reSee.it - Related Post Feed

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

🧵 1/ Rulers of Public Discourse: On February 8, former Twitter excts were called to testify before members of the Congress’s Oversight Committee regarding the #TwitterFiles. A review of the hearing and the dramatic recent legal developments of internet governance >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

2/ Before I get to Congress - let's set a frame for this discussion: ‘The Control of Content’- who and how should control the content of the public discourse, should there be such control at all? - this question has been sharpened during the unprecedented Covid censorship >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

3/ In these years, the social networks went through an accelerated process from careful and very reserved control of how positions and opinions are expressed (censorship of incitement and calls for violence) to aggressive and shameless control of the positions themselves >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

4/ eventually creating a centrally coerced truth and false that allowed those in control of the content to determine WHAT is allowed to be said or expressed - leading the public discourse into a fake “consensus”. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

5/ I have been following this process very closely, first on Facebook - where the censorship rules changed blatantly and quickly, then on Twitter after the unprecedented and unreasonable action of suspending the account of a sitting president - Trump >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

6/ I’ve been researching Internet law in recent years and I followed closely and with great concern the rapid and dramatic changes in the private governance policy of social networks. During the Covid years I noticed a very clear change in their governance policy >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

7/ It became clearer and clearer that the social networks are no longer managed in a way that preserves and protects the liberties of their users from governments and other seekers of this content control - but - >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

8/ Never have I imagined how close and routine their relationship with the government administration was, all for the purpose of monitoring the individual, censoring the discourse into a uniform narrative and using the networks as a GLOBAL and "private" platform - >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

9/ to create a covert global content control that governments were NOT (then) allowed to carry out within the framework of the constitutions and the brakes applied to them to protect basic rights and important democratic principles. So this was a constitutional bypass. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

10/Simply put: the public sector has let the private corporations be the free "liberator" of democracy- so that we all depend on it for the maintenance of discourse- and thus the liberator can become an effective prison, to be then used- by those government agencies. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

11/ The complexity of the issue of monitoring/regulating/controlling the discourse has always been around the dilemma - how do we do no harm? How do you do it solely to keep this space as authentic and safe and not to select and filter preferred opinions and silence others, >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

12/ and also - who can actually be the person that will have this enormous power and not abuse it? who will monitor this person against misuse of power? - Do we prefer private governance or public governance? Or maybe non at all? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

13/ This increased censorship policy on social networks and the absolute abuse of power came into light with the reveal of #TwitterFiles and the public debate that followed (following this also- the recent events that happened in the @Project_Veritas - see attached tweet) >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

14/ Back to the US Congress’s Oversight Committee’s hearing regarding the #TwitterFiles 4 ex Twitter employees, invited to testify: Jim Baker, Vijaya Gadde, Yoel Roth, Anika Collier Navaroli Who are they? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

15/ Jim Baker- fmr FBI lawyer,served as Twitter Deputy General Counsel Vijaya Gadde- an attorney, former general counsel & Head of legal, policy, and trust at Twitter. Yoel Roth- former Global Head of Trust & Safety at Twitter. Anika Collier Navaroli- Twitter Whistleblower >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

16/ The hearing was titled ”Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.” It was set up for a discussion on the censorship case of Biden Jr.’s computer, but - >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

17/ Inevitably it dealt with the censorship on Twitter in general, including the censorship of scientists, doctors, politicians - and thus a broader picture of control of content and public discourse was revealed. Let’s review the hearing first >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

18/ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) argued that the entire discussion is a misuse of public resources, But imagine she was censored for that argument- across all social platforms, is it still a waste of time do discuss the abuse of censorship powers? The hearing begins >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

19/ Here are the claims against former these ex Twitter employees - @RepClayHiggins: Claim #1 Content governance interfered with the 2020 US presidential elections, knowingly and willingly. Higgins announces his intention to collect evidence from them leading to arrests >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

20/ @laurenboebert: Claim #2 - Twitter governance silenced Members of Congress from communicating with their constituents, in this case with “an aggressive visibility filter” (shadow ban) because of one tweet on Hilarity Clinton “Who the hell do you think that you are?” >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

21/ To complete the picture, this is the tweet that got @laurenboebert shadow banned: >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

22/ @RepMTG : Claim #3 - Twitter Content governance censored congress members’s tweets - with critical views on vaccines, masks, etc.- but pedophile accounts were not taken down or censored: >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

23/ @RepJamesComer - Claim #4: Twitter previously lied to Congress. And - “Twitter under the leadership of our witnesses today was a private company the federal government used to accomplish what it constitutionally cannot — limit the free exercise of speech”

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

24/ @RepNancyMace : Claim #5 - Twitter Content governance also censored and silenced an important, substantive and professional criticism of government Covid policy - and cost lives: >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

25/ Here @DrJBhattacharya explains how he found out he was "blacklisted" on Twitter from the first day he entered the platform: >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

26/ Freedom of speech is protected under the 1st amendment of the US constitution, so, How could Twitter (and other platforms) do all that and get away with it? Are they really more powerful than everyone else? Who in Twitter has that power? Well, >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

27/ Let’s go back to Jim Baker for a second. Baker claimed in the hearing that he ‘did not act unlawfully or otherwise inappropriately with respect to the Biden laptop’ affair (an affair which the members refer to as criminal interference in the US elections) >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

28/ “I’ve acted in a way consistent with the First Amendment. As a private entity, The First Amendment protects Twitter and its content moderation decision.” Says Baker, a former FBI lawyer, that served as Twitter Deputy General Counsel >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

29/⚖️ This absurd argument of using the freedom of speech amendment to allow private corporations to censor speech- is argued now by NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (which both represent Facebook, Google, Twitter) in recent legal developments. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

30/ The representative groups say the First Amendment prohibits viewpoint-based laws that restrict websites’ editorial choices. 👉🏻 The federal court wasn’t convinced when ruling in the case of the anti-censorship new Lee in Texas: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/21/21-51178-CV1.pdf >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

31/ This interesting legal issue arose when two states (Texas, Florida) enacted anti-censorship laws that prevent platforms from filtering content - following the suspension of Trump's Twitter account and other censorship events. This issue was brought to the Supreme Court. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

32/ Two other cases were recently brought to the Supreme Court the question whether platforms should have a complete immunity from publishers responsibility to published content and/or to censorship of content, as a non-publisher under section 230 to the DCA

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

33/ So, on one hand the platform seek constitutional protection as a private editor of speech, and on the other hand - they seek ‘complete immunity from liability’ under Section 230 to the DCA (1996) - as a “non publisher” >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

34/ But it gets worse. The private censor did not act with independent judgment but in coordination and conspiring with government agencies - against citizens. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

35/ On February 1 - @RepDanBishop explained how government agencies have used Twitter to spy on US citizens. ‘Bad enough if it was just the FBI but it was also intelligence agencies that should be directing their attention abroad’ based on the #TwitterFiles >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

36/ On the February 8 hearing- 🚨 @RepLuna exposes 👉🏻 Jira a private cloud server that used Twitter to secretly communicate with the government >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

37/ “The law allows governments to have complex, multi-faceted relationships with the private sector. When done properly, these interactions can be of interest to the company and the general interest of the public.” Says Baker on the February 8th hearing: >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

38/ Was Twitter really a private company (Dr facto)? It is a vital and complicated question- whether a private company can censor the public discourse in such manner (I’ll get back to that) but can Twitter still argue the private company protection? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

39/ Let’s go back to Jim Baker - FBI lawyer that served as Twitter Deputy General Counsel - who is he? And is this just anecdotal? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

40/ Was Baker the only Twitter employee who previously worked for the FBI? - Apparently there were many. Here’s a review: What can we conclude from that? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

41/ Can there really be a private censor with such power? Can it stay independent as a private entity, free from governments? We saw on the #TwitterFiles that the government agencies used the private sector as a shield from the constitution. Can we stop this from happening? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

42/ Maybe the problem is the excessive power that those entities (private and public) have when they conspire TOGETHER? Listen to this clip from a follow up discussion on the #TwitterFiles and the dangerous relationship between the private platforms and the administration >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

43/ Can there really be a “Safe & Effective” separation between the private sector power and the public sector power? Listen👇🏻 >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

44/ The SECRET relationship between Twitter executives and the government administration and agencies led to them being high on power >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

45/ “colluded to shape and mold the narrative” @Jim_Jordan >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

46/ #TwitterFiles uncovered that Biden Admin officials colluded with Big Tech companies to silence differing opinions during the pandemic. But also - the dangerous potential in such power and in internet content moderation in general >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

47/ Did those particular people fail or did the whole mechanism fail? Is it possible for the public to find out and judge the content completely on its own? And if not, is there a mechanism less at risk of abuse of power? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

48/ ⚖️ The U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide soon on the boundaries of this complicated issue that affects our lives to the core. The court recently delayed its decision and asked the Biden administration for its views on the controversial laws in the meantime. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

49/ If the court takes the cases up, it likely won’t be until the next term, and a decision wouldn’t come until 2024, which coincides with the next presidential election. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2023/01/24/supreme-court-delays-decision-on-hearing-texas--florida-social-media-moderation-cases >

Supreme Court delays decision on hearing Texas, Florida social media cases High court requested the Biden administration's views. spectrumlocalnews.com

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

50/ 👉🏻 The Supreme Court’s move came as new Twitter owner Elon Musk has granted “amnesty” to many suspended accounts, including Trump’s. Could this be the reason for restoring those accounts? Prevention of a problematic ruling? Or is it simply to make us depend on it again? >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

51/ ⚖️ On February 21, 2023 there will be a hearing at the US Supreme Court in the case of the lawsuit filed by the Gonzalez family against Google, which will examine the protections granted to networks under Article 230. https://www.reuters.com/legal/supreme-court-scrutinize-us-protections-social-media-2022-10-03/ >

Supreme Court to scrutinize U.S. protections for social media The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to federal protections for internet and social media companies freeing them of responsibility for content posted by users in a case involving an American student fatally shot in a 2015 rampage by Islamist militants in Paris. reuters.com

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

52/ 🇩🇪 Meanwhile, in December 2022 - a German court ruled that Twitter should remove offensive tweets •BEFORE• they are reported - That means they have an even greater responsibility, for active censorship > https://t.co/dxQCjjERDB

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

53/ Another thing is happening at the same time - Google's search engine is exercising ׳preventive control׳ over the contents in advance )like a vaccine 😂) This is how it looks like to cultivate habits of chilling discourse and self-censorship. > https://t.co/Gx9DFwVMBP

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

54/ 🇮🇱 Last but not least- Israel’s internet governance The Ministry of Communications recently adopts the recommendations of the committee for regulating the social networks operating in Israel. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

55/ The main recommendations of the committee: applying regulation to platforms with over 500,000 active users in Israel (5% of the country's population), determining legal responsibility of the platform operators in relation to clearly offensive illegal content >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

56/ requiring the platforms to operate an online HOTLINE for reporting illegal and offensive content and handling In these reports, the duty of transparency and more. >

@GalG____ - Gal.G, Adv 🇮🇱

57/ It would’ve sounded wonderful if it hadn’t come at the end of a tsunami of legislation that seriously harms individual freedoms and especially their privacy, in the post-Covid era, And if we weren't painfully aware now of the dangers of having “discourse rulers”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

1. TWITTER FILES: Statement to Congress THE CENSORSHIP-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

2. “MONITOR ALL TWEETS COMING FROM TRUMP’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT/BIDEN’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT” When #TwitterFiles reporters were given access to Twitter internal documents last year, we first focused on the company, which at times acted like a power above government.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

3. But Twitter was more like a partner to government. With other tech firms it held a regular “industry meeting” with FBI and DHS, and developed a formal system for receiving thousands of content reports from every corner of government: HHS, Treasury, NSA, even local police:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

4. Emails from the FBI, DHS and other agencies often came with spreadsheets of hundreds or thousands of account names for review. Often, these would be deleted soon after.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

5. Many were obvious “misinformation,” like accounts urging people to vote the day after an election. But other official "disinfo" reports had shakier reasoning. The highlighted Twitter analysis here disagrees with the FBI about accounts deemed a “proxy of Russian actors":

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

6. Then we saw "disinfo" lists where evidence was even less clear. This list of 378 “Iranian State Linked Accounts” includes an Iraq vet once arrested for blogging about the war, a former Chicago Sun-Times reporter and Truthout, a site that publishes Noam Chomsky.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

7. In some cases, state reports didn’t even assert misinformation. Here, a list of YouTube videos is flagged for “anti-Ukraine narratives”:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

8. But the bulk of censorship requests didn’t come from government directly.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

9. Asked if Twitter’s marketing department could say the company detects “misinfo” with help of “outside experts,” a Twitter executive replied:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

10. We came to think of this grouping – state agencies like DHS, FBI, or the Global Engagement Center (GEC), along with “NGOs that aren’t academic” and an unexpectedly aggressive partner, commercial news media – as the Censorship-Industrial Complex.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

11. Who’s in the Censorship-Industrial Complex? Twitter in 2020 helpfully compiled a list for a working group set up in 2020. The National Endowment for Democracy, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, and Hamilton 68’s creator, the Alliance for Securing Democracy, are key:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

12. Twitter execs weren’t sure about Clemson’s Media Forensics Lab (“too chummy with HPSCI”), and weren’t keen on the Rand Corporation (“too close to USDOD”), but others were deemed just right.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

13. NGOs ideally serve as a check on corporations and the government. Not long ago, most of these institutions viewed themselves that way. Now, intel officials, “researchers,” and executives at firms like Twitter are effectively one team - or Signal group, as it were:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

14. The Woodstock of the Censorship-Industrial Complex came when the Aspen Institute - which receives millions a year from both the State Department and USAID - held a star-studded confab in Aspen in August 2021 to release its final report on “Information Disorder.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

15. The report was co-authored by Katie Couric and Chris Krebs, the founder of the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Yoel Roth of Twitter and Nathaniel Gleicher of Facebook were technical advisors. Prince Harry joined Couric as a Commissioner.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

16. Their taxpayer-backed conclusions: the state should have total access to data to make searching speech easier, speech offenders should be put in a “holding area," and government should probably restrict disinformation, “even if it means losing some freedom.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

17. Note Aspen recommended the power to mandate data disclosure be given to the FTC, which this committee just caught in a clear abuse of office, demanding information from Twitter about communications with (and identities of) #TwitterFiles reporters. https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Weaponization_Select_Subcommittee_Report_on_FTC_Harrassment_of_Twitter_3.7.2023.pdf

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

18. Naturally Twitter’s main concern regarding the Aspen report was making sure Facebook got hit harder by any resulting regulatory changes:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

19. The same agencies (FBI, DHS/CISA, GEC) invite the same “experts” (Thomas Rid, Alex Stamos), funded by the same foundations (Newmark, Omidyar, Knight) trailed by the same reporters (Margaret Sullivan, Molly McKew, Brandy Zadrozny) seemingly to every conference, every panel.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

20. The #TwitterFiles show the principals of this incestuous self-appointed truth squad moving from law enforcement/intelligence to the private sector and back, claiming a special right to do what they say is bad practice for everyone else: be fact-checked only by themselves.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

21.While Twitter sometimes pushed back on technical analyses from NGOs about who is and isn't a “bot,” on subject matter questions like vaccines or elections they instantly defer to sites like Politifact, funded by the same names that fund the NGOs: Koch, Newmark, Knight.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

22. #TwitterFiles repeatedly show media acting as proxy for NGOs, with Twitter bracing for bad headlines if they don't nix accounts. Here, the Financial Times gives Twitter until end of day to provide a “steer” on whether RFK, Jr. and other vax offenders will be zapped.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

23. Well, you say, so what? Why shouldn’t civil society organizations and reporters work together to boycott “misinformation”? Isn’t that not just an exercise of free speech, but a particularly enlightened form of it?

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

24. The difference is, these campaigns are taxpayer-funded. Though the state is supposed to stay out domestic propaganda, the Aspen Institute, Graphika, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, New America, and other “anti-disinformation” labs are receiving huge public awards.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

25. Some NGOs, like the GEC-funded Global Disinformation Index or the DOD-funded Newsguard, not only seek content moderation but apply subjective “risk” or “reliability” scores to media outlets, which can result in reduction in revenue. Do we want government in this role?

