On Tuesday afternoon, Matt Taibbi released another edition of the Twitter Files, to do with "How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In" with regards to Russian disinformation. Later that same day, Taibbi released another edition, this time to do with "Twitter and the FBI 'Belly Button,'" with the meaning behind the name revealed towards the end of the thread. This even longer and more intense batch has to do with COVID cover-up, with the virus having been covered before in previous editions. This time, however, Taibbi revealed how COVID tweets were flagged as misinformation associated with Russia.
https://t.co/C7kGNwToWZ 2020, Twitter was struggling with the problem of public and private agencies bypassing them and going straight to the media with lists of suspect accounts.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
Taibbi's thread provides evidence, including screenshots, of how the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which he describes as "a fledgling analytic/intelligence arms of the State Department," claimed to the media in February of 2020 that this was just one more thing to have to do with Russia. "Russian Disinformation Apparatus Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Concerns," the report's title read.
4.The GEC flagged accounts as “Russian personas and proxies” based on criteria like, “Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,” blaming “research conducted at the Wuhan institute,” and “attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.” pic.twitter.com/a4xBotQZ2m
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
Accounts were flagged as "Russian personals and proxies," even if they made claims which are now looking to be increasingly true, such as "Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon" and blaming "research conducted at the Wuhan institute."
The former claim was addressed as a possibility in a congressional report last month released by Republican staff members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who were then in the minority, and a subsequent press call.
The latter has been emerging as not just a possibility, but a likelihood, for years now. Yet when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tried to address it, for instance, he was treated as a pariah, with The New York Times, also in February 2020, declaring his warnings to be "a fringe theory."
As has now been confirmed, it wasn't just the mainstream media trying to downplay such possibilities and likelihoods.
6.The GEC still led directly to news stories like the AFP’s headline, “Russia-linked disinformation campaign led to coronavirus alarm, US says,” and a Politico story about how “Russian, Chinese, Iranian Disinformation Narratives Echo One Another.” pic.twitter.com/iLEZVJ19rH
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
Speaking of the mainstream media, the GEC highlighted articles such as Arthur Macmillan and Shaun Tandon's February 22, 2020 piece for AFP, "Russia-linked disinformation campaign fueling coronavirus alarm, US says." Another piece included Betsy Woodruff Swan's piece for POLITICO from April 21, 2020, "State report: Russian, Chinese and Iranian disinformation narratives echo one another."
8.“WE’RE HAPPY TO WORK DIRECTLY WITH YOU ON THIS, INSTEAD OF NBC.” Roth tried in vain to convince outsider researchers like the Clemson lab to check with them before pushing stories about foreign interference to media. pic.twitter.com/AHg4DUbEql
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
A name that will no doubt be familiar to those who have read up on previous batches of the Twitter Files, Yoel Roth, also comes up. Roth had served as the Trust and Safety Chief. Researchers from Clemson had pointed out that Twitter that they "haven't made an attribution to Russia in some time," which Roth said was "revelatory of their motives."
Roth is also revealed to have asked researchers to work with them first before going to the media about stories on foreign interference. Twitter also sought to reduce those agencies that had access to Roth, with such a suggestion mentioned by Policy Director Carlos Monje.
10.When the State Department/GEC – remember this was 2020, during the Trump administration – wanted to publicize a list of 5,500 accounts it claimed would “amplify Chinese propaganda and disinformation” about COVID, Twitter analysts were beside themselves.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
12.Roth saw GEC’s move as an attempt by the GEC to use intel from other agencies to “insert themselves” into the content moderation club that included Twitter, Facebook, the FBI, DHS, and others: pic.twitter.com/h0AXfTswnI
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
14.The episode led to a rare public disagreement between Twitter and state officials: pic.twitter.com/iydnso8iuJ
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
In what led to what Taibbi describes as "a rare public disagreement between Twitter and state officials," the GEC looked to get further involved in moderating content, what Roth describes as these agencies "inserting themselves into the conversations we've had with DHS, FBI, ODNI, and others."
While GEC did agree to let Twitter know when they would go to the press, an executive did lament that the "delta between when they share material and when they go to the press continues to be problematic."
Ensuing disagreements followed between platforms such as Twitter, and Google and Facebook, when it came to GEC's inclusion.
