping the government demonize opponents, pass censorship laws, and smear pro-peace Americans as Russian agents. New investigation🧵
USAID funded Ukrainian media are helping Facebook remove alleged Russian disinfo content. The same groups, without evidence, claim Americans favoring a diplomatic solution to the conflict — Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, Glenn Greenwald, etc — are Russian propaganda agents
USAID and NED, which spun off from the CIA, openly touts investments in Ukraine media w/ helping fuel the pro-NATO revolt in Ukraine in 2014 & w/ helping win the current information war against Russia today. Yet the “independent” media the US funds is highly political.
DHS official Brian Murphy was in the news for building dossiers of critical journalists. Now he’s helping British AI firm Logically into the U.S. to identify “problematic” 2024 election narratives to scrub social media. I have a new investigation into the censorship firm:
Logically AI scans social media for “misinfo” like many orgs. Unlike others, they partner w/ Meta, anything they flag is automatically shadowbanned or factchecked. They operate a news-style website and are testing generative AI for bots that attack alleged misinfo posts.
In the UK, the British gov gave contracts to Logicially to fight pandemic disinfo. Instead, the group flagged academics & activists who criticized vaccine passports, lockdowns, other forms of policy dissent. Logically said the lab leak theory was a dangerous “conspiracy theory.”
I talked previously to several lawmakers in Congress who explained that devotion to Israel -- including U.S. weapons and money -- is part of their religious belief, grounded in the Bible. This dynamic separates Israel-Palestine from a lot of other geopolitical concerns.
Also interviewed Robert Jeffress, the megachurch pastor who gave the official opening prayer moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. He advises American politicians, says support for Israel is critical for bringing an end times final war, Jesus returning to slay non-believers.
Note Jeffress forced me to wear a mask to go backstage with him. Not my choice. These are clips from Praying for Armageddon, a new film that looks at the role of Christian Zionism in shaping U.S. policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. prayingforarmageddon.com
Ibram Kendi’s anti-racist institute at Boston University promised scholarship and data, but produced virtually nothing. Now they’re laying everyone off.
Kendi’s contribution to the discourse is the toxic and poorly argued idea, articulated in “How to be an Antiracist,” that *every* racial disparity is inherently the byproduct of racism. He just laid off his black workforce, doesn’t that make him a racist, given the disparity?
The entire article is incredible. Kendi promised a book fair, then gave up. Promised scholarship, nothing appeared. Promised data projects, then the only one that launched, a COVID tracker, went defunct in March 2021. How do you raise that much and produce so little?
Twitter Minimized Saudi Spy Infiltration, New Emails Show
Exclusive emails show Twitter executives downplayed the significance of a Saudi spy network operating within the company, an infiltration that allegedly led to the torture of dissidents.
2. After the Arab Spring brought unprecedented protest and public criticism of the Saudi Kingdom, the gov began a crackdown on social media.
The effort focused on Twitter, which is hugely popular in Saudi Arabia. SMAAT, a social media PR firm, helped bribe Twitter employees.
3. Ahmad Abouammo, a Twitter employee, accepted $300k in cash & a $40k luxury watch from Saudi agents. In exchange, he illicitly used Twitter's backend system to unmask anon accounts critical of Saudi's ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. Abouammo, records show, accessed 6,000 accounts.