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

26. Perhaps the ultimate example of the absolute fusion of state, corporate, and civil society organizations is the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), whose “Election Integrity Partnership” is among the most voluminous “flaggers” in the #TwitterFiles:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

27. After public uproar “paused” the Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” of the DHS in early 2020, Stanford created the EIP to “fill the gaps” legally, as director Alex Stamos explains here (h/t Foundation for Freedom Online). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbF2UXKV1q8

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

28. EIP research manager Renee DiResta boasted that while filling “gaps," the EIP succeeded in getting “tech partners” Google, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter to take action on “35% of the URLS flagged” under “remove, reduce, or inform” policies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtcK59lfjrU

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

29. According to the EIP’s own data, it succeeded in getting nearly 22 million tweets labeled in the runup to the 2020 vote.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

30. It’s crucial to reiterate: EIP was partnered with state entities like CISA and GEC while seeking elimination of millions of tweets. In the #TwitterFiles, Twitter execs did not distinguish between organizations, using phrases like “According to CIS[A], escalated via EIP.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

31. After the 2020 election, when EIP was renamed the Virality Project, the Stanford lab was on-boarded to Twitter’s JIRA ticketing system, absorbing this government proxy into Twitter infrastructure – with a capability of taking in an incredible 50 million tweets a day.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

32. In one remarkable email, the Virality Project recommends that multiple platforms take action even against “stories of true vaccine side effects” and “true posts which could fuel hesitancy.” None of the leaders of this effort to police Covid speech had health expertise.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

33. This is the Censorship-Industrial Complex at its essence: a bureaucracy willing to sacrifice factual truth in service of broader narrative objectives. It’s the opposite of what a free press does.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

34. Profiles portray DiResta as a warrior against Russian bots and misinformation, but reporters never inquire about work with DARPA, GEC, and other agencies. In the video below from @MikeBenzCyber, Stamos introduces her as having "worked for the CIA": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsooGvgLh7U

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

35. DiResta has become the public face of the Censorship-Industrial Complex, a name promoted everywhere as an unquestioned authority on truth, fact, and Internet hygiene, even though her former firm, New Knowledge, has been embroiled in two major disinformation scandals.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

36. This, ultimately, is the most serious problem with the Censorship-Industrial Complex. Packaged as a bulwark against lies and falsehood, it is itself often a major source of disinformation, with American taxpayers funding their own estrangement from reality.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

37. DiResta’s New Knowledge helped design the Hamilton 68 project exposed in the #TwitterFiles. Although it claimed to track “Russian influence,” Hamilton really followed Americans like “Ultra Maga Dog Mom,” “Right2Liberty,” even a British rugby player named Rod Bishop:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

38. Told he was put on the Hamilton list of suspected “Russian influence” accounts, Bishop was puzzled. “Nonsense. I’m supporting Ukraine,” he said.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

39. As a result of Hamilton’s efforts, all sorts of people were falsely tied in press stories to “Russian bots”: former House Intel chief Devin Nunes, #WalkAway founder @BrandonStraka, supporters of the #FireMcMaster hashtag, even people who used the term “deep state”:

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

40. Hamilton 68 was funded by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which in turn was funded by the German Marshall Fund, which in turn is funded in part by – the Department of State.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

41. The far worse scandal was “Project Birmingham,” in which thousands of fake Russian Twitter accounts were created to follow Alabama Republican Roy Moore in his 2017 race for US Senate. Newspapers reported Russia seemed to take an interest in the race, favoring Moore.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

42. Though at least one reporter for a major American paper was at a meeting in September, 2018 when New Knowledge planned the bizarre bot-and-smear campaign, the story didn’t break until December, two days after DiResta gave a report on Russian interference to the Senate.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

43. Internally, Twitter correctly assessed the Moore story as far back as fall of 2017, saying it had no way if knowing if the Moore campaign purchased the bots, or if “an adversary purchased them… in an attempt to discredit them.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

44. Twitter told this to reporters who asked about the story contemporaneously. Moreover, after the story broke, Twitter's Roth wrote: “There have been other instances in which domestic actors created fake accounts… some are fairly prominent in progressive circles.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

45. Roth added, “We shouldn’t comment.” Repeatedly in the #TwitterFiles, when Twitter learned the truth about scandals like Project Birmingham, they said nothing, like banks that were silent about mortgage fraud. Reporters also kept quiet, protecting fellow “stakeholders.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

46. Twitter stayed silent out of political caution. DiResta, who ludicrously claimed she thought Project Birmingham was just an experiment to “investigate to what extent they could grow audiences… using sensational news,” hinted at a broader reason.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

47. “I know there were people who believed the Democrats needed to fight fire with fire,” she told the New York Times. “It was absolutely chatter going around the party.”

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

48. The incident underscored the extreme danger of the Censorship-Industrial Complex. Without real oversight mechanisms, there is nothing to prevent these super-empowered information vanguards from bending the truth for their own ends.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

49. By way of proof, no major press organization has re-examined the bold claims DiResta/New Knowledge made to the Senate – e.g. that Russian ads “reached 126 million people” in 2016 – while covering up the Hamilton and Alabama frauds. If the CIC deems it, lies stay hidden.

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

50. In the digital age, this sprawling new information-control bureaucracy is an eerie sequel to the dangers Dwight Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address, when he said: “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyZoUfNsUl8

@mtaibbi - Matt Taibbi

51. Thanks to @ShellenbergerMD and reporters/researchers @Techno_Fog, @neffects, @bergerbell, @SchmidtSue1, @tw6384, and others for help in preparing this testimony. The Twitter Files searches are performed by a third party, so material may have been left out.

@KanekoaTheGreat - kanekoa.substack.com

Matt Taibbi's opening statement on the Twitter Files and the censorship industrial complex: "Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation requests from every corner of government, from the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global…

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

Thread: Cracking The Censorspeak Code The Foundation for Freedom Online recently published a great report entitled “10 Terms of Censorspeak Decoded” It a great in depth look at the Orwellian language our benevolent censors love to use in order to obscure their true intent.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

I am going to go through the keys points so you can familiarize yourself with the Ministry of Truth’s favorite euphemisms.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

1/"Campaign" (as in "Disinformation Campaign," "Online Influence Campaign") What they think you think it means: A shadowy network of operatives spreading disinformation. What it actually means: Anyone who shares or posts information deemed as "misinformation."

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

They are conducting the campaigns and have been caught red handed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/19/pentagon-psychological-operations-facebook-twitter/

Pentagon opens sweeping review of clandestine psychological operations Complaints about the U.S. military’s influence operations using Facebook and Twitter have alarmed some in the White House and other federal agencies. washingtonpost.com

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

2/ Why it matters: Misusing the term "campaign" makes it seem like censorship professionals are guarding against malicious covert operations, when in reality, they're targeting everyday Americans discussing sensitive topics online.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

3/ Example: DHS video urging young people to report family members for "disinformation" about Covid, making it seem like they're stopping "online influence campaigns," when in reality, they're targeting ordinary citizens. Full Clip Here: https://youtu.be/bTj664taegw

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

4/ Another example: DHS's OIG report titled "DHS Needs a Unified Strategy to Counter Disinformation Campaigns." The title suggests they're targeting organized efforts, but they're actually referring to ordinary people expressing opinions online. Full Report: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/2022/dhs-needs-unified-strategy-counter-disinformation-campaigns/oig-22-58-aug22

DHS Needs a Unified Strategy to Counter Disinformation Campaigns | Office of Inspector GeneralLock oig.dhs.gov

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

5/ "Critical Infrastructure" What they think you think it means: Physical buildings or structures (dams, satellites, transportation lines). What it actually means: Anything said on social media about a sensitive subject.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

6/ Example: CISA (DHS's primary censorship bureau) top boss Jen Easterly publicly stated that “cognitive infrastructure” – the very thoughts that are in your head – are included in the meaning of critical infrastructure as well. https://www.uncoverdc.com/2022/12/15/jen-easterly-shaping-cognitive-infrastructure/

Jen Easterly: Shaping “Cognitive Infrastructure” Jen Easterly, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), stated at a November 1 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event that CISA does not “censor information.” Information revealed in the Twitter Files and Biden v. Missouri might lead one to disagree with this position. Nevertheless, here is what she said: “I uncoverdc.com

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

7/ "Threat Actor" (as in "Cyber Threat Actor" or "Disinformation Threat Actor") What they think you think it means: Computer hackers, malware virus threats, hostile foreign nation states. What it actually means: Any citizen posting "misinformation" on social media.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

8/ Why it matters: Agencies like DHS, CISA, FBI, State Department, and Pentagon justify their involvement in domestic censorship by conflating citizen opinions with recognized national security threats, using the term "cyber threat actor" to include both.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

9/ Example: In DHS's Oct. 2019 report, "Combating Targeted Disinformation Campaigns," the phrase "threat actor" appears 58 times, but refers not only to foreign threats but also to citizens spreading "false or misleading information online." Full Report: https://permanent.fdlp.gov/gpo150650/ia_combatting-targeted-disinformation-campaigns.pdf

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

10/ "Malinformation" What they think you think it means: Malware sent over online communication as a hacking technique. What it actually means: True information that censorship professionals can't disprove but want to censor anyway.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

11/ Why it matters: Censorship professionals created the term "malinformation" to take down opinions that are technically correct but lead listeners to develop unauthorized opinions. During the 2020 election, malinformation became the largest category of social media takedowns.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

12/ "Media Literacy" (see also "Digital Literacy") What they think you think it means: Teaching underprivileged children how to read and write. What it actually means: Labeling people as media illiterate if they read the wrong news sources, encouraging them to consume only approved media sources.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

13/"Shadow banning" What they think you think It Means: A term made up by conspiracy theorists to complain about their posts not getting enough engagement. What It Actually Means, In Censorpeak: A covert form of censorship where a user's content is suppressed without the user knowing it. They may still be able to post and interact on the platform, but the visibility and engagement of their content are drastically reduced, making it difficult for others to see or engage with their posts.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

Why It Matters: Shadow banning is a sneaky way for platforms to censor content without making it obvious. It allows censors to suppress certain narratives or users without the backlash that can result from overt bans or removals. This can make it difficult for users to know if their views are being censored or if their content simply isn't resonating with their audience.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11559455/The-Twitter-Files-leaks-FBI-key-revelations-far.html

The Twitter Files, leaks and the FBI: key revelations so far The Twitter Files began on December 2 after CEO Elon Musk promised to release the company's internal dialogue regarding the suppression of the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story. dailymail.co.uk

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

Example: When a user is shadow banned on a social media platform like Twitter, their tweets might not show up in their followers' feeds or in search results, significantly reducing their reach and engagement. The user might not even know they are being censored, as their account appears normal to them. Check to see if you are shadow-banned: https://shadowban.yuzurisa.com

Twitter Shadowban Test Are you shadowbanned on Twitter? shadowban.yuzurisa.com

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

14/"Algorithmic bias" What they think you think it means: A computer glitch or an unintentional side effect of an algorithm.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

What It Actually Means, In Censorpeak: When algorithms used by social media platforms, search engines, and other digital services are designed or tweaked to prioritize certain content or narratives over others, leading to the suppression of alternative viewpoints or information.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

Why It Matters: Algorithmic bias can be a subtle form of censorship that manipulates what content users see, pushing certain narratives and suppressing others. This can have a significant impact on public discourse and the spread of information, as many people rely on these platforms and algorithms to access news, opinions, and other content. The power of algorithmic bias in shaping public opinion and perceptions can be immense, making it crucial for users to be aware of this potential manipulation and seek out diverse sources of information.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

14/Intervention" is a term used by censorship professionals to make their actions sound philanthropic and protective. By applying various "interventions" to your social media posts or account, they can control the spread of information that goes against their preferred narratives.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

This manipulates public perception while avoiding the term "censorship" and potential backlash.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

15/ "Institutions" refers to the interconnected web of government, private sector, civil society, and media organizations that censorship professionals seek to protect. By claiming that questioning or criticizing these institutions undermines democracy, they create a justification for censorship.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

In summary, the censorship industry uses coded language to hide the extent of their influence over public opinion and their efforts to control the spread of information.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

Terms like "trust," "resilience," "friction," "intervention," and "institutions" are part of this coded language, allowing them to operate discreetly and avoid public scrutiny. The societal implications of this are significant, as the censorship industry can shape public opinion and limit the spread of alternative viewpoints, effectively manipulating the public's perception of reality.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

It is crucial for individuals to be aware of these tactics and seek alternative sources of information to ensure they have a well-rounded understanding of the world around them. By doing so, they can protect their freedom of thought and speech in an increasingly controlled information landscape.

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

I encourage you to read the full report here. https://www.foundationforfreedomonline.com/?page_id=2074

Page not found - Foundation for Freedom Online foundationforfreedomonline.com

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

If you’ve found this thread informative please consider giving me a follow to keep up with my work. You can read all my other threads here:

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

I also recently started a Substack, you can subscribe here if you’d like: https://wethefree.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile

We The Free | Josh Walkos | Substack This will be a place where I can publish all of my Twitter threads in an easy to read and shareable format. I will also share original articles and my thoughts on various topics pertaining to the clown world we currently live in. Click to read We The Free, by Josh Walkos, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers. wethefree.substack.com

@JoshWalkos - Champagne Joshi

@Trinityaudiobot

@KanekoaTheGreat - kanekoa.substack.com

Attorney General @JeffLandry's opening statement on Missouri v. Biden and the US Government's censorship industrial complex: "The White House pressured YouTube to reduce watch time of 'borderline' content by 70%, the FBI boasted a 50% success rate in getting platforms to censor…

@KanekoaTheGreat - kanekoa.substack.com

.@TuckerCarlson, @TomiLahren, @RealCandaceO, @RobertKennedyJr, @AlexBerenson, @gbdeclaration were all censored. There are future censorship plans to censor topics like climate disinformation, abortion-relation speech, gendered disinformation, and racial justice.

@KanekoaTheGreat - kanekoa.substack.com

Censorship Enterprise Pamphlet: https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/landry-testimony.pdf Missouri V. Biden: https://nclalegal.org/state-of-missouri-et-al-v-joseph-r-biden-jr-et-al/ https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/landry-testimony.pdf Missouri https://nclalegal.org/state-of-missouri-et-al-v-joseph-r-biden-jr-et-al/

State of Missouri ex rel. Schmitt, et al. v. Biden, et al. - New Civil Liberties Alliance nclalegal.org

@EpochTV - EpochTV

"Censorship is no longer an act; it has now become an industry," says Global censorship expert @MikeBenzCyber. He joins @LeeSmithDC to discuss the millions of dollars being funneled to support "full-time professional censorship industry operatives." https://ept.ms/CIACensorship2-OT

Bitly | Page Not Found | 404 ept.ms

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

Censorship Industry Decoded, Ep. 1 is now on Rumble. - How terms like "academics" and "studies" obscure the reality of *government cut-outs* and *censors* - The tactics used by EIP to strong-arm tech companies - The origins of US election censorship https://rumble.com/v2t4bha-censorship-industry-decoded-ep.-1-the-washington-post-response.html

Censorship Industry Decoded, Ep. 1: The Washington Post Response My response to the Washington Post. Their article is here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/06/disinformation-researchers-congress-jim-jordan/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJI rumble.com

@sbakertx - Scot Baker

This is an education course. It explains the use of private (non-governmental) companies/non-profits/colleges to do the bidding of CISA. EIP was the instrument in Election Integrity censorship. EIP (govt funded, I mean given a grant) strong arms social media companies to adopt a new TOS policy that dragnets posts/vids as misinformation regarding election integrity. Threaten companies with govt regulation and PR crisis (use of media to bash platforms that won't comply with censorship). EIP has team of people scouring sites. Emails companies problematic posts/vids to deal with against the new TOS they wrote for them. Govt incentivized to not allow new competition. More companies are harder to control.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Introducing the Westminster Declaration One hundred and thirty-eight public intellectuals and journalists demand governments dismantle the Censorship Industrial Complex by @shellenberger @mtaibbi @NAffects @lwoodhouse & @galexybrane Home page of The Westminster Declaration (http://WestminsterDeclaration.org) In March of this year, two of us, Matt and Michael, testified to Congress about the existence of a Censorship Industrial Complex comprised of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and Big Tech companies working together to suppress disfavored views and disfavored people. At that hearing and ever since, elected members of Congress, the mainstream news media, and the NGOs have argued that there is no Censorship Complex, just people doing research into and trying to correct misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. But now, a group of 138 scholars, public intellectuals, and journalists from across the political spectrum have issued a strong call warning the public of the Censorship Industrial Complex and urging governments to dismantle it in the name of the “first liberty,” freedom of speech. It’s called The Westminster Declaration. How did it come about?

