Paul D. Thacker Profile picture
Sep 28, 2023 25 tweets 7 min read Read on X
1) TWITTER FILES: Yoel Roth’s private emails explain why free speech advocates target academics—they’re the censorship clergy.

Follow me to see Roth's emails discussing Stanford's Renee Diresta.
2) Emails show that Twitter rejected Renee DiResta as a "hobbyist, but Roth and other Twitter executives embraced her once Stanford University gave her an academic baptism. Image
3) When NY Times @sheeraf contacted Twitter, excited about doing a profile of her, a Twitter executive dismissed DiResta as a "hobbyist." Image
4) “Misinformation is becoming a cottage industry,” one Twitter official responded.

"Pointing out that the word 'researcher' has taken on a very broad meaning—Renee is literally doing this as a hobby," another added. Image
5) Could not find Twitter's emailed response to NY Times Frenkel, but her later profile of DiResta reads like it was ripped from a bad episode of 80s daytime television, with DiResta battling the forces of disinformation while dressed in jammies and in her bed.
6) In February 2018 emails, Twitter employees discussed Diresta's employer New Knowledge and how to handle a report forwarded to them alleging a malicious Twitter campaign targeting the Disney superhero film “Black Panther” with fake news. Image
7) Roth emailed. Roth added that New Knowledge’s report “could create substantial risk” as it made allegations that were unconfirmed and suggested Twitter follow up directly with Disney. Image
8) When New Knowledge’s Jonathan Morgan and Renee DiResta then sent Twitter a proposal and other materials a few months later, Twitter promised to get back to them. Image
9) But Twitter did not seem interested, as New Knowledge was not offering them anything unique. Writing to Roth, one Twitter employee emailed, “My thought on this is we should pause this since we are likely to get something similar from FirstDraft.” Image
10) I emailed DiResta and asked if she ever sold anything to Twitter or got some sort of contract at the time, but she did not respond.
11) Roth made clear his concerns about working with DiResta that September 2018 when he began strategizing on how to direct another Twitter employee away from her. “FYI, this is about working with Renee DiResta. We need to tread carefully and steer Jasper to safer territory.” Image
12) “Spoke to him at tea time,” another Twitter official responded. “So I think we can make good progress and manage the [Renee DiResta] risk.” Image
13) I asked DiResta what the "Renee Diresta risk" is but she didn't respond.
14) New Knowledge imploded a few months later, caught promoting disinformation in an influence campaign against a Republican candidate for Senate. Image
15) DiResta joined Stanford in the summer of 2019, starting the Stanford Internet Observatory.

One Twitter official sent around a story in Wired discussing it but added, "I haven’t clicked since Wired has a limit on articles and this isn’t important enough.” Image
16) DiResta then contacted Yoel Roth and others from her new Stanford gig: Hello from Stanford Internet Observatory :)

Roth suddenly seemed interested. Image
17) DiResta: “Up for a quick call or coffee at Twitter HQ sometime in the next week or two?”

Roth didn't even want a formal plan from "Stanford DiResta": “Nothing especially formal needed—just maybe a sketch of what your ideal [version one] of a collaboration could look like.” Image
18) Roth later sent DiResta and her Stanford boss the keys to the Twitter kingdom: “We’re reaching out to select researchers that we believe may be in the best position to effectively use the vast scale of this data.” Image
19) The email said Twitter was not “currently in a position to partner or closely collaborate with you beyond providing access to the data….”

Roth private note: "We would LOVE to partner closely on anything in the IO universe" Image
20) Roth later recommended "Stanford DiResta" to a NBC reporter as she was now "trusted on our side, and can likely be useful voices.” Image
21) Roth later got an invite to speak to DiResta's class.

“Thanks so much!” Yoel replied by email. “I’m happy to join.” Image
22) Roth even reached out to DiResta and her Stanford people for interns.