16.Facebook, Google, and Twitter executives were united in opposition to GEC’s inclusion, with ostensible reasons including, “The GEC’s mandate for offensive IO to promote American interests.” pic.twitter.com/jvZxPYTIE6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
18.After spending years rolling over for Democratic Party requests for “action” on “Russia-linked” accounts, Twitter was suddenly playing tough. Why? Because, as Roth put it, it would pose “major risks” to bring the GEC in, “especially as the election heats up.” pic.twitter.com/tAd6lVh2KH
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
The matter became even more political, with Roth acknowledging that an election was coming, including the 2020 presidential election which former and potentially future President Donald Trump lost.
As Taibbi fittingly reminds, Twitter had been used to "rolling over for Democratic Party requests" when it comes to accounts supposedly "Russia-linked" in the name of politics.
But, as Roth wrote in an email from June 9, 2020, "Especially as the election heats up in the coming months, introducing an actor like GEC into what has to date been a stable and (relatively) trusted group of practitioners and experts poses major risks, and could undermine a cannel of significant importance to our election security efforts."
20.Eventually the FBI argued, first to Facebook, for a compromise solution: other USG agencies could participate in the “industry” calls, but the FBI and DHS would act as sole “conduits.” pic.twitter.com/uJSFzqj52x
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
22."STATE... NSA, and CIA" Chan reassured him it would be a “one-way” channel, and “State/GEC, NSA, and CIA have expressed interest in being allowed on in listen mode only.” pic.twitter.com/A2AfD3GHA3
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
24.They eventually settled on an industry call via Signal. In an impressive display of operational security, Chan circulated private numbers of each company’s chief moderation officer in a Word Doc marked “Signal Phone Numbers,” subject-lined, “List of Numbers.” pic.twitter.com/5pTq7sfshh
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
As mentioned, it is towards the end of the thread when the "belly button" phrasing is mentioned. Several tweets reveal the back and forth about whether the GEC would involve other agencies such as the FBI and CIA, and whether the agency could "rely on the FBI to be the belly button of the USG."
Agent Chan sent Roth a list of Signal numbers. From there, Twitter only got more requests from more agencies.
26.Requests arrived and were escalated from all over: from Treasury, the NSA, virtually every state, the HHS, from the FBI and DHS, and more: pic.twitter.com/QYJBjPEJZW
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
A Democratic politician who has been particularly critical of the Twitter Files and its current CEO, Elon Musk, also makes his way later into the thread, in this case Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The congressman asked for Paul Sperry of The New York Post to be banned. While Twitter initially refused, Sperry was later suspended. Twitter also honored requests for bans from the GEC. So much for standing up to them!
"Schiff" has been trending on Twitter on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as a result of his mention in the thread.
Subsequent tweets go further in depth about these requests.
28.“WE DON’T DO THIS” Even Twitter declined to honor Schiff’s request at the time. Sperry was later suspended, however. pic.twitter.com/9PX2Zw5Nzj
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
30.The GEC requests were what a former CIA staffer working at Twitter was referring to, when he said, “Our window on that is closing,” meaning they days when Twitter could say no to serious requests were over. pic.twitter.com/D0IrEgzC6e
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
32.“USIC" requests often simply began “We assess” and then provided lists (sometimes, in separate excel docs) they believed were connected to Russia’s Internet Research Agency and committing cyber ops, from Africa to South America to the U.S.: pic.twitter.com/wpdr7Cxa1n
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
34.Some reports were just a paragraph long and said things like: “The attached email accounts… were possibly used for “influence operations, social media collection, or social engineering.” Without further explanation, Twitter would be forwarded an excel doc: pic.twitter.com/aHVDM8xiAK
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
https://t.co/fYBi87heLK the weeks before the election in 2020, Twitter was so confused by the various streams of incoming requests, staffers had to ask the FBI which was which: pic.twitter.com/YtioUpzVw8
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
38.Wrote senior attorney Stacia Cardille: “My in-box is really f--- up at this point.” pic.twitter.com/vMzd7fJzMn
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
The last few tweets detail how this led up even more directly to the 2020 presidential election, and that there was were so many requests that Twitter had a hard time keeping up.
Taibbi also reminds readers how this all relates to another batch, this previous one coming from Michael Shellenberger, describing Twitter as having been "essentially... an overwhelmed subcontractor." He also added that "Twitter wasn't just paid. For the amount of work they did for the government, they were underpaid."
40.For more on the #TwitterFiles, check out @BariWeiss, @ShellenbergerMD, @LHFang, and @davidzweig. For more on this story, read https://t.co/otqYK3tD7c
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023
This most recent thread is now Taibbi's pinned tweet.
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