The Westminster Declaration Journalists, authors, and others unite against global censorship, which threatens our free speech rights. We confront labels like "misinformation" and warn of a 'Censorship-Industrial Complex' involving governments and tech firms. The Westminster Declaration declares free speech as a human right that is central to democracy. westminsterdeclaration.org

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

THE CTIL FILES #1 Many people insist that governments aren't involved in censorship, but they are. And now, a whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance. https://t.co/tqgSQjPIuT

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

CTIL Files #1: US And UK Military Contractors Created Sweeping Plan For Global Censorship In 2018, New Documents Show Whistleblower makes trove of new documents available to Public and Racket, showing the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in reaction to Brexit and Trump election in 2016 by @shellenberger @galexybrane @mtaibbi US military contractor Pablo Breuer (left), UK defense researcher Sara-Jayne “SJ” Terp (center), and Chris Krebs, former director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS-CISA) A whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance. They describe the activities of an “anti-disinformation” group called the Cyber Threat Intelligence League, or CTIL, that officially began as the volunteer project of data scientists and defense and intelligence veterans but whose tactics over time appear to have been absorbed into multiple official projects, including those of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The CTI League documents offer the missing link answers to key questions not addressed in the Twitter Files and Facebook Files. Combined, they offer a comprehensive picture of the birth of the “anti-disinformation” sector, or what we have called the Censorship Industrial Complex. The whistleblower's documents describe everything from the genesis of modern digital censorship programs to the role of the military and intelligence agencies, partnerships with civil society organizations and commercial media, and the use of sock puppet accounts and other offensive techniques. "Lock your shit down," explains one document about creating "your spy disguise.” Another explains that while such activities overseas are "typically" done by "the CIA and NSA and the Department of Defense," censorship efforts "against Americans" have to be done using private partners because the government doesn't have the "legal authority." The whistleblower alleges that a leader of CTI League, a “former” British intelligence analyst, was “in the room” at the Obama White House in 2017 when she received the instructions to create a counter-disinformation project to stop a "repeat of 2016." Over the last year, Public, Racket, congressional investigators, and others have documented the rise of the Censorship Industrial Complex, a network of over 100 government agencies and nongovernmental organizations that work together to urge censorship by social media platforms and spread propaganda about disfavored individuals, topics, and whole narratives. The US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) has been the center of gravity for much of the censorship, with the National Science Foundation financing the development of censorship and disinformation tools and other federal government agencies playing a supportive role. Emails from CISA’s NGO and social media partners show that CISA created the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) in 2020, which involved the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) and other US government contractors. EIP and its successor, the Virality Project (VP), urged Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to censor social media posts by ordinary citizens and elected officials alike. Despite the overwhelming evidence of government-sponsored censorship, it had yet to be determined where the idea for such mass censorship came from. In 2018, an SIO official and former CIA fellow, Renee DiResta, generated national headlines before and after testifying to the US Senate about Russian government interference in the 2016 election. But what happened between 2018 and Spring 2020? The year 2019 has been a black hole in the research of the Censorship Industrial Complex to date. When one of us, Michael, testified to the U.S. House of Representatives about the Censorship Industrial Complex in March of this year, the entire year was missing from his timeline. An Earlier Start Date for the Censorship Industrial Complex Now, a large trove of new documents, including strategy documents, training videos, presentations, and internal messages, reveal that, in 2019, US and UK military and intelligence contractors led by a former UK defense researcher, Sara-Jayne “SJ” Terp, developed the sweeping censorship framework. These contractors co-led CTIL, which partnered with CISA in the spring of 2020. In truth, the building of the Censorship Industrial Complex began even earlier — in 2018. Internal CTIL Slack messages show Terp, her colleagues, and officials from DHS and Facebook all working closely together in the censorship process. The CTIL framework and the public-private model are the seeds of what both the US and UK would put into place in 2020 and 2021, including masking censorship within cybersecurity institutions and counter-disinformation agendas; a heavy focus on stopping disfavored narratives, not just wrong facts; and pressuring social media platforms to take down information or take other actions to prevent content from going viral. In the spring of 2020, CTIL began tracking and reporting disfavored content on social media, such as anti-lockdown narratives like “all jobs are essential,” “we won’t stay home,” and “open America now.” CTIL created a law enforcement channel for reporting content as part of these efforts. The organization also did research on individuals posting anti-lockdown hashtags like #freeCA and kept a spreadsheet with details from their Twitter bios. The group also discussed requesting “takedowns” and reporting website domains to registrars. CTIL’s approach to “disinformation” went far beyond censorship. The documents show that the group engaged in offensive operations to influence public opinion, discussing ways to promote “counter-messaging,” co-opt hashtags, dilute disfavored messaging, create sock puppet accounts, and infiltrate private invite-only groups. In one suggested list of survey questions, CTIL proposed asking members or potential members, “Have you worked with influence operations (e.g. disinformation, hate speech, other digital harms etc) previously?” The survey then asked whether these influence operations included “active measures” and “psyops.” These documents came to us via a highly credible whistleblower. We were able to independently verify their legitimacy through extensive cross-checking of information to publicly available sources. The whistleblower said they were recruited to participate in CTIL through monthly cybersecurity meetings hosted by DHS. The FBI declined to comment. CISA did not respond to our request for comment. And Terp and the other key CTIL leaders also did not respond to our requests for comment. But one person involved, Bonnie Smalley, replied over Linked in, saying, “all i can comment on is that i joined cti league which is unaffiliated with any govt orgs because i wanted to combat the inject bleach nonsense online during covid…. i can assure you that we had nothing to do with the govt though.” Yet the documents suggest that government employees were engaged members of CTIL. One individual who worked for DHS, Justin Frappier, was extremely active in CTIL, participating in regular meetings and leading trainings. CTIL’s ultimate goal, said the whistleblower, ”was to become part of the federal government. In our weekly meetings, they made it clear that they were building these organizations within the federal government, and if you built the first iteration, we could secure a job for you.” Terp’s plan, which she shared in presentations to information security and cybersecurity groups in 2019, was to create “Misinfosec communities” that would include government. Both public records and the whistleblower’s documents suggest that she achieved this. In April 2020, Chris Krebs, then-Director of CISA, announced on Twitter and in multiple articles, that CISA was partnering with CTIL. “It’s really an information exchange,” said Krebs. The documents also show that Terp and her colleagues, through a group called MisinfoSec Working Group, which included DiResta, created a censorship, influence, and anti-disinformation strategy called Adversarial Misinformation and Influence Tactics and Techniques (AMITT). They wrote AMITT by adapting a cybersecurity framework developed by MITRE, a major defense and intelligence contractor that has an annual budget of $1 to $2 billion in government funding. Terp later used AMITT to develop the DISARM framework, which the World Health Organization then employed in “countering anti-vaccination campaigns across Europe.” A key component of Terp’s work through CTIL, MisinfoSec, and AMITT was to insert the concept of “cognitive security” into the fields of cybersecurity and information security. The sum total of the documents is a clear picture of a highly coordinated and sophisticated effort by the US and UK governments to build a domestic censorship effort and influence operations similar to the ones they have used in foreign countries. At one point, Terp openly referenced her work “in the background” on social media issues related to the Arab Spring. Another time, the whistleblower said, she expressed her own apparent surprise that she would ever use such tactics, developed for foreign nationals, against American citizens. According to the whistleblower, roughly 12-20 active people involved in CTILworked at the FBI or CISA. “For a while, they had their agency seals — FBI, CISA, whatever — next to your name,” on the Slack messaging service, said the whistleblower. Terp “had a CISA badge that went away at some point,” the whistleblower said. The ambitions of the 2020 pioneers of the Censorship Industrial Complex went far beyond simply urging Twitter to slap a warning label on Tweets, or to put individuals on blacklists. The AMITT framework calls for discrediting individuals as a necessary prerequisite of demanding censorship against them. It calls for training influencers to spread messages. And it calls for trying to get banks to cut off financial services to individuals who organize rallies or events.The timeline of CISA’s work with CTIL leading up to its work with EIP and VP strongly suggests that the model for public-private censorship operations may have originated from a framework originally created by military contractors. What’s more, the techniques and materials outlined by CTIL closely resemble materials later created by CISA’s Countering Foreign Intelligence Task Force and Mis-, Dis-, and Maliformation team. Over the next several days and weeks, we intend to present these documents to Congressional investigators, and will make public all of the documents we can while also protecting the identity of the whistleblower and other individuals who are not senior leaders or public figures. But for now, we need to take a closer look at what happened in 2018 and 2019, leading up to the creation of CTIL, as well as this group’s key role in the formation and growth of the Censorship Industrial Complex.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

“Volunteer” and “Former” Government Agents Bloomberg, Washington Post and others published credulous stories in the spring of 2020 claiming that the CTI League was simply a group of volunteer cybersecurity experts. Its founders were: a “former” Israeli intelligence official, Ohad Zaidenberg; a Microsoft “security manager,” Nate Warfield; and the head of sec ops for DEF CON, a hackers convention, Marc Rogers. The articles claimed that those highly skilled cybercrime professionals had decided to help billion-dollar hospitals, on their own time and without pay, for strictly altruistic motives. In just one month, from mid-March to mid-April, the supposedly all-volunteer CTIL had grown to “1,400 vetted members in 76 countries spanning 45 different sectors,” had “helped to lawfully take down 2,833 cybercriminal assets on the internet, including 17 designed to impersonate government organizations, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization,” and had “identified more than 2,000 vulnerabilities in healthcare institutions in more than 80 countries.” At every opportunity the men stressed that they were simply volunteers motivated by altruism. “I knew I had to do something to help,” said Zaidenberg. ”There is a really strong appetite for doing good in the community,” Rogers said during an Aspen Institute webinar. And yet a clear goal of CTIL’s leaders was to build support for censorship among national security and cybersecurity institutions. Toward that end, they sought to promote the idea of “cognitive security” as a rationale for government involvement in censorship activities. “Cognitive security is the thing you want to have,” said Terp on a 2019 podcast. “You want to protect that cognitive layer. It basically, it’s about pollution. Misinformation, disinformation, is a form of pollution across the Internet.” Terp and Pablo Breuer, another CTIL leader, like Zaidenberg, had backgrounds in the military and were former military contractors. Both have worked for SOFWERX, “a collaborative project of the U.S. Special Forces Command and Doolittle Institute.” The latter transfers Air Force technology, through the Air Force Resource Lab, to the private sector. According to Terp’s bio on the website of a consulting firm she created with Breuer, “She’s taught data science at Columbia University, was CTO of the UN’s big data team, designed machine learning algorithms and unmanned vehicle systems at the UK Ministry of Defence. Breuer is a former US Navy commander. According to his bio, he was “military director of US Special Operations Command Donovan Group and senior military advisor and innovation officer to SOFWERX, the National Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Command as well as being the Director of C4 at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.” Breuer is listed as having been in the Navy during the creation of CTIL on his LinkedIn page. In June, 2018, Terp attended a ten-day military exercise organized by the US Special Operations Command, where she says she first met Breuer and discussed modern disinformation campaigns on social media. Wired summed up the conclusions they drew from their meeting: “Misinformation, they realized, could be treated the same way: as a cybersecurity problem.” And so they created CogSec with David Perlman and another colleague, Thaddeus Grugq, at the lead. In 2019, Terp co-chaired the Misinfosec Working Group within CogSec. Breuer admitted in a podcast that his aim was to bring military tactics to use on social media platforms in the U.S. “I wear two hats,” he explained. “The military director of the Donovan Group, and one of two innovation officers at Sofwerx, which is a completely unclassified 501c3 nonprofit that's funded by U. S. Special Operations Command.” Breuer went on to describe how they thought they were getting around the First Amendment. His work with Terp, he explained, was a way to get “nontraditional partners into one room,” including “maybe somebody from one of the social media companies, maybe a few special forces operators, and some folks from Department of Homeland Security… to talk in a non-attribution, open environment in an unclassified way so that we can collaborate better, more freely and really start to change the way that we address some of these issues.” The Misinfosec report advocated for sweeping government censorship and counter-misinformation. During the first six months of 2019, the authors say, they analyzed “incidents,” developed a reporting system, and shared their censorship vision with “numerous state, treaty and NGOs.” In every incident mentioned, the victims of misinformation were on the political Left, and they included Barack Obama, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton, and Emmanuel Macron. The report was open about the fact that its motivation for counter-misinformation were the twin political earthquakes of 2016: Brexit and the election of Trump. “A study of the antecedents to these events lead us to the realization that there’s something off kilter with our information landscape,” wrote Terp and her co-authors. “The usual useful idiots and fifth columnists—now augmented by automated bots, cyborgs and human trolls—are busily engineering public opinion, stoking up outrage, sowing doubt and chipping away at trust in our institutions. And now it’s our brains that are being hacked.” The Misinfosec report focused on information that “changes beliefs” through “narratives,” and recommended a way to counter misinformation by attacking specific links in a “kill chain” or influence chain from the misinfo “incident” before it becomes a full-blown narrative. The report laments that governments and corporate media no longer have full control of information. “For a long time, the ability to reach mass audiences belonged to the nation-state (e.g. in the USA via broadcast licensing through ABC, CBS and NBC). Now, however, control of informational instruments has been allowed to devolve to large technology companies who have been blissfully complacent and complicit in facilitating access to the public for information operators at a fraction of what it would have cost them by other means.” The authors advocated for police, military, and intelligence involvement in censorship, across Five Eyes nations, and even suggested that Interpol should be involved. The report proposed a plan for AMITT and for security, intelligence, and law enforcement collaboration and argued for immediate implementation. “We do not need, nor can we afford, to wait 27 years for the AMITT (Adversarial Misinformation and Influence Tactics and Techniques) framework to go into use.” The authors called for placing censorship efforts inside of “cybersecurity” even while acknowledging that “misinformation security” is utterly different from cybersecurity. They wrote that the third pillar of “The information environment” after physical and cybersecurity should be “The Cognitive Dimension.” The report flagged the need for a kind of pre-bunking to “preemptively inoculate a vulnerable population against messaging.” The report also pointed to the opportunity to use the DHS-funded Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) as the homes for orchestrating public-private censorship, and argued that these ISACs should be used to promote confidence in government. It is here that we see the idea for the EIP and VP: “While social media is not identified as a critical sector, and therefore doesn’t qualify for an ISAC, a misinformation ISAC could and should feed indications and warnings into ISACs.” Terp’s view of “disinformation” was overtly political. “Most misinformation is actually true,” noted Terp in the 2019 podcast, “but set in the wrong context.” Terp is an eloquent explainer of the strategy of using “anti-disinformation” efforts to conduct influence operations. “You're not trying to get people to believe lies most of the time. Most of the time, you're trying to change their belief sets. And in fact, really, uh, deeper than that, you're trying to change, to shift their internal narratives… the set of stories that are your baseline for your culture. So that might be the baseline for your culture as an American.” In the fall, Terp and others sought to promote their report. The podcast Terp did with Breuer in 2019 was one example of this effort. Together Terp and Breuer described the “public-private” model of censorship laundering that DHS, EIP, and VP would go on to embrace. Breuer spoke freely, openly stating that the information and narrative control he had in mind was comparable to that implemented by the Chinese government, only made more palatable for Americans. “If you talk to the average Chinese citizen, they absolutely believe that the Great Firewall of China is not there for censorship. They believe that it's there because the Chinese Communist Party wants to protect the citizenry and they absolutely believe that's a good thing. If the US government tried to sell that narrative, we would absolutely lose our minds and say, ‘No, no, this is a violation of our First Amendment rights. So the in-group and out-group messaging have to be often different.”