Yes, they were trading interns. Seem like colleagues now, no? Image
23) Having once guided Twitter away from DiResta “to safer territory” before promoting her to CNBC once Stanford blessed her—“trusted on our side”—Roth now treated DiResta as an equal, giving talks to her Stanford class and reaching out to find interns.
24) When DiResta tweeted a Stanford study based on Twitter data, Roth deemed her research "independent." Image
25) Read on how social media officials look to university brands to shore up their own industry’s nebulous definition for disinformation and vague claims for what should be censored. disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/twitter-file…
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More from @thackerpd

Oct 22
1) EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTS: Working w/ @mtaibbi we report on @CCDHate documents showing the Labour Party's political front's objective is "Kill Musk's Twitter" thru "Advertising focus" meaning harass his advertisers.

See internal documents provided by a whistleblower. Image
2) Internal Center for Countering Digital Hate document shows their annual objective is "Kill Musk's Twitter"

This is their internal monthly planner. Their goal is to also trigger regulatory action, although they are a tax-exempt nonprofit. Image
3) CCDH held a private conference w/ a slew of liberal groups organizing against Musk including Biden White House, Congressman Adam Schiff's office, Biden/Harris State Department officials, Canadian MP Peter Julian & Media Matters for America Image
Read 5 tweets
Sep 11
1) I got a "missing context" fact check by @meta's Italian fact checker who said I shared a video that other people got wrong.

First, why are Italians involved in US free speech?

Second, what do other people's actions have to do with me?
substack-proxy.glitch.me/articles/disin…
2) A Kamala Harris video circulated with her calling free speech a "privilege." So I posted this on @Meta

“The Democrat who wants to run the country argues free speech is a ‘privilege.’”

See the "missing context"? Image
3) First, the fact check is in Italian.

QUESTION: Why are Italians involving themselves in US speech protected by the First Amendment? Image
Read 7 tweets
Aug 24
CHICKEN ESCABECHE

1) Get all your ingredients in place: chicken, oil, vinegar, wine, vegetables (carrots, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes), pepper corns, thyme.Image
2) Brown the chicken, especially the skin. (salt as you go) Image
3) Put the browned chicken in the pot. Image
Read 6 tweets
Aug 22
1) Twitter Files: Democrats & media claimed Twitter 1.0 was a “private company” that made its own decisions, despite Biden Administration pressure to censor.

But new emails show Twitter hired a lobby shop staffed w/ Biden loyalists & then coordinated w/ Biden State Dept. Image
2) “This is John Hughes from Albright Stonebridge Group, the commercial diplomacy firm founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,” wrote Twitter’s lobbyist to a senior official at State.

Twitter was seeking “advice” and help. Image
3) Politico reported around this same time that 10 of Biden’s top foreign policy crowd came from Albright Stonebridge.

“The Blob” Image
Read 10 tweets
Aug 8
1) Emails show that social media influencer Zeynep Tufekci pressured @cochranecollab to put out a statement attacking their own review;

Twisted words of a Cochrane editor;

And misstates her academic bona fides.
pauldthacker.com/blog/
Image
2) Cochrane's Karla Soares-Weiser put out a statement attacking Cochrane's own mask review due to pressure from Zeynep Tufekci:

“Lisa, I have been back and forth with NYT about the mask review. CAN I GET YOUR VIEWS ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS?” Image
3) Several days later, Tufekci published a "masks work" essay in the NY Times and Karla Soares-Weiser rushed out a statement claiming problems with the mask review.

Soares-Weiser did this w/o consulting the scientists who wrote the mask review.
Read 11 tweets
Aug 2
1) Going through hundreds of emails, it's clear @zeynep bullied Cochrane into publishing a statement against their own review and twisted the words of Cochrane editor Michael Brown.

She pretends to be an academic, but is she?

unherd.com/2024/08/how-th…
2) After Cochrane published their 2023 mask review update, Bret Stephens wrote a NYT column ridiculing mask mandate activists--people like Zeynep Tufekci.

3 days later on Feb 24, Zeynep contacted Cochrane, but not the scientists. She went around them to the editors. Image
3) Zeynep introdued herself to Cochrane editor Michael Brown as an "academic" working on a review "in my own field."

Zeynep has published 0 in the academic literature this year, and one article in 2023--an opinion piece. As for that review, it has never appeared. Image
Read 8 tweets

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