'Twitter Files' Part 6 details company ties to FBI
Fox News correspondent David Spunt examines the latest release of the 'Twitter Files' on 'Special Report.'
Billy Baldwin's Twitter account was included in a lengthy list of accounts that the FBI's National Election Command Post (NECP) deemed "may warrant additional action" by the social media giant ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
On Friday, Substack writer Matt Taibbi released the sixth installment of the Twitter Files, which revealed the past ties between the FBI and the social media giant, including requests made by the federal agency for Twitter to take action on accounts that it alleged were spreading election misinformation.
"In an internal email from November 5, 2022, the FBI’s National Election Command Post, which compiles and sends on complaints, sent the SF field office a long list of accounts that ‘may warrant additional action,’" Taibbi wrote on Twitter.
In the Tweet, the independent journalist shared a screenshot of an email dated November 5, 2022, from the FBI’s National Election Command Post to the agency's field office in San Francisco, where Twitter headquarters is located.
FBI NOTIFIED TWITTER ABOUT USERS ‘POTENTIALLY’ VIOLATING TERMS: TWITTER FILES
Billy Baldwin's account was included in a list of accounts that the FBI's National Election Command Post said it believed were spreading 'misinformation' about the 2022 midterm elections. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
The NECP wrote that it was "made aware of Tweets by certain accounts that may warrant additional action due to the accounts being utilized to spread misinformation about the upcoming election." The account belonging to Billy Baldwin, who is the brother of Alec and Stephen Baldwin, was included on the list.
In the email, the NECP requested "coordination" with the tech company to "determine if the accounts it identified had violated Twitter's terms of service and may be subject to any actions deemed appropriate by Twitter."
It also requested the "issuance of preservation letters regarding the accounts identified below in order to preserve subscriber information and content information pending the issuance of legal process."
In addition, the NECP requested "any location information associated with the accounts that Twitter will voluntarily provide to aid the FBI assigning any follow-up deemed necessary to the appropriate FBI field office."
In the next tweet, Taibbi posted a screenshot of an email from Nov. 6 in which an FBI San Francisco agent forwarded the list to "Twitter folks."
A Twitter employee responded the morning of November 8, indicating which accounts had been suspended, either temporarily or permanently, and which had had tweets removed.
Baldwin's account was not suspended in the action, and Twitter also spared several other accounts that the FBI had named, including RSB Network. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
Baldwin's account was not suspended in the action, and Twitter also spared several other accounts that the FBI had named, including RSB Network.
"Twitter then replied with its list of actions taken. Note mercy shown to actor Billy Baldwin," Taibbi wrote in the next tweet.
"Many of the above accounts were satirical in nature, nearly all (with the exceptions of Baldwin and @RSBNetwork) were relatively low engagement, and some were suspended, most with a generic ‘Thanks, Twitter’ letter," Taibbi reported.
@RSBNetwork is the official Twitter account for Right Side Broadcasting Network, a conservative media outlet, and has over 873,000 followers on the platform.
Baldwin is a vociferous critic of Donald Trump and frequently speaks out against the former U.S. president as well as Republican members of Congress, conservatives and Elon Musk on Twitter. His Twitter profile reads, "Biden 81,283,786/ Trump 74,222,552," a reference to the 2020 presidential election results.
"Twitter then replied with its list of actions taken. Note mercy shown to actor Billy Baldwin," Substack writer Matt Taibbi wrote. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
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In his thread, Taibbi highlighted the FBI's social media task force, which was established after the 2016 presidential election that assigned as many as "80 agents" to monitor foreign interference prominently featured in the Twitter Files.
"The #TwitterFiles are revealing more every day about how the government collects, analyzes, and flags your social media content. Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary," Taibbi began the thread.
"Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth… a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts."
A rep for Billy Baldwin did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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