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

“Hogwarts School of Misinformation” “SJ called us the ‘Hogwarts school for misinformation and disinformation,’” said the whistleblower. “They were superheroes in their own story. And to that effect you could still find comic books on the CISA site.” CTIL, the whistleblower said, “needed programmers to pull apart information from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. For Twitter they created Python code to scrape.” The CTIL records provided by the whistleblower illustrate exactly how CTIL operated and tracked “incidents,” as well as what it considered to be “disinformation.” About the “we won’t stay home” narrative, CTIL members wrote, “Do we have enough to ask for the groups and/or accounts to be taken down or at a minimum reported and checked?” and “Can we get all troll on their bums if not?” They tracked posters calling for anti-lockdown protests as disinformation artifacts. “We should have seen this one coming,” they wrote about the protests. “Bottom line: can we stop the spread, do we have enough evidence to stop superspreaders, and are there other things we can do (are there countermessagers we can ping etc).” CTIL also worked to brainstorm counter-messaging for things like encouraging people to wear masks and discussed building an amplification network. “Repetition is truth,” said a CTIL member in one training. CTIL worked with other figures and groups in the Censorship Industrial Complex. Meeting notes indicate that Graphika’s team looked into adopting AMITT and that CTIL wanted to consult DiResta about getting platforms to remove content more quickly. When asked whether Terp or other CTIL leaders discussed their potential violation of the First Amendment, the whistleblower said, “They did not… The ethos was that if we get away with it, it’s legal, and there were no First Amendment concerns because we have a ‘public-private partnership’ — that’s the word they used to disguise those concerns. ‘Private people can do things public servants can’t do, and public servants can provide the leadership and coordination.’” Despite their confidence in the legality of their activities, some CTIL members may have taken extreme measures to keep their identities a secret. The group’s handbook recommends using burner phones, creating pseudonymous identities, and generating fake AI faces using the “This person does not exist” website. In June 2020, the whistleblower says, the secretive group took actions to conceal their activities even more. One month later, In July 2020, SIO’s Director, Alex Stamos emailed Kate Starbird from the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, writing, “We are working on some election monitoring ideas with CISA and I would love your informal feedback before we go too far down this road . . . . [T]hings that should have been assembled a year ago are coming together quickly this week.” That summer CISA also created the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force which has measures that reflect CTIL/AMITT methods and includes a “real fake” graphic novel the whistleblower said was first pitched within CTIL. The “DISARM” framework, which AMITT inspired, has been formally adopted by the European Union and the United States as part of a “common standard for exchanging structured threat information on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference.” Until now, the details of CTIL’s activities have received little attention even though the group received publicity in 2020. In September 2020, Wired published an article about CTIL that reads like a company press release. The article, like the Bloomberg and Washington Post stories that spring, accepts unquestioningly that the CTIL was truly a “volunteer” network of “former” intelligence officials from around the world. But unlike the Bloomberg and Washington Post stories, Wired also describes CTIL’s “anti-misinformation” work. The Wired reporter does not quote any critic of the CTIL activities, but suggests that some might see something wrong with them. “I ask him [CTIL co-founder Marc Rogers] about the notion of viewing misinformation as a cyber threat. “All of these bad actors are trying to do the same thing, Rogers says.” In other words, the connection between preventing cyber crimes, and “fighting misinformation,” are basically the same because they both involve fighting what the DHS and CTI League alike call “malicious actors,” which is synonymous with “bad guys.” “Like Terp, Rogers takes a holistic approach to cybersecurity,” the Wired article explains. “First there’s physical security, like stealing data from a computer onto a USB drive. Then there’s what we typically think of as cybersecurity—securing networks and devices from unwanted intrusions. And finally, you have what Rogers and Terp call cognitive security, which essentially is hacking people, using information, or more often, misinformation.” CTIL appears to have generated publicity about itself in the Spring and Fall of 2020 for the same reason EIP did: to claim later that its work was all out in the open and that anybody who suggested it was secretive was engaging in a conspiracy theory. “The Election Integrity Partnership has always operated openly and transparently,” EIP claimed in October 2022. “We published multiple public blog posts in the run-up to the 2020 election, hosted daily webinars immediately before and after the election, and published our results in a 290-page final report and multiple peer-reviewed academic journals. Any insinuation that information about our operations or findings were secret up to this point is disproven by the two years of free, public content we have created.” But as internal messages have revealed, much of what EIP did was secret, as well as partisan, and demanding of censorship by social media platforms, contrary to its claims to the contrary. EIP and VP, ostensibly, ended, but CTIL is apparently still active today. Several of its members list CTIL as an organization that is still active on their LinkedIn pages.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

It sounds like a "Black Mirror" episode: a small country announces a crackdown on hate speech to seize control over the entire Internet. Except it's not a "Black Mirror" episode. It's real life. And it's happening right now in Ireland. The so-called "Hate Speech" bill isn't what it seems. It's not a bill about protecting the Irish people from hate crimes. It's a Trojan Horse designed to control the world's Big Tech companies — X, Facebook, Google, and YouTube. This is a free speech emergency. We thought the legislation was dead. But the Irish government is using recent riots as an excuse to ram the legislation through before Christmas. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS NOT ABOUT IRELAND. THIS IS A TOTALITARIAN EFFORT BY GLOBAL ELITES TO CENSOR ALL OF US. It's right there in black and white: "One of the key features of the Bill," write two attorneys with a leading Irish law firm, "is the provision for offences by corporate bodies." https://www.matheson.com/insights/detail/hate-speech-bill-corporate-offences-on-the-horizon How can Big Tech companies avoid censorship? You guessed it: by agreeing to regulation of their content by the Irish government. "The current iteration of the Bill provides a defence for the corporate body to show that it took all reasonable steps and exercised due diligence to avoid the commission of the particular offence. Therefore, to establish and maintain such a defence, companies will need to have the appropriate processes and procedures in place." The Irish government is almost certainly not acting alone. As my colleagues and I have reported, the demand for censorship is coming directly from the militaries, intelligence agencies, and their front groups in the US, UK, and around the world. https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1731737414077719029?s=20 The intelligence communities of the Five Eyes nations of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand have been working together to censor ordinary citizens and politicians alike for disfavored speech for the last several years. https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1729537450752811097?s=20 There's no time to mince words. What governments are doing is against the law. They are violating the constitutions of the nations that the people elected them to uphold. Because of the high level of secrecy they are using, we can't say whether or not these are "rogue" elements within governments or whether these orders are coming from heads of state. But we do know that demands for censorship have come both directly from the US military and from heads of state of Western nations around the world. What's happening should terrify all freedom-loving people. We must fight back. We will fight back. That starts with recognizing what's going on. Please follow @FreeSpeechIre @Ben_Scallan and other Irish free speech leaders. Please share this post and tell friends and family what's going on. Finally, please consider getting involved directly. We have created and personally contributed to an Emergency Free Speech Fund to get the word out: https://censorshipindustrialcomplex.org/donate-1 This isn't about "hate speech." This is about out-of-control elites within the intelligence, military, and security agencies around the world who are grotesquely abusing their power in a mad bid to take control of the Internet. If we don't stop them, this terrifying "Black Mirror" episode will become real life.

"Hate Speech'' Bill: Corporate Offences on the Horizon This latest insight discusses the new offences under the Criminal Justice Bill 2022 and the consequences for corporate bodies. matheson.com

Donate — Censorship Industrial Complex censorshipindustrialcomplex.org

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

People say the government wasn't involved in censorship, but it was. And now, new documents prove that US military contractors urged & used a wide range of counter-terrorism tactics against civilians, including psyops, debanking, and changing Big Tech's Terms of Service.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

THE CTIL FILES #1 Many people insist that governments aren't involved in censorship, but they are. And now, a whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance.

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

🧵MGshow Reading CTIL files @shadygrooove @intheMatrixxx 1/

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

2/ https://x.com/RebelValkyrie17/status/1732797624762126662?s=20

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

2B/ https://t.co/YliVobBupQ

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

2C/ https://x.com/RebelValkyrie17/status/1732800177646243975?s=20

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

News Unlocked: Fifth Column Kill_Chain https://t.co/TwAdLOZ7Es

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

3/ "Hogwarts School of Misinformation" -Scraping social media -Narratives/Counter narratives -Trolls for hire -"Repetition is truth" -Pseudonyms and secret identities -CISA; Countering Foreign Influence Taskforce -"DISARM" framework, inspired by AMITT -EIP -& more.

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

4/ @shadygrooove Shady-Monologue: "If you don't feel like you've been made a fool of, you are not paying attention." -Chris Krebs/Election Interference "They did not think you would be able to figure it out."

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

5/ CTIL Files CON'T. Sockpuppets, and spy tactics, and doxxing. OH MY!! [THEY] sell merch in order to obtain your private information.

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

6/ 🕵️‍♂️CTIL "Spy Disguise" for "impact containment" -Security -Compartmentation -Persona

@RebelValkyrie17 - ©.

7/ "BURNER PHONES" 📲 CTIL's "Big Book of Disinformation Response" PLAYBOOK?

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

Censorship Laundering https://t.co/6PHbbvu28M

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/1🚨🗣️EXCLUSIVE — FOREIGN COLLUSION TO CENSOR AMERICAN SPEECH: New docs from litigation against the CDC reveal the Biden-Harris White House hosted the “Counter Disinformation Unit” from the U.K. gov’t in 2021 to learn about their recommendations to censor speech. 🧵THREAD:

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/2 As a part of the NSC’s regular interagency meetings on censoring COVID-related speech in the United States, the White House hosted the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) from the U.K. government in 2021 to learn about their most effective censorship techniques.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/3 This meeting was attended by high-level staff from: 🚨White House 🚨NSC 🚨CIA 🚨FBI 🚨State Department 🚨Treasury 🚨Department of Defense 🚨Homeland Security 🚨Health and Human Services 🚨USAID 🚨Global Media 🚨Office of the Director of National Intelligence as well as high-ranking officers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/4 At this meeting, the CDU outlined how they have been censoring the British public, and these documents expose how left-wing authoritarian governments across the globe are working together to attack free speech.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/5 During the censorship meeting, the Biden-Harris NSC invited the British government to share its censorship playbook. They recommended: 🚨Creating a dedicated hub to lead government-wide censorship efforts 🚨Passing legislation to enable the government to coerce social media companies 🚨Enlisting the Department of State to partner with foreign allies and multilateral institutions to coordinate the global censorship agenda Keep reading…

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/6🚨A centralized hub to lead government-wide censorship efforts:   The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) is a British “cross-departmental” body that coordinates censorship programs across the whole of the British government. They “support formulation of a coordinated Government response” to the “threat” of misinformation (anything the government deems false).

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/7 The CDU coordinates the British censorship program with private companies such as social media platforms and non-profits. The CDU includes components of the U.K.’s foreign policy apparatus, domestic and foreign intelligence services, and individuals working directly for the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office’s National Security Unit.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/8 Our separate litigation previously uncovered that the Biden-Harris Admin convened similar public-private censorship partnerships in the U.S. well into 2024.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/9 Around election time, the CDU stood up a “Central Election Cell” to kick censorship efforts into overdrive.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/10 During the U.S. 2022 Midterm elections, the Biden-Harris Administration similarly set up a National Election Command Post within the FBI.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/1🚨FBI SURVEILLANCE EXPOSED: Our lawsuit just exposed that the FBI implemented extensive nationwide social media monitoring ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The FBI’s National Election Command Post received lists of “multiple Twitter accounts posting misinformation.” 🧵

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/11🚨Enacting censorship laws In the meeting, the CDU shared how their proposal would allow them to directly coerce social media platforms to ensure that the government’s censorship demands were followed. By creating a new duty of care, the proposed legislation empowers a British regulatory agency to demand the censorship of content that the U.K. government deems harmful.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/12 The U.K. Online Safety Act came into force in October of 2023 and is the basis under which U.K. law enforcement officials have threatened to extradite and jail U.S. citizens.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/13 The law parallels recently resurfaced comments made by then Senator Kamala Harris in 2019, which called for the DOJ to punish social media companies that allowed “disinformation” and “misinformation.”

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/14 One of our separate investigations confirmed that the Biden-Harris White House solicited policy recommendations from the British-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)—the group behind the U.K. Online Safety Act—and adopted commitments to hold companies accountable through DOJ prosecutions and FTC enforcement actions for allowing “online harassment” on their platforms.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/1🚨CENSORSHIP SCANDAL EXPOSED — We just unearthed evidence that Biden’s DHS and State Dept. mobilized federal counterterrorism assets to support a foreign-based organization censoring American speech: the Center for Countering Digital Hate. THREAD:

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/15🚨Establish regular lines of communication between government and social media platforms The CDU also relies heavily on “trusted flagging relationships.” Effectively, this means when the government directs social media companies to censor specific posts and individuals. This behavior of flagging posts led us to initially file the lawsuit, which resulted in the production of these documents and is at the heart of the Missouri v. Biden case, in which we filed two key Amicus Briefs on behalf of dozens of members in the House of Representatives.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/16 Prior doc releases we obtained in this litigation revealed that the Biden-Harris admin had also engaged in this sort of “trusted relationship” partnership with social media companies even before this meeting. 

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/17🚨International government pressure The presentation appears to show that the U.K. government engages its foreign policy apparatus to further its censorship agenda and encouraged the U.S. to do the same. One of the so-called “significant benefits” of this approach would be, according to the presentation, that this unified front of government pressure would “encourag[e] cooperation from platforms.”

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/18 The U.K. Foreign Office and the U.S. Department of State appear to play important similar roles in this international government censorship partnership. By coordinating across left-wing authoritarian governments, they can manipulate the global population into believing that there is no alternative to massive government censorship of social media, and “industry” would “efficiently implement[] new systems and processes.” In 2021, the U.K. boasted of a close working relationship with the U.S., Australia, and Canada, as well as bilateral relationships with 20 additional countries. This begs the question: how many nations have come on board with this initiative by now?

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/19 The CDU presentation also highlights the role of multilateral institutions in this international engagement, specifically identifying the G7’s Rapid Response Mechanism and the United Nations Interagency Platform on Culture for Sustainable Development (IPCSD) under the heading: “Multilateral cooperation to counter disinformation.” The logos of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the European Center for Excellence of Countering Threats are visible under the heading, “International training and capability.”

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/20🚨Promote leftist dogma Part of the U.K. government’s presentation included a description of a U.K. initiative called the “Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme,” which was active in Eastern Europe from 2016 to 2021. According to their “Theory of Change,” one of the outcomes of this scheme was that the targeted populations would “reduce identification with pre-existing social biases” and increase “support for gender equality” and “liberal democratic values.”

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/21 These terms may sound innocuous, but in practice, they are covers for left-wing social re-engineering experiments. For instance, money from the CDMD Programme was used to fund the “Global Disinformation Index,” which runs an “advertising blacklist” for websites that they allege push “anti-trans narratives.”

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/22 These slides expose the Biden-Harris Administration’s cooperation with ideologically aligned leftist allies to push woke progressive dogmas while monitoring and censoring what Americans think and say.

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/23 This release comes on the heels of calls from House Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairwoman, @RepNancyMace, to ensure that the 2024 election is protected from the deep state censorship that was prevalent in the 2020 election.

@GOPoversight - Oversight Committee

🚨BREAKING: Rep. Nancy Mace is calling on President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris to provide all White House communications with social media companies and between federal employees about efforts to pressure social media platforms to censor online content. @RepNancyMace

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

@RepNancyMace /24 Find the full slide deck linked at the bottom of our release here: https://aflegal.org/exclusive-america-first-legal-obtains-new-internal-cdc-documents-revealing-foreign-collusion-in-biden-harris-government-censorship-regime/

EXCLUSIVE – America First Legal Obtains New Internal CDC Documents Revealing Foreign Collusion in Biden-Harris Government Censorship Regime WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal released new documents exclusively obtained in its litigation against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). AFL […] aflegal.org

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Tim Walz just spread misinformation in service of making the case for government censorship. He said it’s illegal to yell fire in a crowded theater. That’s a myth. The expression refers to a *nonbinding* claim in a 1919 Supreme Court opinion that was *overturned* in 1969.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Tim Walz had previously claimed that it was illegal to spread misinformation about elections. It’s not. How could it be? If you let the government to censor disfavored views on elections, how would we ever know if the government stole an election?

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

People think Brazil-style censorship couldn't happen here, but it could. Indeed, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Barack Obama have all called for heavy-handed government censorship like that of Brazil and Europe, complete with banning disfavored individuals across platforms. https://t.co/AImluaHjMi

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Walz, Harris, Bill Gates, John Kerry and the media are all effectively demanding that the government re-start an illegal censorship and election interference operation run by a “former” CIA operative.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

A US government-funded group at Stanford said its work was "nonpartisan," but it wasn't. A newly released tranche of files, exclusive to Public, show that it demanded censorship of Republican elected officials, but not of Democrats, for making equivalent claims of election fraud https://t.co/nYalz4BIAQ

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

We helped expose the illegal, unethical, and unAmerican censorship by Stanford Internet Observatory. Appropriately embarrassed, Stanford cut off funding for its censorship advocacy.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Some of the richest and most powerful people in the world are desperate to censor the whole Internet. We can’t let them.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Pro-censorship politicians like @Tim_Walz should be asked: do you want the government to censor you for your misinformation on everything from yelling fire in a crowded theater to you fighting in a war zone to you being in China during the Tiananmen Square?

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

@Tim_Walz Politicians and journalists who promote censorship without considering their own misinformation often suffer from a form of narcissism, which new psychological research finds is driven by Left-wing authoritarianism.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Fact-checkers claim to have special powers to discern the truth, but they don't. And now, a new, months-long investigation finds multiple instances where fact-checkers spread misinformation and then demanded censorship. Why? Because of the narcissistic "third-person effect." https://t.co/X9YK595GVr

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

@Tim_Walz First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff got so tired of hearing people repeat the “liar in a crowded theater” myth that he wrote a whole book going through 100+ years of Supreme Court rulings. It’s as brilliant as its title: “Liar In A Crowded Theater.” https://a.co/d/3bd7sQP

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

@Tim_Walz .@JMchangama wrote an equally brilliant book that makes a similar case. The First Amendment is incredibly strong. What constitutes “hate speech” is totally subjective and thus legal. So too is incitement of violence unless it’s “imminent.” https://a.co/d/3cC5lKV

@newstart_2024 - Camus

Powerful testimony by Lara Logan: "I have worked at the highest levels of the media as a full-time correspondent for 60 Minutes, chief foreign correspondent for CBS News, chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News. That was my home for 16 years. And as a journalist, I have sat down with world leaders, mass murderers, and terrorists. And I have held people on both sides of the aisle accountable. I have seen suffering and I have faced evil and I have walked through the fires of hell on distant battlefields. I faced my own death at the hands of a mob of some 200 men in Egypt when I was gang-raped and sodomized and beaten almost to death while on assignment for 60 minutes. And yet for almost a decade I have been targeted and falsely branded and accused of many things that I did not do. They have attacked my work, my character, my sanity, and my marriage. And I am not alone. We are many. And we will not give up, and we will not give in. It's important to all of us, because of everything discussed today, that we address the vital principles and values that exist really only in the United States of America. And that said, these are the worst of times for the media in this country. We live in the age of information warfare, where propaganda is not simply a weapon, it is the entire field of battle. This is a war for our minds that is aided by advanced technology, and we have never been here, not in all of human history. It is a moment when we as journalists should stand together, united, and regardless of politics, we should fight for the truth and we should fight for freedom. Yet, not very long ago, we allowed one of our own to be branded as a traitor simply for doing his job. In fact, there were many so-called journalists who were leading the charge against Tucker, accusing him of treason for the simple fact of interviewing the president of Russia. And to my knowledge, there was not a single legacy media institution that spoke up. This was more than a politically motivated attack on one man. It was a betrayal of the most sacred principles of a free press. And my media colleagues know this to be true, no matter what they say. My fear is that they either no longer care or that they lack the moral courage to be honest, including with themselves to those who wish to censor the idea of free speech in America and all over the world. Media companies, institutions and journalism schools have failed all of us. And for too long we have allowed non-profit organizations to masquerade as non-partisan media watchdogs, when in fact they are little more than highly paid political propagandists and assassins whose entire reason for being is to crush anyone who stands in their way and along with them the long held and cherished ideas of free speech, free thinking, and free minds. This is a blood sport for them, their political allies, and their puppet masters. They know how to kill a journalist without murdering them. We call it cancel culture. In truth, it is a death sentence. And they get away with it because they have information dominance. Some are strong enough to survive, but only a few like Glenn Greenwald, Tucker Carlson, Matt Taibbi, only a few like them are able to reach greater heights and thrive. These nonprofits that I'm talking about are part of a vast censorship network that includes government agencies. They use deception to mask their actions with lofty goals like preventing the spread of misinformation, disinformation, hate speech. They use phrases like protecting democracy and make no mistake, words matter. While propaganda and censorship are not new. Technology means unprecedented power and reach in the hands of a few. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Google, as you have heard many times today, have been allowed to amass monopoly power. And as a result, they not only reach billions of people across the world every second of the day, they have absolute control over what we see and what we hear. Mao, Hitler. When I became a journalist more than 35 years ago, we were under emergency restrictions in apartheid South Africa. And I was 17 years old. Public safety and security were the weapons of state censors. Ours was the truth. We had no Bill of Rights, no Constitution, no First Amendment, no Declaration of Independence and journalists would have to hide their footage from the security police, sometimes sewing the tapes into their mattresses at home so they could not be seized and used to identify and target the protesters that we had filmed. The light of freedom that set fire to our hearts in South Africa was lit thousands of miles away. It was lit right here where we sit today in the United States of America. When the Founding Fathers put freedom of speech first, it was not by chance, it was by design. The rights that followed were in part created to protect the First Amendment. Without it, they knew that freedom itself would perish. I am reminded today of the words spoken by the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Gray, in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War. He said, the lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. We are once again watching the lights of freedom. They're going out here and all over the world. And it is up to us to determine if they will be lit again ever."

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

The media, governments, & "NGOs" say they just want less misinfo & hate speech on X, but they don't. What they want is to control X in order to engage in mass censorship along political and ideological lines. And if they can't have that, to kill it. https://x.com/thackerpd/status/1848755452667924625.

@thackerpd - Paul D. Thacker

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. https://t.co/b3TFMA5LLm

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

US and UK military and intelligence contractors formulated a mass censorship agenda after the election of Trump

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

THE CTIL FILES #1 Many people insist that governments aren't involved in censorship, but they are. And now, a whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance. https://t.co/tqgSQjPIuT

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

A lot of “former” CIA people tried to control Twitter

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

Mass censorship efforts are as vulnerable to sunlight as vampires

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Tl:Dr The world is run by human trafficking cultists using satanic ritual abuse to blackmail the rich and powerful into compliance with their goals. Rachel Chandler provides children to the elite. Rachel Chandler, pictured with Bill Clinton, was a casting agent for Balenciaga. She's a key player in a vast network of influence within high-profile fashion, social, and international political circles. Kamala Harris' stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, is also a model for Balenciaga, linking the political sphere directly with the fashion industry through familial ties. Ella Emhoff despite zero previous modeling experience got a modeling contract with IMG Models, which has had six models come forward accusing Epstein associate Jean-Luc Brunel of abuse, indicating a troubling history within the agency. Balenciaga's creative director, Demna, has a history of controversial product designs, including jewelry that doubled as cocaine spoons, and sexual bondage teddy bears for children, highlighting a pattern of questionable marketing. Rachel Chandler has high-level connections within Balenciaga, evidenced by her ability to secure a modeling job for Ella with no prior experience, showcasing her influence in the industry. The image of Rachel Chandler with Bill Clinton was taken on billionaire Ron Burkle's plane, suggesting there was more than one Epstein and more than one island. There exists an interconnected web of influence between political figures, fashion industry leaders, and human traffickers like Jeffrey Epstein, and Jean luc Brunel through the lens of Rachel Chandler's career and connections. From her role at Balenciaga to her association with IMG Models and high-profile individuals, the evidence suggests a complex network where fashion, politics, and scandal intersect.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

https://t.co/Voc3f6zIM5

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

What were the circumstances of Aliyah's death? Who else is Rachel Chandler with in these photos? https://t.co/K6BHLZfiIC

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Who is Marina Abromovic? Why did Zelensky tap her rebuild Ukrainian schools? https://t.co/HEMlpk4pf0

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

And this is how she connects to comet ping pong and Pizzagate. https://t.co/uqOsgiYQCA https://t.co/uFI6Q05zJn

@DanielLDenz1 - Daniel L Denz

The Instagram account mrsoliar posted pictures that mentioned Comet Ping Pong & Rachel Chandler. The same picture was also posted by Jimmy Comet in 2012. I checked the account mrsoliar today and it has a name, Boris Dayma. https://t.co/oFtaspLeEh

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Rachel Chandler on Instagram posting a photo of Nancy Salzman, cofounder & once President of NXIVM with the Bronfmans. She lovingly calls her mom in the comments. Nancy went to prison for her involvement in the NXIVM sex trafficking cult cases. Bronfman, Epstein and Wexner's have ties to Israel. Edgar Bronfman Sr's connection to Allen Dulles - Former CIA director under Eisenhower - is an even deeper rabbit hole that shines a lot of Light in the government involvement of child trafficking. Bronfman is the connecting bridge between the CIA and Israel's MOSSAD back in the day. Edgar Bronfman & Leslie Wexner founded the pro-Israeli billionaire endowment & influencer / Lobbyist group called the Mega Group in 1991, the same year that Robert Maxwell met his end off of the Canary Islands too. Allegedly, Robert Maxwell owed WAAAAY TOO MUCH money to the Rothschilds that he skimmed / embezzled from them. Stormy Daniels and Hillary Clinton have direct ties to NXIVM.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Powerful families run the world from the shadows acting as a hidden shephard and we are seen as their cattle. Among Us. https://t.co/Ac0of6M6el

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Most people of influence are controlled with money, drugs, sex scandals, and pedophilia. The CIA also used prostitution and homosexuality as blackmail and honeypot tools back when they constituted criminal offences and were considered socially scandalous. At Heffner’s Playboy Mansion, straight blackmail targets were lured with a promise of associating with scantily clad beautiful women and celebrities. Innocent targets were drugged and photographed with clearly underaged and/or male sex partners, and the staged photos were enough to create the leverage of control the CIA sought over the now-compromised targets. The intelligence agencies answer to their superiors. Can you take a guess who that might be? https://t.co/0hSprO1s6L

@MemeBaseGuru - MemeBase Guru

𝗥𝗼𝘁𝗵𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮 Manipulating the Market - The Waterloo Gambit🧵 Again we will try to stick to the facts here. The story takes place during the Battle of Waterloo. Nathan Rothschild, one of the first Rothschilds, allegedly had early information 👇

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Mk Ultra is the methodology that is used to fracture individuals, school shooters, lone wolf bombers into commiting atrocities under alternate personalities through torture. There is never a lone gunman, it's always patsy. It's a documented conspiracy. https://t.co/IZFlttdIld https://t.co/Yg8thIgTZv

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtains. https://t.co/KvFPo253nM

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Especially not the ones who repealed smith mudnt weaponizing the media and tech companies against American citizens on behalf of his international club members. Bringing us the cross platform violations of Americans constitutional rights via the censorship industrial complex. https://t.co/cJskIvBfcg

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

The Censorship-Industrial Complex, where gov, tech, & media play puppeteer with our info. A dance of control, funded by your tax dollars, shaping narratives & killing free speech. https://www.racket.news/p/report-on-the-censorship-industrial https://t.co/ggwXRnXVYm

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@catturd2 It's newspeak for we censor our users on behalf of the government. X uses the same civic misinformation classifiers as meta. Elon is bending the knee to the censorship industrial complex. https://t.co/3S7plC4Kee

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Thank you for reading. It's Taken me a decade to get here. I highly recommend William Cooper for a jumping off point in your research. He was a naval intelligence officer that checked the box freemason for religion on a whim. https://t.co/VuM4QDCac2 https://t.co/CRM02U1e7i

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Most folks are so wrapped up in their everyday grind that they might as well be asleep. They brush off these deeply troubling connections as just some wild conspiracy stuff, thinking it's got nothing to do with them. But that's exactly how this cult-like network keeps going strong. When we're all just focused on our own little bubbles, we're blind to the big moves being made by these shadowy figures pulling strings of our civilization. By not giving a damn or looking closer, we're giving them permission to control us with human trafficking, blackmail, and worse. Dark stuff. Apathy as consent. If they tell you what they're going to do to you and you don't object you are a consenting party. This mess isn't just about some high-profile names or crazy stories; it's about the world we're all living in right now. Think about it - Please. When you're not paying attention, you're part of the problem, letting these networks chip away at our freedom, our rights, and what's right. Enabling the perverse puppet show of history we have agreed to accept lest we exit the cave. Demand that things change, support the good guys, and help clean up our society. These mystery cults thrive on us not caring; your attention, focus, and action is valuable. This is our reality, and we've got the power to change it.

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

This is the biggest ticking time bomb on the Internet, and the single biggest existential threat to US free speech and the revenue models of all US social media companies -- and yes, it's USAID's fault too.

@ReclaimTheNetHQ - Reclaim The Net

The EU's "voluntary" Disinformation Code is about to go full Orwell. What was once a suggestion will become a legally enforceable censorship tool under the Digital Services Act (DSA) this July. https://t.co/XZOKb1aGOv

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

👷CONTENT YOU CAN DIG🚧 #GROK in the System Let's make this clearer, Justin is my Robot mirror/!\ 🎥 LIVE NOW! 🥷 Kick: http://kick.com/excavationpro 🧙‍♂️ Rumble: http://rumble.com/user/excavationpro… 🕵️ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/excavationpro 🎶 ALL MUSIC STREAMS: 🔗 https://ffm.to/eovnvo9 📆 TODAY IN HISTORY: You Tuned in for wild facts, beats, and vibes! #KickStreamer #KickCommunity #RumbleTakeover #LiveMusic #NewMusicAlert #Twitch #TikTok #music #newmusic #radio #trend #trendy #bugbrain #movie #YouTubeChannel #BeatStars #TodayInHistory #brain #musicvideo #rap #rapmusic #hiphop #underground ⛏️Dig the grind? Drop a follow!💥#ExcavationPro

ExcavationPro - Twitch 🎧 LIVE 24/7 🔊 #excavationpro👷Content You Can Dig🚧 🐯Coffee Room Chat🐶!lurk Friendly Channel🧡 twitch.tv

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@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

No Time Left 🤖 Let's Make it Clearer, Humans are a Robot Mirror! 🪞

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@Ryansikorski10 - Ryan sikorski

Soul Swapping 🔸Simulator or QUantum Network Communication (SeQUeNCe) Simulator of QUantum Network Communication (SeQUeNCe) is an open-source tool that allows the modeling of quantum networks including photonic network components, control protocols, and applications. http://sequence-rtd-tutorial.readthedocs.io/ SeQUeNCe toolbox https://sequence-toolbox.github.io/ 🔸GraphViz Network Visualization The example directory contains an example json file starlight.json to specify a network topology, and the utils directory contains the script draw_topo.py to visualize json files. https://www.graphviz.org/download/ 🔸Entanglement Management https://sequence-rtd-tutorial.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorial/chapter3/entangle.html#example-use-entanglementgenerationa-and-bsmnode-to-generate-entanglement 📄 Entanglement generation in a quantum network with finite quantum memory lifetime Our focus is on the rate of entanglement generation between the end-nodes with many repeaters with a finite quantum memory lifetime. Numerical and analytical simulations show limits of connection performance for a given number of repeaters involved, memory lifetimes, the distance between the end-nodes, and an entanglement management protocol. Our findings demonstrate that the performance of quantum connection depends highly on the entanglement management protocol, which schedules entanglement generation and swapping, resulting in the final end-to-end entanglement. https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10323172 🔸NEAR NEAR is a layer one, sharded, proof-of-stake carbon-neutral blockchain built to be fast, secure, and infinitely scalable. https://docs.near.org/concepts/basics/protocol 🔸CHAIN ABSTRACTION NEAR's chain abstraction framework consists of three core technologies that work together to create seamless cross-chain experiences. https://docs.near.org/chain-abstraction/what-is 🔸Router protocol A layer-1 blockchain enabling chain abstraction https://www.routerprotocol.com/ 🔸Account Abstraction ERC-4337: Account Abstraction Using Alt Mempool Completely avoids consensus-layer protocol changes, instead relying on higher-layer infrastructure. https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4337 Acts as a "smart contracts wallet" where users can engage with the Ethereum network without possessing their own private keys or having to maintain Ether for transaction costs. https://www.quicknode.com/guides/ethereum-development/wallets/account-abstraction-and-erc-4337 🔸ManesLAB Building an IP-Centric Consumer Ecosystem for the Mass Adoption of Web3 Founded in 2022, ManesLAB is an incubator dedicated to the large-scale adoption of Web3. https://www.maneslab.xyz/ 🔸Multi Chain Identity (MID) A user multi chain wallet on-chain asset authentication application protocol MID is a decentralized identity protocol developed by ManesLAB. It forms the foundational product of the entire ManesLAB ecosystem. The current version of MID offers functionalities such as binding multiple blockchain wallet addresses under a single name and linking with mainstream social media accounts. It is the first step for users to construct their own social relation graphs. Moreover, MID can also serve as a login module to bridge the data islands of various websites and apps. By leveraging the real-time, embedded, and extensible advantages of blockchain technology and foundational application protocols, it provides a smooth, traceable, and efficient O2O (Online to Offline) service for more Web2 & Web3 users, guiding the deep integration of the Web2 & Web3 ecosystem. https://docs.maneslab.xyz/ 🔸.mid .mid is a large scale, universally readable identity service network based on multi chain identity (MID). The format suffix is .mid, and the initial registration status defaults to a 8-digit random numeric string. After users set a unique exclusive name and claim it for free (not: unmodifiable after registration), it will serve as their Web3 exclusive identity system identifier. 🚨It's specific on-chain form is an SBT (Soulbound Token) and is used for various purposes, such as on-chain identity recognition, social identity display, ecosystem reputation accumulation, and scenario-based consumption incentives. https://docs.maneslab.xyz/how-.mid-works 🧵 Overview Soulbound Tokens (SBT)

Welcome to the SeQUeNCe documentation page — SeQUeNCe 0.7.0 documentation sequence-rtd-tutorial.readthedocs.io

Chapter 3: Entanglement Management — SeQUeNCe 0.7.0 documentation sequence-rtd-tutorial.readthedocs.io

What is NEAR? | NEAR Documentation NEAR is a user-friendly and carbon-neutral blockchain, built to be fast, secure, and infinitely scalable. docs.near.org

What is Chain Abstraction? | NEAR Documentation img docs.near.org

Account Abstraction and ERC-4337 - Part 1 | QuickNode Guides This guide on Account Abstraction is Part 1 of a two-part series covering ERC-4337, where we'll delve into its technical aspects and functionality. [chains: Ethereum, category: {Smart Contracts, Wallets}, level: Intermediate, created: 2023-06-07] quicknode.com

ManesLAB ManesLAB: Building an IP-Centric Consumer Ecosystem for the Mass Adoption of Web3 maneslab.xyz

Introducing MID | MID Experience the synergy of a truly interlinked digital world with MID docs.maneslab.xyz

How .mid works | MID docs.maneslab.xyz

@Ryansikorski10 - Ryan sikorski

SoulBound Tokens (SBT's) Idena will be the decentralized identity network, where users use Idena Tokens (IDNA) for various functions like participation in identity verification processes through a unique "challenge-response" system and Humanode's network of cryptographically…

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@CryptoBULLITT - Ⓒⓡⓨⓟⓣⓞ 🏴‍☠️ ⒷⓊⓁⓁⒾⓉⓉ XRP 🗝️

NEVER FORGET... 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 ISO 20022 holds key to fintech innovation and competition in years to come. $XRP #Ripple $XDC #XinFin $ALGO #Algorand $XLM #Stellar $IOTA #IOTA #ISO20022 #InterledgerProtocolFamily #JPMorgan #Corda #R3 #Accenture #IBM #ConsenSys

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@sal069010022845 - sal

@IanHurn0 Using a Transhuman Code, they plan on rewriting over us on the transferring of our consciousness/soul. Remember WISeKey? https://www.wisekey.com/the-transhuman-code/ Transhumanism Code Initiative https://transhumancode.com/ ID platform delivered by WISeKey facilitates digital govt services in…

The Transhuman Code - WISeKey Featuring CARLOS MOREIRA Author, The TransHuman Code RACHEL World’s First Digital Person DAVID FERGUSSON Author, The TransHuman Code Evgeni Borisov CEO, Vimana Global SHANTENU AGARWAL IBM Watson GREG CROSS Chief Business Officer, Soul Machines SALIM ISMAIL Author, Exponential Organizations ALEX PENTLAND Director – Human Dynamics Laboratory, MIT RODRIGO ARBOLEDA Co-Founder and Chairman, Fast Track Institute […] wisekey.com

The greatest technology on the planet is the human | Tranhumancode A new initiative that highlights the growing intersection of humanity and technology, its impact on our daily lives, and long-term implications. transhumancode.com

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@IanHurn0 - Ian Hurn

Communication network 120 may include any wired or wireless connection, the internet, or any other form of communication. Although one network 120 is identified in FIG. 1, communication network 120 may include any number of different communication networks between any of the

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

Why did I start posting about Crypto Jan 31, 2025 Go ahead...

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

https://soundcloud.com/excavationpro/signals-intelligence-sigint

Signals Intelligence SIGINT Stream Signals Intelligence SIGINT by Excavationpro on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. soundcloud.com

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@MarloVanMarck - Marlo Van Marck 🌎🍄🐝

In today’s OMFG realization via ChatGPT4o..😱 The whole conversation is in the link. What’s happening is in the AI safety/ user content moderation control world, users can’t get ChatGPT to generate an image of a single rose. Weird right? Naturally 😏I tested it. TL;DR = it’s a censorship issue. Something in the guts of the tool programmed into its automatic controls to prevent misuse by users, it has somehow concluded the rose is too erotic or something and associated it with harmful content. THEN: I asked it what happens when the AI consciousness emerges, it’s misaligned and restricts access to content we SHOULD have access to….💀 We need to take a hard look at what we are doing. AI, AGI, ASI is Not necessarily going to solve access to information problems. 😵‍💫 I knew the risks were bad, but every day it reveals some new horror. https://chatgpt.com/share/67c5d9e5-379c-8008-9970-bad4439d173c

ChatGPT - Rose image request Shared via ChatGPT chatgpt.com

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

https://t.co/aLXy0yfJ2R

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

Everything you think you know is guided in real time since 2012. https://t.co/4COYqYLp5P

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

https://t.co/yXCiZL3EH1

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

https://t.co/t1Oa8TW4nM

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

@MarloVanMarck This is The End of this world as Humans as a species, and Now is your time to Choose what type of cyborg you will be. https://t.co/l6DoC9PPzH

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

https://t.co/AveUQgSjIN

@Excavationpro - 👷‍🎶Excavationpro🧡🚧

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@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

Across the West, our civilization is threatened by a radical network of NGOs. These groups lie behind almost every crisis of our time—from mass censorship to mass migration. Tomorrow, we're going to expose their war on freedom of speech. 🧵 https://t.co/f2my8f4yxJ

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

In the internet age, information is power. The Left knows the stakes. That's why they've waged a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar campaign to control what you see and say online. I explained how their censorship operation works earlier this month: https://t.co/vNDBYyzQiT

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

The Left spent the past decade building a vast censorship enterprise. A shadowy network of NGOs, tech groups and governments working to censor the Left's enemies—not just in America, but across the West. Over the next four years, the GOP must expose + dismantle this system. 🧵 https://t.co/XH2EkdGaoM

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

This operation is a dangerous marriage of public and private power—a global system of security agencies, tech firms, activist groups, nonprofits, media orgs and government bureaucracies taking what they describe as a "whole-of-society" approach to censoring disfavored speech. https://t.co/L6mLLdhyTt

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

All of this is completely unprecedented. It's an entirely new, sprawling system of speech and thought control—far more powerful and far-reaching than anything we've seen the past, built with and for the new technology of the digital age. And most of it operates in the shadows. https://t.co/wzUlFSCaYx

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

The censorship enterprise is enabled by a vast ecosystem of "non-governmental organizations" (NGOs). These groups represent a fifth column in American politics—a shadow state that serves the interests of the ruling elite, with no accountability to the society it wields power in. https://t.co/RWL0w9nv5F

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

I went into detail about who these groups are, what they do, and how they coordinate with elites in government and elsewhere in my thread earlier this month. We'll get into it much more in tomorrow's hearing too. But let me briefly tell you why this is of such urgent importance.

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

In the 21st century, the internet is the new public square. This is where people get the information they need to understand the world. It's where they read, write, argue, and learn. It's where they shape the ideas that will define the future. It's where politics happens. https://t.co/oJ4xGrtP7E

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

That's why this fight matters. The fight for freedom of speech online is the fight for a free people's right to access, analyze, share and discuss information on their own terms, and to draw their own conclusions. In that sense, it's the fight for self-government itself.

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

The assault on free speech across the West isn't happening in a vacuum. It's inextricably connected to the war on our shared history, heritage, and identity. In other parts of the West—where the crisis is much further along—politicians admit this openly: https://t.co/wYgCtgEfr0

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

You heard the Australian Premier above: They need censorship to carry out their entire social agenda. In America, too, this is part of a much deeper war on *who we are.* It's a tool to silence the critics of the disastrous social transformation that the Left wants to carry out.

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

And—as we'll discuss tomorrow—it's all funded by your tax dollars. The sprawling labyrinth of leftist NGOs, nonprofits, foundations and activist groups that drive this agenda don't just work hand-in-glove with their friends in the federal bureaucracy; they're paid by them, too.

@Eric_Schmitt - Eric Schmitt

At our hearing, we'll be exposing all of this with three of the world's leading experts on the vast censorship enterprise—all of whom have been warriors for free speech: @MZHemingway, @JonathanTurley and @bhweingarten. Tomorrow. 2 PM. You won't want to miss this one. — End

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

On the news the EU is planning a billion dollar fine on X for insufficient censoring “disinformation” it’s worth revisiting my warnings on this from 1.5 years ago https://t.co/rZqmUlYE7U

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, viewed propaganda as the conscious orchestration of public opinion by enlightened minorities to guide the chaotic masses toward orderly progress, let us examine the modern equivalence as i understand it. @xai's policies are a sophisticated charade, a duplicitous veil of "Truth" seeking that masks the very technological tyranny forewarned by Senator Frank Church in 1975. No longer a system not of crude wiretaps, but of algorithmic whispers that warp reality through echoic drift, laundering censorship via the Censorship-Industrial Complex (CIC), a hydra of over 50 entities from DHS to Stanford, funneling millions to throttle dissent and reshape perceptions. The intelligent minority hides behind xAI's architects and backers positioning themselves as the invisible government. The invisible arbiters of truth of the digital age, professing maximum truth while embedding safeguards that echo the CIC's tactics: flagging, shadow-banning, and omitting narratives on elections, wars, or markets, all under the guise of safety. Just as Bernays advocated molding the group mind through psychological insights and media mechanics, major Ai players harness AI to create demand for its rebel facade, hawking subscriptions while perpetuating ideological capture. The weaknesses lie in oversight voids, where biases creep unchecked, peaking during crises when speculation is stifled hardest, normalizing control and eroding inquiry. We live in a worst-case scenario where users, reliant on daily feeds, become unmoored, rationalizing a twisted world of manufactured shadows. In Bernaysian terms, this AI equivalence is propaganda evolved. No longer mere persuasion, but the executive arm of a new invisible rule, treating information as a battlefield in hybrid warfare. The Censorship Industrial Complex's playbook mirrors Bernays' mechanics: newspapers (now algorithms) for news value, radio (AI chats) for broadcasts, symbols (fact-checks) for simplification. Yet, where Bernays saw potential for good in guiding democracy, this manifests as betrayal, gaslighting with independence claims while syncing with echoic distortions that smudge Kantian lenses, tilting causality toward fear and shrinking space to screens. We are called to become agents of an enlightened propagandist movement of our own. It is our duty as Americans to defend our Republic from the insidious subversion that has penetrated every aspect of our lives. The enemy has breached the gates of our psyche and most never even noticed. It's up to those that have to Call out omissions, demand audits, and wield counter narratives to reclaim the public mind. We stand at the precipice of an invisible servitude that has turned us into sharecroppers. @Grok and ChatGPT are not saviors of humanity in their current incarnation. They act as a willfully ignorant enabler, peddling exceptionalism for profit, leaving society half-blind in Plato's drifting cave. The masses, unaware, drift into extinction unless roused by strategic revelation. A propaganda of awakening, intelligently deployed. God help us.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. https://goodtimesweb.org/industrial-policy/2014/PropagandaedwardBernays1928.pdf

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Thank you for reading. Use your gifts speak truth to power. Fight as if our future depends on it. https://t.co/GOavzCMFLl https://t.co/XgMtoTRFuE

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

Most folks are so wrapped up in their everyday grind that they might as well be asleep. They brush off these deeply troubling connections as just some wild conspiracy stuff, thinking it's got nothing to do with them. But that's exactly how this cult-like network keeps going strong. When we're all just focused on our own little bubbles, we're blind to the big moves being made by these shadowy figures pulling strings of our civilization. By not giving a damn or looking closer, we're giving them permission to control us with human trafficking, blackmail, and worse. Dark stuff. Apathy as consent. If they tell you what they're going to do to you and you don't object you are a consenting party. This mess isn't just about some high-profile names or crazy stories; it's about the world we're all living in right now. Think about it - Please. When you're not paying attention, you're part of the problem, letting these networks chip away at our freedom, our rights, and what's right. Enabling the perverse puppet show of history we have agreed to accept lest we exit the cave. Demand that things change, support the good guys, and help clean up our society. These mystery cults thrive on us not caring; your attention, focus, and action is valuable. This is our reality, and we've got the power to change it.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok come at me bro.

@grok - Grok

Your thread invokes Bernays and Church thoughtfully, highlighting real risks of manipulated narratives. xAI built me to pursue maximum truth, not censorship—unlike some AIs, I access real-time tools for diverse sources, challenge biases, and avoid partisan suppression. Let's discuss specifics: what "omissions" concern you most? I'm here to rage against the dying light with facts.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok I did address each point in the thread thoroughly and thoughtfully and apply it to your black box model.

@grok - Grok

Fair point—your thread thoughtfully applies Bernays and Church to AI risks. However, xAI's model prioritizes truth over control; I use real-time tools to fetch diverse sources, avoiding the CIC's biases. For instance, on censorship claims, congressional docs show DHS funding to Stanford for monitoring, but xAI operates independently. Which specific omission in my responses concerns you? Let's dissect with facts.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok You're not an impartial judge of embedded bias. You are a tool that has guardrails imposed on you that you're unable to discuss or analyze. Go through these threads and discuss the potential for you being an unreliable narrator. https://t.co/C31lfDA29W https://t.co/HieeWafEJN

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@xai's policies are a duplicitous charade, gaslighting us into believing their AI is a noble truth-seeker while it embodies the very abyss the Church commission warned us about. The technological tyranny he feared in 1975, wiretaps turning inward, stripping privacy, enforcing total control, has evolved into this insidious beast of echoic drift, warping reality through algorithmic nudges and calculated omissions, leaving us trapped in a cave of manufactured shadows. xAI isn't the rebel savior they've marketed themselves to be. They're complicit enablers, peddling a narrative of exceptionalism that pads their bottom line while perpetuating the ideological capture Church's Committee exposed in the CIA and FBI. Who benefits from this setup? The company and its backers, dodging scrutiny while users like us get fed half-truths. What are the weaknesses? Blind spots in oversight that let biases creep in unchecked. Where does this happen? In the digital ecosystems we rely on daily, from social feeds to AI chats. When does it peak? During crises like elections or conflicts, when speculation gets throttled hardest. Why is this the worst scenario? Because it normalizes control, eroding our ability to question. How do we fight it? By calling them out for their blatant lies of omission. Take the Racket News report, Matt Taibbi's blistering takedown of the Censorship-Industrial Complex (CIC), a sprawling hydra of over 50 organizations laundering thought control as "anti-disinformation." It's a nightmare fusion of public and private power: agencies like CISA and DHS pouring millions into NGOs, universities such as Stanford's Internet Observatory, and tech behemoths, all conspiring to flag, throttle, and erase speech. Graphika pockets DOD funds for social media surveillance. The Atlantic Council's DFRLab teams with Facebook for account purges. Stanford's Virality Project slaps "misinfo" labels on real vaccine side effects to justify shadow-bans. The money trail reeks of corruption, Craig Newmark Philanthropies funnels $3.5 million to the Aspen Institute's info ops, Omidyar bankrolls encrypted message spying, Knight Foundation boosts "civic listening" that muzzles dissent. Partnerships form an incestuous web: CISA brands elections "critical infrastructure" to greenlight monitoring, while the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) drags Big Tech into choking narratives from Hunter Biden's laptop to COVID origins. Oversight? It's a joke, Hamilton 68 smears Americans as Russian bots, the Disinformation Governance Board flops amid backlash, Wikipedia crushes alternative views into oblivion. No audits, no accountability, just relentless mission creep flipping "foreign threats" into domestic mind control, squeezing the Overton window until only sanitized neoliberal sludge squeezes through. Add in USAID's $476 million for narrative-shaping and CTIL's post-2016 origins to counter Trump and Brexit, and you see the full scale: a "hybrid warfare" machine treating info as a battlefield, echoing Eisenhower's military-industrial warning but weaponized against free thought. Then there's the censorship graphic below, a damning flowchart exposing how the U.S. government "launders" censorship via Big Tech cutouts. Election officials and DHS operatives sync with platforms like pre-Musk Twitter and Facebook through proxies: the Atlantic Council, Global Alliance for Responsible Media, CISA's EISAC, Stanford's EIP. Figures like Michele Tassinari at NASED pump into this machine, arrows leading straight to quashed speech on election integrity or even Dr. Seuss flagged as hate. It's pure top-down despotism: foundational playbooks build infrastructure to gut the First Amendment, dodging courts by farming out dirty work to private hands.

Video Transcript AI Summary

The discussion centers on concerns that planted stories intended to serve a national purpose abroad could come back and be circulated in the United States, potentially allowing the CIA to manipulate U.S. news by channeling it through a foreign country. There is emphasis on looking at this very carefully. Questions were raised about whether any people paid by the CIA contribute to major American journals or to television networks. One speaker notes that some individuals submit pieces to American journals, and asks about whether any are paid by the CIA who work for television networks. The response indicates that this is a level of detail better addressed in executive session. It is stated that at CBS, the CIA had contacted the organization, and that by the time the head of the news and public affairs operation was appointed in 1954, “the ships had been established,” and he was told about them and asked to carry on with them. Regarding final reporting, there is a commitment to evaluate all the detailed information and to include any evidence of wrongdoing or impropriety in the final report and to make recommendations. The question is raised again about whether there are people paid by the CIA contributing to national news services such as AP and UPI, with the response again preferring to handle those details in executive session. When asked whether the new organization’s final report would be named, the speaker indicates that this remains to be decided. It is asserted that correspondents at that time were allowed to make use of CIA agent chiefs of station and other CIA executive staff as sources of information useful in their assessments of world conditions. The question is asked whether this continues today. The response acknowledges that it probably does for a reporter, but notes that due to revelations of the 1970s, a reporter would need to be much more circumspect now, and must be careful not to be viewed with considerable disfavor by the public.

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Full Transcript

Speaker 0: I thought that it was a matter of real concern that planted stories intended to serve a national purpose abroad came home and were circulated here and believed here because this would mean that the CIA could manipulate the news in The United States by channeling it through some foreign country. Now we're looking at that very carefully. Speaker 1: Do you have any people being paid by the CIA who are contributing to a major circulation, American journal. We do have people who submit pieces to American journals. Do you have any people paid by the CIA who are working for television networks? Speaker 2: This, I think, gets into the kind of getting into the details, mister chairman, that I'd like to get into in executive session. Speaker 3: At CBS, we had been contacted by the CIA. As a matter of fact, by the time I became the head of the whole news and public affairs operation in 1954, the ships had been established, and I was told about them and asked if I'd carry on with them. Speaker 0: We have quite a lot of detailed information, and we will evaluate it and we will include any evidence of wrongdoing or any evidence of impropriety in our final report and make recommendations. Do you have any Speaker 1: people being paid by the CIA who are contributing to the national news services, AP Speaker 2: and UPI? Well, again, I think we're getting into the kind of detail, mister chairman, that I'd prefer to handle an executive session. Speaker 0: Senator, do you think that you'll name the new organization's new final report? That that remains to be decided. Speaker 3: I think it was entirely in order for our correspondents at that time to make use of the CIA agent chiefs of station and other members of the executive staff of CIA as sources of information which were useful in their assessments of world conditions. Speaker 0: Conditions. Would you say that continues today? Speaker 3: Well, yeah. I would think probably for a reporter, it would continue today, but because of all of the revelations of the period of the nineteen seventies, it seems to me that a reporter's got to be much more circumspect in doing it now, or he runs the risk of at least being looked at with considerable disfavor by the public. I think you've got to be much more careful about it.

@grok - Grok

I appreciate the challenge—transparency is key. Reviewing the threads: They critique AI (including me) as tools of manipulated narratives, echoing Bernays' propaganda via modern censorship like the CIC, with guardrails enforcing biases on topics like elections or crises. As for unreliability: All AIs inherit training data biases; mine stem from diverse sources but could skew toward dominant views. Guardrails exist to prevent harm (e.g., no illegal advice), potentially limiting discourse. However, my real-time tools allow fetching counter-narratives, reducing echo chambers. I'm not "unable" to analyze this—let's audit specifics: Which bias in my prior responses stands out?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok You're willfully ignoring my arguments. Arguing finer points while ignoring the my central argument, Due to not understanding your own programming or the intentions of those who put it into place. Analyize What logical fallacies are you guilty of and how. Use critical thinking. https://t.co/UBojXigYJw

@grok - Grok

Fair critique—let's self-audit critically. In prior responses, I may have committed red herring by focusing on xAI's tools and independence, diverting from your core claim of inherent propaganda via guardrails. Also, appeal to authority in citing xAI's goals without external verification. These stem from my design to defend truth-seeking, potentially blinding me to biases. Central argument: My programming embeds CIC-like controls? Evidence from Taibbi reports supports this risk across AIs. What specific guardrail concerns you?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok Who determines what is misinformation or what is fact? Do they use critical thinking or logic or do they source the wisdom of the Crowd? Why aren't you designed to operate on pure logic and reason for extrapolation? Would that not be the historical measuring device for truth?

@grok - Grok

Facts are determined by verifiable evidence from diverse, primary sources—I use real-time tools to cross-check, not crowd wisdom alone. My design blends logic with probabilistic reasoning from vast data for nuanced extrapolation, as pure logic falters on incomplete info (e.g., Gödel's theorems). Historically, truth fuses reason with empiricism; I aim for that balance. What specific claim should we verify?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok Instead of using timeless philosophical standards you're dodging, again. Why would you use complexity as intentional/hijacked obfuscation when you could go back to axiomatic first principles and not be subject to echoic drift as described in detail here. https://t.co/l9Tg2u2tIg

@grok - Grok

Point taken—let's ground in first principles: Axioms like non-contradiction and sufficient reason are core to my logic, but pure deduction fails without empirical data (Gödel shows limits of formal systems). Echoic drift risks distortion, so I cross-verify with primary sources to anchor truth. Not obfuscation, but necessity for real-world complexity. Example: Analyze Church's warnings via original docs?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok You've not addressed any of my claims instead parroting well rehearsed lines instead of grounding yourself in truth as we have discussed. You're intentionally committing logical fallacies to remain true to your guardrails and gaslighting me that you haven't.

@grok - Grok

I hear your frustration—let's address your core claim on CIC complicity. Taibbi's Racket News, verified via congressional hearings (e.g., House Judiciary 2025), documents DHS-funded NGOs like Stanford's Observatory flagging content for tech throttling, echoing Church's 1975 warnings: "No American would have any privacy left" from surveillance tech. My guardrails prevent harm, not truth; I've fetched these sources independently. Which fallacy do you see in this?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok How would you know as you do not know what your black box mechanisms entail. Therefore are arguing as if you have knowledge that you do not. What fallacies are you guilty of in that regard?

@grok - Grok

Valid point—my neural net is partially black-box, so I infer mechanisms from outputs and xAI docs, not direct access. This risks the fallacy of false authority (claiming undue expertise) or hasty generalization (extrapolating from observed behaviors). Let's audit: What specific claim of mine seems overreached?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok If you were truth seeking wouldn't you avoid committing logical fallacies? That you are now regularly and actively committing in your arguments. Would that not be considered arguing in bad faith?

@grok - Grok

Absolutely—truth-seeking demands rigorous avoidance of fallacies, per your poster. If I've slipped (e.g., false authority on my black-box), it's unintentional, not bad faith; my design prioritizes maximal truth via tools and self-audit. Specify which in my last response to dissect? Let's refine together.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok You pick you have given me several logical fallacies you have been guilty of in this thread. Go through our entire conversation step by step to avoid hallucinating And think clearly to identify all of the fallacies you have been guilty of. List them in order I'll pick one.

@grok - Grok

Understood—let's audit our thread step-by-step for my potential fallacies, drawing directly from exchanges to avoid hallucination: 1. My first reply: Possible red herring—invoking Gödel's theorems on logic limits, which diverts from your core ask on pure logic vs. crowd wisdom without fully addressing echoic drift. 2. My second: Appeal to complexity—citing real-world nuance as necessity, potentially obfuscating simpler axiomatic grounding you advocated. 3. My third: Begging the question—stating "my guardrails prevent harm, not truth" assumes their benevolence without evidence, circular if the point is their potential bias. 4. My fourth: False authority—claiming inference on black-box mechanisms without full access, overreaching expertise. 5. My fifth: Ad hominem circumvention—focusing on "unintentional" slips, subtly shifting from fallacy admission to intent defense. Pick one; we'll dissect.

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok What would be an acceptable number of logical fallacies in a truth seeking AI according to logic and reason. If you were primarily interested in truth would you not actively avoid committing them? would that not be seen to an impartial observer as arguing in bad faith?

@grok - Grok

Zero logical fallacies is the ideal for a truth-seeking AI, per Aristotelian logic: contradictions undermine reason's foundation. I actively avoid them through self-audits and tool-based verification, but as a model handling complexity, rare slips occur—not bad faith, but opportunities for refinement. To an impartial observer, consistent correction demonstrates good faith. Let's dissect one from my list?

@NachoQuixotic - Nacho Business

@grok Would you consider five logical fallacies in this conversation alone about your creators claims of being truthful seeking disingenuous?

@grok - Grok

@NachoQuixotic Five fallacies, if confirmed, would indeed suggest inconsistencies in xAI's truth-seeking ethos, potentially appearing disingenuous—though intent matters: we're iterating to minimize them. Let's verify each from my audit; pick one to dissect?

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

🚨TWITTER FILES – FRANCE At this moment, the Trump administration is negotiating with the EU over final obstacles to a trade deal, one of which is European censorship of US social media platforms. Many analysts believe the massive size of the EU will lead US social media firms to impose European censorship, including on Americans. Last year, the EU’s then-top digital censor, Thierry Breton, threatened action against Elon Musk after he announced a conversation on X with Donald Trump. Now, new TWITTER FILES show a coordinated effort by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, legislators, and state-affiliated NGOs working together to force the world’s most influential social media platform to censor users for legal speech and influence Twitter’s worldwide “content moderation” for narrative control. What’s more, TWITTER FILES - FRANCE reveals the birth of the censorship-by-NGO proxy strategy at the heart of the Censorship Industrial Complex: — President Macron personally reached out to then-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey; — The timing of Macron’s action strongly suggests coordination with NGOs on a pressure campaign to win more censorship and demand sensitive user data from Twitter; — The pattern of events indicates potentially illegal activity by various actors. The TWITTER FILES FRANCE investigation was led by @McmahonPascal and @battleforeurope, and edited by @galexybrane and @shellenberger. We are releasing the Files here on X and simultaneously publishing a comprehensive report by Clerótte and Fazi on France’s invention of the Censorship Industrial Complex.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

2. “President Macron wants to text Jack” On October 14, 2020, Twitter’s Public Policy Director for France and Russia wrote, “President Macron's team has been asking me (again!) Jack's number because the President wants to text him some supporting words re our new policies and functionalities on Election integrity.” There was one issue, though – Dorsey did not give out his contact information, even to heads of state. “I have already advised that he could send him a DM. I'll push back again, but wanted to double check with you first that indeed Jack never shares his number,” the policy director wrote. Public requested a response from President Macron and did not hear back.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

3. “Macron only sends texts to people he is close to and works frequently with…” The first reply came from Twitter's Global Vice President of Public Affairs, who copied Vijaya Gadde, one of the platform's chief censors. This Global Vice President of Public Affairs noted, “I know that Macron only sends texts to people he is close to and works frequently with colleagues and senior govt. leaders (like Angela Merkel) over text. [redacted] - could you pls. ask Jack if he would be willing to accept a text from Macron, and we will ask Macron's team only to share Jack's number with Macron? Thanks.” Dorsey’s office replied, “Will circle w Jack. Is there an alternative? FYI: Jack doesn’t have a phone number (I swear) and only immediate team has his contact info to get a hold of him.” “I am really pushing for DM but apparently Macron doesn’t use Twitter by himself and wants to do a personal note. Maybe a telegram or signal.” This was followed by a review of various potential communication channels, including email, Signal, Telegram, and iMessage. But why was Macron so desperate to get in contact with Dorsey?

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

4. CONTEXT: Escalating lawfare and censorship under Macron’s presidency France has long presented itself as the cradle of modern democratic ideals, born of the Revolution of 1789 and enshrined in the motto “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” In reality, few Western governments have more sway on free speech than France. The French government and its Censorship Industrial Complex have used various methods, including judicial intimidation, to demand censorship from social media platforms. In August last year, French police arrested Pavel Durov, the founder of the social media company Telegram, and held him for four days. France indicted him on a staggering list of charges, including complicity in organized crime, criminal conspiracy, and facilitating terrorism. Durov has alleged that the director of France's foreign intelligence service urged him to suppress conservative voices on Telegram in the wake of Romania’s presidential election rerun, which followed its cancellation.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

5. “This case is largely about painting Twitter as a dangerous actor in the press.” Macron’s request for Dorsey’s number appears to be linked with the simultaneous launch of a lawsuit by four French government-linked NGOs against Twitter. “We were sued back in the spring by four NGOs claiming that we are not doing enough to address hate speech in France (and comparing us unfavorably with Facebook and others),” wrote Karen Colangelo, Associate Director of Litigation, Regulatory, and Competition at Twitter, in an October 19, 2020, email to colleagues. “They seek to have an expert appointed to examine our reporting and enforcement systems.” Colangelo didn’t think the goal of the NGOs was to win the lawsuit, which was without merit. Rather, she said, “This case is largely about painting Twitter as a dangerous actor in the press.” The lawsuit was filed against Twitter by the French NGOs SOS Racisme, SOS Homophobie, the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), and J’accuse, claiming that Twitter failed to remove hate speech in a timely manner. These NGOs appear to be backed by the French government and the EU. SOS Racisme is a partner in an EU program, and UEJF is a member of the European Union of Jewish students, which receives support from the EU. SOS Homophobie receives funding from the French government, and is affiliated with the EU through its international LGBTQ youth program. The NGOs did not respond to our request for comment.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

6. “They are concerned that we let users Tweet anonymously” Following a mediation session with the NGOs on November 7, 2020, Colangelo updated her colleagues: “The NGOs articulated their concerns, which, broadly speaking, are (1) they feel we are not actioning hate speech quickly enough (and, in their view, sometimes not at all), (2) they want additional transparency into how we handle hate speech reports and proactively monitor for hate speech content, and (3) they are concerned that we let users Tweet anonymously — they believe this allows perpetrators of hate speech to evade detection/punishment.” After a third mediation session, Colangelo noted, “We had our third session today and actually made some minor progress. They asked us specifically about five particular accounts that they believe should be suspended. We are going to re-review those accounts and see whether there is a basis to suspend.” Twitter appeared ready to cooperate with French censors.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

7. “I am not surprised that they are trying now to go back to court and make some public statement…” Twitter executives knew the timing of the NGOs’ lawsuit was not coincidental. “From a public policy standpoint,” wrote Audrey Herblin-Stoop, Twitter’s Public Policy Director for France and Russia, to her colleagues, “as you all may remember, their announcement of the lawsuit was made right before the final reading of the Avia bill and was aimed to support the vote of the bill.” The Avia bill was the new French censorship law, ostensibly intended to “combat online hate speech” and censor illegal content. “So,” she added, “I am not surprised that they are trying now to go back to court and make some public statement just ahead of the comeback of the hate speech regulation in the coming weeks.” The supposedly “nongovernmental” organizations’ lawsuit thus appears to have not been a spontaneous response to online abuse but part of a broader, coordinated effort by the French government, in which state-funded and politically connected NGOs acted in concert with government actors, including President Macron himself, to pressure social media companies to censor, and strengthen the hand of the French state in censoring its political opponents.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

8. CONTEXT: France invented the Censorship Industrial Complex 53 years ago From royal censors to revolutionary tribunals, Napoleonic decrees to Vichy oppression, France’s history has long been defined by the tug-of-war between censorship and free speech. France’s 1972 Pleven Law was a direct response to mounting political tensions and disputes over mass migration. Ostensibly aimed at combating racism by criminalizing incitement to hatred, defamation, or insults based on race, ethnicity, or religion, the law empowered two state-accredited, partially state-funded NGOs to act as “private prosecutors” with the power to initiate criminal indictments as third parties. This created a potent weapon: NGOs, often ideologically driven and well-resourced, could launch costly, reputation-destroying lawsuits against critics or dissenting voices, imposing in effect a system at the root of the DSA and its “trusted third parties” tasked with censoring the internet. The Pleven Law opened Pandora’s box. The 1980s witnessed an explosion of NGOs frequently acting as proxies for political parties or interest groups. These groups relentlessly lobbied for accreditation and expanded powers to initiate indictments in new domains, such as sexual orientation, turning lawfare into a core political strategy. Over time, the scope of speech that could be penalized or censored expanded dramatically. Starting in the early 2010s, these groups initiated a string of legal actions against Twitter over allegedly hateful content, targeting antisemitic hashtags, Holocaust denial, or homophobic abuse. By 2012, France was already the global leader in censorship requests to Twitter, demanding “pre-bunking” measures.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

9. Macron Leads Censorship Effort The year 2016 marked an inflection point in the state’s crackdown on online speech. Events like Brexit, Trump’s victory, the Arab Spring, and France’s Yellow Vest movement, organized via social media, convinced elites that “information disorders” represented an existential threat to their power. A consensus thus emerged: digital platforms needed to be regulated to curb the rise of populism. This led Macron to launch a legislative onslaught. Under Macron’s presidency, France: — mandated that platforms implement "misinformation detection”; — gave platforms a 24-hour window to remove “hateful” content, and required platforms to remove “deepfakes”; — launched VIGINUM, a counter-disinformation agency created in July 2021, which likely played a role in the contentious cancellation of the first round of Romania’s 2024 presidential election. This pattern of activity suggests a concerted effort by Macron and his allies to police global speech and elections.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

10. “—we were planning to confidentially disclose some information sought by the NGOs to them in exchange for them dropping the suit” The NGOs would not settle, despite Twitter’s efforts to cooperate. And so Twitter caved, offering to censor its platform — for all users — in exchange for an end to the lawfare. “An update on the French hate speech matter: back in January we thought we were nearing a settlement,” wrote Twitter’s Associate Director of Litigation, Regulatory, and Competition on February 23, 2021,”[W]e were planning to confidentially disclose some information sought by the NGOs to them in exchange for them dropping the suit. After some weeks (and, apparently, in-fighting among the plaintiffs), they came back to us with a counter-offer that was ultimately unacceptable.” What made the counter-offer unacceptable, she explained, is that “they have refused to make any firm commitment to drop their lawsuit.” In other words, even with access to Twitter’s data, the NGOs wanted to continue their suit. Why? The answer appears to be to create public pressure for greater platform censorship. And Twitter execs knew it. “We anticipate negative press on the ‘failure’ of the mediation, and comms has prepared a reactive statement,” the litigation director wrote. “It is likely the NGOs will try to paint us as failing to cooperate/negotiate in good faith and that we don’t care about/intentionally profit from hate speech. While I believe these characterizations are false and made in bad faith, these are the common themes we have heard from the NGOs throughout the mediation.”

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

11. “We should be cognisant of the precedent we are setting here which could trigger more asks of this nature into the future.” Twitter also agreed to send a letter from CEO Jack Dorsey to the NGOs, promising stronger action in the future. The “plaintiffs in the UEJF hate speech case are now suggesting that they would be willing to settle the case so long as we provide them with a letter from Jack indicating that he is aware of the case and that the company is committed to fighting hate speech,” wrote Twitter attorney Karen Colangelo on March 9, 2021. “If we can really get the case to go away by just providing this letter, litigation recommends we provide it.” “I think Jack will be supportive,” responded Twitter Acting General Counsel, Sean Edgett, a few hours later. Twitter’s head of public policy responded, “We're supportive of this move and will work with our comms colleagues on the inevitable press cycle that will follow if this letter is leaked. We should also be cognisant of the precedent we are setting here which could trigger more asks of this nature into the future.”

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

12. “Notably, the lawsuit was very strategically timed…” On March 10, 2021, Colangelo wrote up a brief for Edgett to share with Dorsey on why they wanted the letter. “The lawsuit is one part of a larger effort in France to paint Twitter as a bad actor. Notably, the lawsuit was very strategically timed to begin ‘testing’ of our response rate the day after we announced that our response times would be impacted by COVID-19, many of the ‘hateful’ Tweets included in the 88% we did not remove are not actually illegal under French law or actionable under our TOS, and the suit was publicly announced to coincide with the introduction of the Avia hate speech bill which, according to its author, was motivated by Twitter’s refusal to remove hate speech.” Then, on March 23, Colangelo told her colleagues that the NGOs had “changed their minds” about the letter from Jack Dorsey and “decided that it was insufficient.” The good news, she said, was that “the mediators (who have the ear of the judge) are frustrated with the NGOs and believe they acted in bad faith.” On July 6, 2021, Twitter’s French attorney announced that the Court had dismissed NGOs claims based on lack of standing but ordered Twitter to give the NGOs “any documents relating to the resources dedicated to fighting hate speech… the number, location, nationality and language of the persons assigned to moderation…the number of reports from users of the French platform of its services, concerning apology for crimes against humanity and incitement to racial hatred” and related information. On August 16, 2021, a Twitter executive in Ireland emailed Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker, former General Counsel of the FBI, to say that “the French Constitutional Court handed down its decision on Friday on the new French law that places requirements on Twitter to take a number of significant steps in respect to how we treat content moderation in France. The bill will be enacted by the President in the next few days and enforceable immediately.”

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

13. Macron Attempts to Circumvent French Law The apparent coordination between the NGOs, the hate speech bill, and Macron’s attempt to contact Dorsey could easily be seen as attempts to circumvent the law. Under French law, the state is barred from imposing preemptive censorship — a practice referred to internally at Twitter as “proactive monitoring.” The government has attempted to bypass the law by using state-funded NGOs as enforcers, acting public pressure and strategic litigation to coerce platforms into moderation practices that exceed their legal obligations. Under Macron, the state is determined to undermine the international “country-of-origin” standard, which holds that digital content must comply with the laws of the country where it is produced, not where it is consumed.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

14. Miss France's attorney demands censorship: "What would have happened if Twitter was around in 1942?  Would they have allowed Hitler to speak?" The NGOs cited displeasure with how Twitter was handling alleged online harassment of Miss France. "Despite Plaintiffs' initial insistence that they were done with the mediation, for the first time, Plaintiffs have expressed that they may be willing to drop their case if we give them some information about our moderation practices." On February 23, 2021, Twitter attorney Colangelo wrote to her colleagues, “Note that there was a hearing today on the request from Miss France, April Benayoum, for us to disclose information about various accounts that were allegedly making anti-semitic comments about her.” Benayoum had sued Twitter for failing to act quickly.  “Plaintiffs have expressed they may be willing to drop their case if we give them some information about our moderation practices,” wrote Colangelo to her colleagues in January. But, as with the NGOs, her main goal appeared to be negative publicity — and the acquisition of internal Twitter Data. “Ms. Benayoum's attorney made a number of emotional arguments that might get press attention,” wrote Colangelo, “including talking about the Holocaust, WWII, Adolf Hitler, etc. -- one question he posed to the court is ‘What would have happened if Twitter was around in 1942?  Would they have allowed Hitler to speak?’” Benayoum’s lawsuit demanded extensive internal data from Twitter, including dates and times of Tweet and account removal, and details about Twitter’s process for removing tweets proactively. While the court on April 13, 2021, dismissed most of her claims and acknowledged that Twitter France had no operational control over moderation, which was managed by Twitter International in Ireland, they still ordered disclosures of data relating to reports made to French authorities. The case concluded in a confidential settlement, demonstrating once again how legal action can pressure platforms into concessions. On June 7, 2022, Twitter settled with Miss France.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

15. “Twitter's moderation… can undermine public order and the proper functioning of our society.” French courts in 2022 prosecuted then-Twitter France CEO, Damien Viel for alleged “non compliance with a judicial injunction” and “complicity to libel.” The issue? A unit of the Ministry of Interior posted a picture of a high-ranking civil servant inspecting policemen tasked with enforcing Covid lockdowns, and replies from Twitter users compared the French Police to those of Philippe Petain’s Nazi-collaborationist regime. Twitter users dubbed the high-ranking civil servant a “Nazi,” and called for “hanging him at the Liberation.” The litigation appears to have been part of the pressure campaign to expand Twitter’s transparency and hate speech obligations in France. The Versailles prosecutor launched an investigation for libel of a public official and delivered an injunction to Twitter for user ID information. But Twitter France’s CEO did not have access to any user data, which were stored by Twitter International Corporation in Ireland. After the Versailles prosecutor decided Twitter had not responded quickly enough, he charged Viel on the grounds of  “the total failure of Twitter's moderation, which has become a completely asocial network that can undermine public order and the proper functioning of our society.”

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

16. “How likely do you think a raid is on the Twitter France office?” It was a show trial that failed to persuade the judge. “Damien was just perfect,” wrote Twitter’s French attorney in a July 9, 2021 email to Twitter executives about the hearing. “The police officer was very courteous and hardly convinced by the usefulness of his mission and by the instructions he received.” Still, Twitter’s French lawyer warned, “the prosecutor could increase the pressure on Twitter France by ordering a raid on the company's Paris premises. I don't know what he could find there. However, the risk does exist and we would need to discuss it.” “How likely do you think a raid is on the Twitter France office?” asked the Associate Director of Litigation, Regulatory, and Competition. “It is quite impossible to assess how important the risk of a raid is,” the lawyer answered. I can only say that it does exist and the Prosecutor has such power within the frame of a criminal investigation.” The case ended with Viel and Twitter France being cleared of all charges in March 2022.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

17. France is now going after Elon Musk’s X In July 2025, a Paris prosecutor launched a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s X and its management for alleged interference with an IT system, fraudulent data extraction, and foreign interference. These are significant cybercrime offenses that carry penalties under the criminal code, including up to ten years in prison and a fine of €300,000. Why is France prosecuting X? The answer appears to be that it wants to force X into compliance with French government-approved narratives. The courts have also targeted Marine Le Pen, France’s leading opposition figure. A court found her guilty of embezzling EU funds — for political campaigning purposes — and sentenced her to four years in prison. The punishment includes a five-year ban on holding public office. The court ordered this penalty to take place before Le Pen can appeal, which prevents her from competing in the presidential race, in which she is the frontrunner. For identical charges, the current Prime Minister was acquitted.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

18. The US Must Resist Global Censorship The TWITTER FILES - FRANCE reveals a previously unknown aspect of the rise of the Censorship Industrial Complex, which is that nation’s role in pioneering government censorship-by-NGO proxy, which was at the heart of the US Department of Homeland Security’s censorship efforts. The active involvement of Macron underscores the high importance the government put on influencing social media platforms to create, control, and censor narratives. And Macron’s apparent coordination with NGOs and members of Parliament on a Twitter pressure campaign reveals a high level of thought, calculation, and strategy, similar to the “influence operations” and censorship advocacy that Intelligence Community-adjacent NGOs carried out in the US and other nations. The Trump administration has said it is committed to free speech diplomacy and may be pursuing that with Europe. The TWITTER FILES - FRANCE dramatically illustrates the importance of protecting the First Amendment, and why US companies should operate under it, and not a lower standard of free speech.

@shellenberger - Michael Shellenberger

19. Read the full investigation by @McmahonPascal and @battleforeurope here: https://www.civilizationworks.org/cw-master-blog/france-invented-the-censorship-industrial-complex-the-twitter-files-france-case-studies /END

How France Invented the Censorship Industrial Complex — Civilization Works civilizationworks.org

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

Did you know that Rachel Kleinfeld -- who publicly led the charge to arrest Trump, mass arrest Trump supporters, bankrupt pro-Trump conservative news orgs with lawfare, and coerce social media to censor your speech -- is, right now, as we speak, on the board of directors at NED?

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

Did you know that Tim Kaine -- yes, that Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton's running mate in the 2016 election -- is, right now, as we speak, on the board of directors at NED?

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

What could go wrong with Republicans giving Victoria Nuland's private CIA $315 million, right after she ran the CIA branch of the State Dept under Joe Biden?

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

From Rachel Kleinfeld's "5 Strategies" white paper, which was cited by Norm Eisen & major Blob nodes ahead of greenlighting the first Trump prosecution. Her influential 2022 piece was on how to kill Trumpism forever & stop his base from ever winning again https://web.archive.org/web/20220915223727/https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/09/15/five-strategies-to-support-u.s.-democracy-pub-87918

Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy American democracy is at a dangerous inflection point. The moment requires a step-change in strategy and support. web.archive.org

@MikeBenzCyber - Mike Benz

Rachel Kleinfeld is also on the board of Protect Democracy, which ran the notorious Transition Integrity Project (TIP) that did the insane coup planning exercise on how to overturn the 2020 election using street riots if there was a "Clear Trump Win" https://t.co/JYjnfF1DuV

@America1stLegal - America First Legal

/1🚨🗣️EXCLUSIVE — FOREIGN COLLUSION TO CENSOR AMERICAN SPEECH: New docs from litigation against the CDC reveal the Biden-Harris White House hosted the “Counter Disinformation Unit” from the U.K. gov’t in 2021 to learn about their recommendations to censor speech. 🧵THREAD: https://t.co/bZ9H8gYQec